We dressed in record time for the wedding, since we were running a bit late. We met up with Tracey, and flew downstairs to grab a Tuk-Tuk. We couldn’t find a driver who knew exactly where we were going; they all gave us the Indian head bobble (wikipedia link). Which generally means ‘no problem, I understand’.  But in our experience, understanding and actually knowing where to go are two different things. This guy was no different; he stopped a few times for directions, but only did a little turning around, and eventually got us to the wedding (only 15 minutes late).

In approximation we were reasonably dressed. Most men who were wearing traditional garb were wearing white/creme/beige, while Eli was wearing blue, and most women were wearing saris, while I had the dress on. But it was obvious we’d made an effort, and no one said anything. None of the women were in Western garb, so I’m glad I got something more traditional. When we arrived, we all sought out Hiren’s cousin’s wife for a fashion consult, and the others (Tracey, Jamie, Rose) got their Sari’s re-tied (I took copious notes). The secret appears to be safety pins; we thought they were held up with magic and skill.

We didn’t take many photos at the wedding, since Hiren’s friend Jon (who we know from Cornell) had a Nikon DSLR and took many many photos we can get later. Here’s what we took. The first is of the party plot, with the platform in the center where they performed the ceremony (which was about 3 hours long, after a day of prayer ceremonies).

Jon got dragged into the ceremony with no warning right before it started; I guess the equivalent of being a groomsman. Rose and Eli traded off taking pictures with his camera during the ceremony. We couldn’t really hear what was going on (and wouldn’t have understood anyway), but there was obviously a lot of tradition involved. From what we understand, it’s a patrilineal ceremony, with customs from Kinnari’s father’s home region. While the ceremony was going on, most of the guests ate and mingled; it’s not expected for the guests to actually watch the ceremony. We watched some and did a little munching, and mingled and chatted right around the ceremony platform.

Hiren, his brother, and Jon on the platform during the ceremony.

Hiren and Kinnari during the ceremony.

The ceremony was full of repetition; the same action happens many times. We all participated near the end, when they make four circuits around the platform and we all threw flower petals on Kinnari (except for one joker who was throwing whole flower heads directly at Hiren’s face…)

The best part was after the ceremony, where Hiren honored us by having us sit for dinner on his family side of the table (this was around 9pm), and we were all served a dinner. It was good to have them there to tell us what was safe to eat, so we didn’t have to worry about getting sick. They have to be as careful as we do, since they live in the States. It was great to get to talk to Hiren and his folks a bit before we left. They’ll probably have a reception in the States next year, so we’ll get to see them again (and have an excuse to wear our Indian garb again! I’ll wear a sari this time.)

We got an early start, thanks to Tracey, and were ready for our tour of the sights of Ahmedebad at 9am.  We hired a Tuk-Tuk driver for the morning, to drive us around. The Tuk-Tuk was a blast; we crammed into the back seat and our driver skillfully weaved in and out of traffic to get us to our destinations, stopping for directions when necessary, or for more chewing tobacco/cigarettes.  Below is a picture of our Tuk-Tuk and driver, near the ‘no honking’ sign near a religious site… people were honking constantly, of course.

Our first stop was Gandhi’s Ashram, where he lived and taught his beliefs to others.

We saw this guy fishing in River Sabarmati while touring the Ashram.

After the Ashram, we hopped back in the Tuk-Tuk and headed to our second destination, the Dada Hari Vav, or stepwell.  It was built in 1501 to catch the monsoon rains during the monsoon season so they’d have water available during the dry season.  The groundwater table has moved since then, so it’s now dry and open for tourists. There are very intricate carvings in the stone walls, carved by Hindu artisans.  Here are a few pictures of it, and there are a lot more on our website: http://wildsprite.com/gallery/v/honeymoon/India/

Modern technology has seeped into India everywhere, as we see in the next picture, with the stone tower being used as a power line!

After the stepwell we went to our final tourist destination, the Sidi Saiyad Mosque.  It was built 1573, and has some amazing stone carved screens on either side of the central isle. Of course, being a mosque, women are not allowed on the premises. I didn’t bother entering, as the guidebook says the screens are the only noteworthy thing in the mosque. If you zoom in on one of the pictures, you can see the sign barring women from entering the grounds.  Only two pictures for you, more on our site!

