On Nov 23, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Giuliana Schroeder
Delhi days
We arrive late on the 16th for our delhicious 5 night stay and damans wedding pachanga.
altho traffic is of expected nature in big cities, the traffic in this IT ruling metropolis deserves a supreme holler. shock from the unmatchable stop n go of 17 mill., surrounded by an IT distric built to contain over 1200 24hr customer service type bldgs (disregarding the fact that the area doesnt have the electricity nor water to sustain it (entirely provided by each building's pump or generator), juxtapositioned with the rural camel riding city riders, its no wonder this traffic is uncurable.... Not to mention a pain in my behind, and an alarming rate of street rage (short story: on our way to damanas reception, wearing sarees we cld barely walk in, and forgetting our kung fu fit, we witnessed a horrible ballywood ego maniac beet up a poor tuc tuc driver over a cotton candy bumper to bumper.... Horrifying, and also reminiscent of mexico).
Bueno, 8 hours of the unnerving leaving rural raajastan, and we arrive exhasusted to The Leela.... Where we simultaneously agree on dedicating the next 24 hrs to some much needed r and r western style: lay off the naan and curry for once and focus on pizza dinner, foreign cocktails (we later discovered this exotic puppies were taxed as high as a prohibition fine! ($25 tax for two drinks), pool day w accompanying mini sliders, andmadness jewlery and indian clothes shopping. Aaah we are cured and in very sassy zara like indian attire (courtesy of fabindia).
Next stop:j see my charming ballywood dancing friend Daman, who was able to charm me into planning this whole trip through the invitation to his weeklong wedding! Daman, the big friendly 6 foot chunk of joy, is one of the first friends i made in college, back in 2002 walking the dorm halls perplexed by the buzzing sounds i later found out were buddhist chants coming out of his and all other dorms. Hes the loyalty and charisma of an indian baloo the bear, plus a dose of wisdom and good rhythm. And here i am almost 10 years later in his home town celebrating his becoming the man to a beautiful sweet girl and new friend to me, Vineeta.
He met me at his flower and xmas lit gate (tradtnl way of announcing to neighborhood their is a new marriage in the family), excusing his exhausted and slightly disheveled but still handsome look, that while a deserving consequence to the previous 3 nights of celebration, he explains it was also part tradition. To look your worst the day before your wedding ceremony, to fend off the evil eye and to shine oh so brightly the day off. Hm, interesante.
he is just as superb from when i last sawhim, and our friendship still clicks. Good feeling!
Extremely happy we got that short but memorable one on one, because soon after it was nothing but go go go to a beeting of an ever appearing punjabi drum, and dozens to hundreds of f&f cheering and ritualing his "husband iniciation".
His home lovely and his family immensly welcoming, and fully committed to the daman 8day wedding celebrations. Commendable stamina! Being day 4, they did not reveal any signs of surrendering to rest, as we step uostairs to their second living room and i discover family everywhere chanting, eating, playing drums, singing traditional songs together, and then repeating the steps. i know how my foreign friends must feel with my family reunions now. Lol
This "small" reunion of 40ppl was barey a warmup for what was to come the following evening : the wedding ceremony fitting over 3000 ppl in an outdoor arena fit for the oscars, built especially for this grandioose occasion.
To prepare for such a royal event, soph and i dedicate the entire day to ' indi it up' in style. We discover the south coast plaza of delhi, try on the chicest of indian inspired gowns.... And stop dreaming once r math skills kick in and convert these colorfully ruppeeed dresses into thousands of benjamins. Out we go, and into a nice moderately priced mall, were we giddily get what we wish wld last forever mendi (henna on hands as symbol of friend of the wedding party), and in the heat of the unnecasary moment, buy another saree (2 big nights). Running on indian stretchable time, we speed back to the leela, henna still fresh aka pretty complicated to get ready when i cant use ur hands. applying makeup with our knuckles, shredding clothes like mentally inferm, shedding dry henna bits everywhere, and asking uncle vijay (driver for the entire trip.... We got close) to open and carry everything for us. Haha. And the festivities begin.....
A whole blog will be dedicated to damans nuptials, w the help of sophia who aleady wroe her draft.
Other than that we had another hair pulling traffic day to agra, aka the taj mahal, arriving 8 hrs later to a place grasped from Another world. The taj appears to be floating on its own soil, unfit for our earthly ingredients. Played with the optical illusion the arches cause, and rushingly took a kilo of photos as we arrived at sun down, when they close. The fog was so heavy the white mystical bldg almost didnt appear! So it is my imaginatio !haha Back to delhi by train - there is no way we were riding back in that nightmare road... IST train arrives comfortably 90 min late (im starting to think i am cursed by a nonpunctual traffic guru). And happy go handsome Ramen, our earlier travel escort, picks us up andshares the indian nightlife with us.
Wedding reception... (night 2) Then 2 days in hyderabad, centeal south india.... And i wld tell u what happened but i everything is a haze to me, either because the cough and sneezing were getting in the way from listening to tours or caring.... Or the triple drug dose that got me out of the sniffyness put me under a stomach flu spell. Rumble rumble. I was unbareble and cultured and indian fooded out. Those of u who know me and 'being dragged somewhere,' but i did all i cld to hide my inner shrek (sorry sophia).
But somewhere between the fog and the frosbite chills while in acapulco weather i do remember a clapping tour of the golconda fort, climbing a 5 k stone built fort, nazam style.... While also looking for dead goats or blood in every corner. The Clapping acoustic engineering seemed to have the guide completely taken for he substituted it for every opportunity of an "awkward silence ummm." granted very impressive this safety prone raja enginieered his palace to hear even the drop of a feather, but my role for the day was bratty kid enthralled wi gory ritual. : what really snapped me out of my stuffy mood was accidentally coming across (thru sophias Csi investigatory talens) a goat sacrifise over a terminte hill ritual 30 minues fresh, drip drip drip goes the goat leg tied on a branch down on our pathway. Not to mention this is onmilitary property. Boy yoy yoing. I was so shocked my ears plugged even more to the broken record tour guide, and my mission became to identify more unwanted goat blood stains everywhere we went. Cant remember what the ritual was for. Oops.
Another thing i do remember was the beverly hills of hyderabad drive, and the ooooooooverondulgent 5 coursem 18 item lunch that was served at the best restaurant in the city. The meal was probably the best yet, but i cldnt stomach another bite of masala. Carefully Concentrated to make it thru... I nibbled mastered my pate spreading skills. Very unlike me. I must be ill.
sincere apologies to hyderabad for my wrong side of the bedness. To my defense, i wldnt of gotten out of bed in any other situation. :(
And we went to another palace, now both sophia and i wearing the dime a dozen palace mood, wanting to finalize our trip preparatios for our earky 4 am departure... Palace tour eventually turtles its way to an end and we ask to finish the city tour early (um 7pm).
Closing india thoughts to come... If not over blog, over a bottle of wine!
