Indian Wedding Crasher

*Times lost: Who knows, I never knew where I was. Items lost: Well, I got an email from Maia saying, STOP LOSING THINGS. The only thing I lost was my appetite for American food slash ship food.

*India. Usually writing a blog is pretty easy for me. This time I’m utterly speechless. I have no idea how to capture what I saw with words. Unlike anything, any place I’ve ever been. We were docked on a dirty street, with run down buildings lining one side. Women would be on their knees, sweeping dirt off the street with make shift brushes. Piles and piles of black dirt. A train lined the other side. Rickshaws, motorcycles, taxis, buses, and trucks would push their way through the street. Workers would stare at you from their drivers seats, some even taking pictures. Before you left the dock, you had to go through a customs table. Soldiers would walk around with guns strapped to their back. At one point the tip of the gun brushed against our guides face.

*We headed to the airport immediately for Delhi. The drive there was unreal. No rules apply. You have thousands of vehicles squeezing in and out of traffic, of all kinds: rickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, huge buses, tour buses, anything. If anything will kill you in India, it’s a bus. If it hits a human nobody cares. If it hits a cow, you’ll have everyone mourning.

*People wait in huge mounds to board the buses, which are basically run down and completely stuffed. Hundreds of eyes just stare at you from the dirty windows. Every now and then you’ll have people on motorcycle drivers staring at you while they’re driving, then whisper to the other person who will look too.

*The streets. Well, in the South it’s lined with shops and people just walking around barefoot. Cows will randomly be walking around the streets or congregating near shops, but not nearly as much as the North.

*Delhi. So we took a bus to our hotel in Delhi. We passed the embassies and what not, which was a stark contrast to everything else. This is where it gets good. Our hotel was unbelievable. We pulled into this massive, gorgeous structure. We were greeted with flowers and given dots on our foreheads. We were given drinks and there were welcome signs made with rice. Since I’m last, I got a room to myself. A suite. Complete with 2 porches, 2 big screen TVs, huge down comforter bed, a living room, and a little kitchen area. I was already on cloud nine. We went to a huge buffet, with musicians playing on drums and a flute. There was different types of traditional food and I tried nearly every one. You’ll see a big pattern with me: curry and white rice, with vaan. It was so good.

*After dinner Ashly and I wandered. We befriended these shop owners and played dress up with all their pashminas and shawls. As we were leaving, they wanted us to have a gift so we got a free pashmina. We refused to take it, but they literally started to throw it at us. We left laughing, wondering how the hell that just happened. We were about to go to bed, when we ran into a group murmuring something about a wedding. We wandered to the basement, where there was in fact a huge wedding. Sheets and flowers lined the halls. Petals were in designs all over the floors. Huge platforms of flowers were outside the reception hall. The inside was three massive rooms, with a HUGE center stage lined with flowers, they were draped above, behind, and placed in huge piles along the edges. I mean, it was unbelievable. An entire wall was lined with food. A huge table for salads, a traditional section, even a Chinese food section. Another wall lined with desserts. Hundreds of tables were filled with people, dressed lavishly in stunning saris. Apparently at its peak, over a thousand people were there. We were introduced to the bride and groom, took pictures with them, and talked to them briefly. Then we were invited to stay and join them for dessert. We had all these Indian delicacies. We talked to the cousin who said he was originally given the proposal, but their horoscopes did not align and it was then sent to the current groom. I thought that was fascinating. He also told us that they will go to their separate rooms tonight, then ask their deceased ancestors for their blessing and then they would be able to be together. After hanging out for a while, we watched as the bride was sent off. They slowly walk, stopping to hug, cry, kiss, and continue forward. It was interesting how they were so inviting and we got to watch this really emotional goodbye. Just an irony, as this is going on these two kids are ripping out these flowers, which probably cost a couple hundred thousand (seriously there must have been a million flowers scattered in and outside the room). Then they proceeded to beat each other with them. I think we pretty much all left wondering how this was our life. Seriously. How is this my life? I just crashed an Indian wedding.