After our sight-seeing, we took a walk along the street our hotel was on.  We stopped at a great place for lunch, Murch Masala.  We had lots of tasty dishes that we all shared, and my first fresh lime soda. They squeeze fresh lime juice into the glass, then give you soda water to fill the glass with.  I’m addicted!

We then walked up the street and did some shopping. I got a petticoat for my sari (which the folks who sold it to me didn’t mention), and a few other things. We spent some time in a gold shop looking for a chain for Tracey’s mother. The price of gold here used to be cheap, but with the head-line grabbing peak in gold prices, it wasn’t any more affordable over here (to my dismay!).

Then we skedaddled back to the hotel to get changed for the wedding.  More on that later!  Now, we’re off to the pool and dinner.

I feel like we’ve been in India many more than 4 days, so some of the details are a bit fuzzy…

Eli posted about or trip to the hotel, which we woke up in at a reasonable hour the next morning, when they very nicely buzzed us to tell us our paper had been delivered.  We got packed up, and went shopping within the gated, enclosed commercial district that our hotel was within.

It was a very positive experience.  I’d been worried after our trip to the hotel, but all the people were very friendly and willing to help.  We went into a wholesale sari shop, and the men who ran it (all the shops were run by men with no female employees) spent about an hour pulling out sari after sari and laying them on the table for me to examine.   After the first hundred or so saris, I was getting overwhelmed.  I picked up a few to use as home decorating fabric, and one to potentially wear to Hiren’s wedding.  I also picked up two premade shirts, since my hiking clothes didn’t exactly blend with the native culture.

My general observation of the dress here is that almost all of the men in the cities we’ve visited wear western clothing, while nearly all of the women wear saris or native ‘pantsuits’, which are comprised of a loose colorful top and long scarf worn over solid colored pants.

Our next shopping stop in this market was a mens clothing store.  Eli was much quicker than I was, and found his formal wedding outfit quite quickly, and a linen top to potentially wear around.

We then just wandered around, taking in the atmosphere of the marketplace (and trying unsuccessfully to find an ATM). I really wanted to purchase one of the pantsuits I kept seeing the women in, but they are usually custom tailored, and no one could make me one in the time we had in any one place.  Then while we were on our way back to the hotel, we stopped by one last shop that had some ready-made in the window.

Here’s me with the proprietors.  Behind us, you can see how the shops here have their merchandise; they have a few items out as examples, then tons and tons of different fabrics to choose from, all expertly folded and packaged in plastic.  They let me lean over the counter and point out the ones I liked, then pulled out more that they could suggest based on that.  They were quite helpful, and worked with us for a while.  I ended up with a pre-made suit for the wedding, so I wouldn’t have to bother wrapping a sari (and it was quite affordable), and I also got a premade pantsuit in green that’s very nice (I wore it today, on Day 4, and got complimented by two Indian ladies).  Unfortunately, the pants wouldn’t fit over my feet and calves, so I wore my new black long underwear instead (which was pretty close to the style of the pants).  Pictures over the rest of the trip are me in the clothes I bought.

After shopping, we had lunch at the hotel.  Tandoori chicken, chicken masala, and naan; it was quite tasty.  Then we got a ride to the airport from the hotel, and found out our flight had been delayed.  So we read in the airport for a few hours (Indian airport bathrooms are not my favorite experience), and hopped on our jet to Ahmedebad.

After a short and not un-pleasant flight, we made it there.  The Ahmedebad airport was much more pleasant than the international Mumbai airport; we found a driver easily and traveled about 30 minutes to our hotel on the other side of the city.  This hotel was much nicer than our first Mumbai hotel; the room was larger, with a seating area, and plenty of clean storage.  We met up with Hiren’s friend Tracey from Exxon, and got room service and made a sight-seeing plan for the next day.  It’s good we met up with her; she’d been backpacking around the country for the past three weeks, and had a much better idea of what to do than we did.  As usual, it was then quite late, and we passed out in our nice, clean hotel bed.  zzzzzzzzz.