Weddings and More

This is the season for weddings. Last weekend we flew to Hyderabad to attend the wedding festivities of a Ruby Macons connection (it's complicated…).

Hyderabad was having unusual weather. It's supposed to be the dry season, but an afternoon thunderstorm (or "hailstorm") flooded low-lying areas of Hyderabad, making travel difficult.

Knee-deep in rainwater. We were in Hyderabad at the end of monsoon, and don't remember flooding this bad then.

The wedding was extravagant, even by Indian standards. Sunday afternoon was an exchange of gifts, followed by a reception that went into the wee hours of the morning. We left just before midnight. On Monday, things were running 2 to 3 hours behind schedule (which is typical), probably because everyone in the two families were up until 4 or 5 AM. The unfortunate part of that was that we didn't get to see the actual wedding ceremony, because we had to leave at noon to catch our flight back to Mumbai.

The decibel level at most events in India is beyond ear-splitting. The movie below should give you some idea-- be prepared to turn down the volume! This went on for about 3 hours. I'm surprised my cell phone could record the music without getting total distortion. Another indication of how loud it was is that about 100 "crackers" (firecrackers) were set off about 50 feet away, and you couldn't hear them. If I hadn't seen the smoke, I wouldn't have known about them.

The groom atop a white horse (which you can't see), with a niece riding behind him for a bit.
The poor horse must be totally deaf he does this duty regularly.

The horse with his handlers and some of the musicians.

Wedding attire is traditional Indian.

I got help putting on a saree properly from about 4 sisters-in-law of the groom. (It's a large family. Counting the bride, there are 9 sisters-in-law … so far.)

Lon got fitted with a turban wrapped from about 3 yards of fabric. The expert turban-maker is on the left.

How they managed it, I don't know, but children were sleeping wherever there was a flat surface. The noise level was way beyond OSHA-approved, but still they slept.

Back in Mumbai, our hotel room had a good view of the new International Terminal at the Mumbai Airport. It just opened in mid-February after years of delays. It's particularly impressive at night.