Budget: 3500R/$70; Spent: 350R/$7
This morning, both of us woke up not really feeling great. Patty had slept on and off since mid-afternoon the previous day so at least she was well rested. Jeff woke up feeling quite nauseous and with a bad headache, the same Patty had felt the day before. He was a little scared he would get sick today.
Today was the wedding ceremony so Patty put on her pant-suit she had bought with Mintoo’s mom two days earlier. She looked quite beautiful. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t feeling very good and we had to leave the house relatively early, at 10am.
We had a little bit of an adventure getting to the event because the driver that was supposed to pick us up didn’t show up for quite some time. Then, right as we were going to flag down our own ride there, he showed up on a main road which was not at all where we were supposed to meet him so it was quite lucky.
When we got to the temple, the Gurdwara service was complete, but it turned out that it wasn’t the actual wedding ceremony we had missed. First, was a walk down the street to a hall that had been rented, with the groom riding a very elaborate horse-drawn wagon down a very busy street towards the wedding venue.
The drums were back for another round, unfortunately, and were accompanied by another band. Actually, they were more like two teams facing off against each other, vying for the attention of the people in the procession. I’m pretty sure they rely heavily on tips, so when they get people dancing, the people who are dancing hold money in the air that is then collected by whoever can grab it first. It was kind of silly though, because having both groups there made it a competition and not at all about the wedding. A couple times the groups got mad at each other and made some threatening gestures. I'm pretty sure I even saw two guys in the same band shoving each other over something, likely money. It was a chaotic event. There were also two beggars and their children following the group of us down the street and asking for money. One guy, not sure who he was, was not impressed by these ladies and shoved them away a couple times. What was kind of amusing was that his aggression didn't stop them at all. They continued following us all the way. A couple times the same guy chased them off only for them to return asking for money. The guy actually raised his hand a couple times as if he was about to slap them. The whole scenario was quite the experience, but not really conducive for a wedding, at least not weddings we're accustomed to.
Thankfully, that didn’t last too long and then we were at the hall and could grab a bit to eat. Before entering the hall the girls play a game where the Groom has to pay the bridal party money to enter the hall. We didn't really stay to watch but there's certainly lots of money flying around.
Jeff was still feeling quite ill, but he thought maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten dinner the night before so was just hungry. Turned out this was at least partially correct. Eating helped, but the nausea remained on and off.
Patty was only feeling good when we were sitting, so we just sat and observed what we could from there. It was hard to understand what was happening because it was difficult to see through the crowd of people, even though it wasn’t a very large gathering. There were no more than 50 people there.
After this, the bride walked in and came down the stairs. Finally the bride and groom were together. At one point, the bride and groom were throwing rings of flowers over each other’s necks and their respective father decided to pick them up while they were doing so. It was cute moment and both families looked really happy. It's very interesting to see a couple getting married when they barely know each other, seems it would be awkward. But from the looks of it, they were both happy. We learned that the bride had lost both her parents and was raised by her uncle and aunt. We assume the man lifting her was her uncle.
After this, it was back to the temple for the wedding ceremony. This lasted about an hour. There was some singing, some reading from their religious text, and then finally the bride and groom walk in a circle four times to accept their oaths to each other. Similar to oaths made in typical Western weddings.
After this we went back to the hall for more food and pictures. Patty and Jeff got a picture with the bride and groom. The groom actually lives in Thompson, Manitoba so he speaks perfect English. We have chatted with him previously.
We talked a little with Mintoo about his plans for the next couple of days, because tomorrow is the final event of the wedding, so we will all be leaving Delhi shortly after. We might go to Agra with him and his parents, but we will see.
After eating, there is a traditional event where the bride is taken from her home by the grooms family, which symbolizes that she is now part of the groom’s family. We decided to skip out on this and go with Mintoo and his cousin Mala to see a huge festival that is going on in Delhi today. I believe the festival is celebrating Sikhs’ equivalent to Christmas, but I’ll need to check. The crowds on the street were crazy. There were bands playing, people “play”-fighting with real swords, and free food being handed out everywhere. The main attraction of the festival is the float that Sikh’s holy book is being brought down the street on. It’s very interesting, so much garbage and mess was being made by the festival, but before the float would enter an area the street had to be cleaned, so there were countless people sweeping the street in front of the float.
The street was absolutely filthy. People threw everything on the ground. Everywhere you stepped, there were plates from all the free food being given out.
It turned out that Mala’s girlfriend’s family lives in that neighbourhood and was giving out food tonight. So, we went there and she brought us a couple plates of food, but she couldn’t stay long because her parents don’t know that she has been dating Mala for four years. Mala was saying that they have a tentative plan of telling her parents that they want to get married in two years after he has a more stable career. Neither of them know what will happen. They’re like Romeo and Juliet, it’s crazy!
Getting back to the car through the crowds took a long time. The street could not have been more full of people. At one point we saw a family collecting as much food as possible and - putting it all into bags, presumably to eat at a later time. They looked very poor. It was very sad. But at least the Sikh community seems very generous and turned no one away.
After this we were pretty hungry so went for a bite to eat at McDonald’s. Jeff thought he was ordering something different from the Canadian menu, but he didn’t.
We took the food back home and ate it there. Mala stayed for a while and we talked.
The wedding reception is tomorrow at around 7pm, so we will shop most of the day. I need to find a dress shirt and belt, and get a haircut tomorrow. Patty wants to find a Lengha, which is another kind of Indian dress.
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