Mehendi
Trip Start
Dec 08, 2008
1
15
27
Trip End
Dec 24, 2008
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Gurgaon,
Haryana,
India
Saturday, December 13, 2008
When we make it upstairs for breakfast, we are asked what happened last night. It takes a little bit of explaining before we realize that they were waiting for us to come up and have dinner after we got back home. We both thought that our 11-ish arrival was after the bed time of everybody in the house, so we just hit the sack. Neither of us were hungry since we'd eaten a pretty nice lunch and had a couple of snacks along the way.
So we hop in the cab that we've rented for the day and we take the trip down the Gurgoan. Eveybody said it would take an hour, and they were right. So if you are ever traveling to India, keep in mind that a 20 mile trip (as the crow flies) is at least an hour.
We find Karan and Sonika's house, go through all the security and head up to their flat. Like almost everywhere else we've been this trip, their aparment is simple, clean and beautiful. Rebecca and I start thinking that we've been the luckiest people on earth this trip. We sit with Karan and Sonika for a little while chatting about our travel plans and our impressions so far, then we need to start getting ready for the Mehendi.
The Mehendi is a pre-marriage ceremony that has traditionally been for women only.
Mehendi
They all get together and paint elaborate designs on each other's palms, hands and possibly feet with henna. But I was told that much like in America, traditions that have historically been for only one gender have become increasingly unisex in recent years. So at this party, they hired professional mehendi artists. There were 3 of them I think. 2 spent most of the time on the bride, with the most elaborate and detailed designs, and all the rest of the women got slightly less detailed, but equally striking designs on just thei palms.I was also told that it's traditional for the men to hang around the feet the women while theiir wait for their henna to dry. It takes about 3 hours, then after it flakes off, it continues to get darker for the next couple of hours. There is also something about heat that can accelerate the process. Like holding your hands above a space heater or stovetop burner. Or possibly applying warned mustard oil. Rebecca really wanted hers to get dark, so we read up alot on what she might need to do, but we found that it naturally got very dark on it's own, and we didn't any additional assistence.
Over all it was a very cute and homey ceremony. They had a live band sitting on the floor playing traditional music, food everywhere, and a big table full of bangles (the brightly colored bracelets that go with the traditional indian outfits) The first part was working through each woman in the room (there were many of them) and then a period of time where people were mostly sitting around chatting.
Mehendi
It was a beautiful sunny day at a stunning house they had rented for the event. The second part was everybody going down to the basement annd watching a couple of choreographed bollywood dance numbers they had put together the previous day. Many people asked Rebecca and I how we got out of dancing. But we've kinda been on our own itinerary and doing our own thing. We heard something about a dance being planned but we didn't hear anything after that. It's ok, it gave me a chance to get some good videos of the whole thing. I figure the least I can do for getting invited to this whole multicultural craziness is get some good photos and videos that we can send to Sandhya and Jon after we return to the states.
The whole event started winding down, and I realized I still needed some shoes to go with the outfit I'm wearing to the wedding. Rebecca decided she needed shoes too, and then we discovered a couple of other people in the wedding party also needed to get some shopping done. So we piled a bunch of people into the car we had hired for the day and headed to the local Gurgoan supermall.
The mall was pretty crazy. They had actually closed off all the entry paths to the mall so they could funnel everybody through a metal detector. Like a couple of other places we'd been they actually had 2 metal detectors, one for men and one for women. The womens queue also had a privacy screen so that a female guard could wand each female coming through without intruding on her sense of decency or something. We've actually seen these metal-detector queues all over the place in our stay here. I can understand why they are trying to create a sense of enhanced security; but much like the whole TSA absurdidty at home, if somebody really wanted to orchestrate an attack, the security measures in place would amount to a hill of beans. A couple of red strings tied across a path along with 3 unarmed security guards channeling people into the proper queue aren't going to do much against even one well-trained assailant with no regard for human life. (remember in the Mumbai attacks, they simply shot the few security and/or police they came in contact with) But I guess they gotta do something.
Anyway, we got our shopping done, probably paid too much for everything we bought, but it's nice to actually have it done. Rebecca got some shoes she's very happy with and some earrings that match the Sari she's going to wear tomorrow. I got myself a simple pair of white jhuties (aladdin slippers). And we returned home to turn in for the night. The wedding starts pretty early in the morning and we don't want to miss the elephant!
Comments
WOW!!
What a phenomenal experience! People who care for others regardless of 'anything' are truly blessed. Would this journey have happened if Kirby and Rebecca had never opened their homes, their hearts their friendship and their minds to whoever came along that they just 'liked'? I think not! What a gift, these international exchanges..... of lives, traditions, beliefs, cultures and lands.
The picture of Rebecca and friend with palms in the forground is awesome!!! That'll look great hanging on the wall bsck in Eugene! Did you decide to try to get back to an 'open' Taj? Meana has a date to sit and be read to then pour over the pictures. She is so excited for you....and even envious!