This past week I was privileged to attend 2 major Indian weddings. The first was a wedding in the family of Dr. Gigi, with whom I am working and the second was in the family of one of the babies I caught. The first was in a small town near Nagercoil and due to the fact that the wedding was immediately after the first surgery of the day, I didn't get a chance to grab my camera and take pictures, so descriptions will have to suffice. The wedding was of a cousin of Dr. Gigi's. Both members of the couple are doctors, as were almost all the attendees. In fact, the main difference between this wedding and a medical convention was the gorgeous attire, with the added bonus of better food! The bride and groom both sported matching flower garlands and both carried large bouquets of flowers. The bride wore an elaborate sari that appeared to be about 50% beads and gold thread, as well as about 20 pounds of gold jewellery - stunning! The ceremony had started before we arrived, so I can't comment on that, other than the fact that there were hundreds of people in attendance. We walked from the wedding to a reception hall where we were treated to a feast and wedding cake and then had to get back to Tirunelveli since 3 of the people in our car were also doctors. Dr. Gigi's 2 daughters rode in the back seat with me and regaled me with reviews of the latest Harry Potter books they had read. Dr. Gigi's older daughter, Gina, has qualified with very high marks for entering medical school so will be going off to her studies soon.
The second wedding I attended was in a small town called Kayalpatnam or Kayalpattinam, depending on the sign you look at. I was invited to this one by the auntie of a new baby. The wedding festivities began the day before the wedding and the confusion began a little before that. It seems everyone I asked told me that to get to Kayapatnam you have to first pass through Tiruchendur, so that was where I told the bus driver I was headed. About 2 hours into the trip, I began seeing signs reading "....Kayalpattinam" and "...Kayalpatnam" and asked whether this was indeed the town we were in. The bus driver told me yes, so I asked him to let me off. Silly me. He did. I was now in Kayalpatnam with no idea how to get where I was going. I tried to call the kindly doctor whom the TPA director had given me contact info, but no answer. I tried calling the auntie, whom I later found out doesn't live in Kayalpatnam, who told me she was on her way there, from where I couldn't quite understand. I asked her to tell the man at the phone stand where I was and how to get to her house. He talked to her for a few minutes and then hung up the phone, leaving me as much in the dark as I was to begin with since he didn't speak English and for some reason I still don't speak Tamil. He did flag down an autorickshaw and got me a ride which turned out to be to the home of the maternal grandmother of the new baby. The baby and mom were there as well, although, it still being less than 6 weeks after the birth of the baby, the mom still isn't allowed to go outside to greet visitors so I didn't see her until I was safely inside.
Between all the food and all of the "Rest Now" requests, I was bustled hither and thither to all the relatives on all sides of the family, down all the narrow alleys and passageways in Kayalpatnam for tea, snacks and meals. Everyone wanted to give me something, so I came away with lots of new things to send home. Some interesting.
The wedding itself was also interesting. The women's part was held in a hall where all the female members of both families gathered to appreciate and decorate the bride and pray and take lots of pictures... all at the same time. Then the groom and the men joined us and the ceremony was over rather quickly, followed by another round of visiting and later another feast which included huge piles of biryani on banana leaves.
Later we visited a 100 year old church and a famous mosque.
Afterward, we visited Mina Garden and drank coconut juice and watched our driver climb a jackfruit tree and bowl with coconuts. (see pics). I apologize for these last being sideways but will try to correct later. Auntie also has a lovely little swimming pool where she swims and allows town folk to swim occasionally before reusing the water to irrigate the garden... very good resource management.
My ride back to Tirunelveli/Pallayamkotai was courtesy of auntie, who, it turns out, lives in Tirunelveli, about 5 minutes from me. She sent me home with 2 pineapples from her garden, iddly and palm fruit juice which we had purchased on the way back from the garden.
I was totally exhausted on arriving home and had a much needed long sleep before rejoining the working world the next day.
More posts to come!
