India Travel Diary
Thursday, December 31, 1998
On this day, I went to attend a Hindu marriage. My friend, Vij was getting married to his girlfriend, Pia, from Tarapur. Though Tarapur is only about 150 kilometers from Bombay, the drive there and back was so painful! For one, it took about 4-6 hours one way! Why? Trucks, traffic jams, and general chaos and confusion! At one point, a person riding an elephant on the road side was travelling at a faster speed than we were, in a car! But, we survived with music from films -- Dil Se and some Marathi film tape, of which I do not know name. Anyhow, unfortunately, now if I hear a particular song from Dil Se, I think of trucks from that road!
The photo to the right is of one of the many rituals performed at a Hindu wedding. This is called SAPTAPADI. First the couple throw parched rice on the fire (Agni- the fire god), an let it sizzle. After that, they perform a prayer wishing a good married life and the couple circles the fire four times. After the end of each circle, they will touch heads like in the above photo. After this some also take 7 steps and make 7 promises about their future married life. I am not sure if this step happened in this wedding.
As I realized, all guests are offered a small bag, with a coconut in it. In addition, the host asks you to put kum kum on your forehead (actually this is supposed to take place when you enter), and I did this using my left hand! This is all wrong. Using the left hand is considered 'rude'. I came to find out only later!
We arrived home about 8 pm or so. We wanted to go out and do something, we tried to go to the Bombay Circus, but it was shutting down as we arrived. Then we tried to go to see a Hindi film, but it was one hour into it, then an American film. The film, “Great Expectations”, was rated A for Adult!! If you see and know about Hindi movies it is easy to know why this is rated as A. So, instead we went for ice cream and a walk in the park. I had this delicious lychee ice cream. It was TOO good!
We went home from there, and being New Year’s eve, watched all those party shows, like in US, but with Hindi films songs and stars instead! It was fun and funny!
Author and photographer: Jennifer Polan
Hindu Wedding Links -- click here to learn more about Hindu weddings.
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Travel photos of India -
an exhibit by Vikas Ragta (North India)
This page was created in July 1999.
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