A Muslim Wedding in Ooty

I can safely say that I have attended more Indian weddings than any other types of weddings. If the last Indian wedding I went to in Goa was way too hot, this Indian wedding in Ooty was slightly too cold. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and a lot of fun, despite catching a bad cold. It was a good excuse not to drink shots.

Ooty, where the air is crisp and the skies are (occasionally) blue.

Day 1: The Sangeet

A nicely choreographed Bollywood-style dance by the bride's good friends.



Day 2: The Brunch & The Manjha Ceremony

At brunch.


Bride in a beautiful white saree.


Live band at brunch. This is "A"'s dad singing a Louis Armstrong song.


Manjha ceremony area. Manjha ceremony is when the bride is smeared all over with haldi (turmeric) paste usually provided by the groom's family. I think this is also when the bride gets all the wonderful gifts from him and his family.

Day 3: The Nikah (Wedding Ceremony)

The bride and her entourage.


Traditionally, the women and men are to be seated separately, but we didn't do that at this wedding. The bride has to stay under the veil until her husband unveils her.


Bride taking a peek from under her veil, for a group photo.


And finally, the happy newly weds.

For more photographs on the wedding, click here.

Note: To drive from Bangalore to Ooty, if you leave by 6 a.m, it will take about seven hours. Any later than that, with the bad traffic, your journey, like ours, will be an additional two hours or more. If you are prone to car sickness, like me, you should take a motion sickness pill before the start of your journey. Or if time is not an issue, I highly recommend you stop and spend a night at one of the resorts in Masinagudi (a forest reserve in Tamil Nadu). If you're lucky, you might spot a wild animal or two.


A wild elephant at Masinagudi


Jungle Retreat at Masinagudi. Click here for their website.

A Sindhi Wedding in Goa

Since my last Indian wedding post, I must have attended (and been involved in) at least 2 more Indian weddings. This one was a destination wedding, Sindhi-style, most events were held in Goa and then a reception in Bangalore. It was done so grandly, I sometimes felt like I was in a Bollywood film.

Day One: The Pool Party

The bride's family arranged for some performers at the pool party.


Guests enjoying the show.

Day Two: The Mehendi and Sangeet

The bride


An outdoor area where mehendi was done.


"A" won't keep his hands off any musical instruments.


In the evening, a sangeet was held in an open air area on top of a hill. This is the entrance to the party.


A sangeet performance by friends of the bride.

Day Three: The Wedding

Guys were required to wear turbans. The groom's family hired a professional turban-tier.


Friends of the groom in turban and Indian outfits.


Groom on a horse, about to meet his soon-to-be bride.


The band plays while the groom enters in a horse.


Here comes the bride...


The wedding ceremony

Day Four: The Bangalore Reception

I didn't get a chance to take shots of the newlyweds, but here's one with my soon-to-be family.

More photos of the whole wedding

A Malaysian Chinese Wedding - morning session

I admit, it’s shameful but I just attended my very first Malaysian Chinese wedding. Since this is totally new to me (as opposed to the my other friends who has attended each other's weddings in the past decade), naturally, next to the bride and groom, I was the most excited and also the most clueless person at the wedding.

Foong, the bride woke up at 4 a.m. to prep for this.

The chee-muis.

As friends of the bride, I was part of the chee-muis or sisterhood. Chee-muis were summoned to be at bride's house by 7 a.m. on the wedding day where the first of two tea ceremony sessions would take place and before the arrival of the groom and his heng-dais or brothers.

45 minutes late but the groom and his heng-dais finally arrived with a lot of honking in 8 cars and a few "goodies".


Goodies include a whole roasted pig.


This is the dai kam che, I guess you could say she pretty much ran the show. Her noisy, high-pitched and high-volume voice gave me a headache but her energy level is impressive!

It's customary for chee-muis to hinder the groom from entering her home by testing his love for his soon-to-be wife. Some obstacles that the chee-muis came up with includes eating a 4-flavored sandwich; flavors include sweet (honey), sour (lemon pulp), spicy (wasabi) and bitter (Nescafe instant coffee powder) each representing experiences in life, washed down with some wasabi tong-yuen (rice balls, more spice for life!) and “lip-passing seaweed”.


Keith, the groom tasting the yummy 4-flavored sandwich. Can you see the wasabi oozing out of the sandwich?


Heng-dais had to help out.


Keith feeding the heng-dais spicy wasabi tong-yuen.


Passing of the seaweed.


The games are followed by some heavy angpow (red packets) negotiation (we’re talking about real money here!) and some sweet public confessions from the groom.


After about an hour of proving his love for her, the chee-muis unlocked the door and the groom saw his wife for the first time and followed by the many, many hours of tea-pouring to the elderly and the ancestors.

Smokeless joss sticks.

Click here for more pictures taken during the morning session.

Change of plans

I’ve been very productive with social events and being a tourist in the United States of America. If you haven’t heard, I’m back in NYC. How does it feel like being back? At first, it felt like I was in a dream, very surreal and wasn’t sure if it was due to jetlag or utter happiness. After about 2 days, it felt as though I’ve never left NYC.

I moved back into my little Chinatown apartment after being away for 15 months. Parts of Chinatown still smells like rotten seafood and the subway stations, despite the fare increase, still have a strong scent of urine. The mayor of Mott Street asked “You still doing computers?” My facialist tried to sell me another facial package; 15 facials for the price of 10, when I still have four more facials left from two years ago. My nieces Big J and Lil’ J are still the cutest little peoples in spite of the recently adopted princess-y attitude. I heart NYC.

A lot of people said I should update my blog name because I just turned 31, I finally came “home” to New York City and in the midst of my adventures in the past year I miraculously found a man (I call him my boyfriend, also-known-as “A”).

It was a tough decision but after much contemplation, I decided to maintain this blog as well as my current immigration status (B1/B2 Visitor Visa). This simply means I am not going to try to get a full-time, 9 to 5 (more like 9 to 9) job that sponsors, be in the mercy of Corporate America and have my ankle chained to the leg of an office desk for the next few years.

What will you do, you ask?

Here’s what I’ve been up to since I got back.

An Oregon Wedding


An NYC Wedding


A Berkeley Wedding


“A” visits NYC

Intrepid Museum


Times Square


Phoenix Concert @ Central Park

Po visits the West Coast (like twice)

The scenic drive in Oregon


Calatrava's Turtle Bay Sundial Bridge, California


San Francisco Bay bridge

And last but not least, www.ifluidmedia.com

The Big Indian Wedding

I have a list of must-do-before-I-die and and attending an Indian wedding (or getting invited to one) was one of it. Alok and Shruti’s 3-day wedding was perfect.

Day 1: Mehndi & Cocktails


Mehendi


Singing and dancing during Mehendi session.


Getting Mehendi-ed


Pani Puri - They punctured a hole into this deep- fried ball, stuff some cooked spiced potatoes in it and then pour some green liquid inside. Quite tasty.


Cocktails and Clubbing at The Mine


Alok and Shruti are such great hosts. What do you do when your guests are drunk and danced-out? You feed them.


24 hours later.

More pictures of Day 1

Day 2: Tilak Ceremony, Sangeet & Dinner


Bride and Groom on stage


Performance by the bride (no, there were no groom performance)


But Alok did dance a storm. Lady in pink saree is Alok's mom.


Alok's friends performing to the song "ohm shanti ohm"


Alok's friends chilling by the bar after performance


Doesn't this look like an Indianized GAP ad? Check out the shoes.

More pictures of Day 2

Day 3: Wedding Ceremony


Apparently, the groom is supposed to arrive at the location on a horse (or an elephant, I can't remember) with a music band but the Leela Palace did not allow noise or animals, so Alok's friends had to sing loudly to simulate.


Leela Palace


Groom and Bride


Wedding Accessories


Wedding ritual: pouring rice into fire. Not sure what is the significance but I'm sure Alok isn't sure either.


Literally tying the knot.


Negotiating for the groom's slippers


The rituals went on for a while.


Me, Pooja, Chitra, Helen and Sneha


The friends. Like a sore thumb.


Weddings can be quite emotional.


Leaving the ballroom


The Newlyweds

More pictures of Day 3