Around Delhi

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I definitely missed being in the U.S. for my favorite holiday, but we had a little party here. No traditional food due to our lack of an oven and several main ingredients, but we had fun explaining the holiday to friends who didn't know what it's for. In the process, it was revealed that Sue paid much more attention in US History than I did.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hari, who I know from UW and is now living in Singapore, was in town for the weekend. We went to Jantar Mantar--a complex of large astronomical instruments built in the 1700's. Personally, I think it looks like a skatepark...

I recently spent a Sunday morning wandering around Lodhi Garden, a big park in the middle of Delhi. There are several tombs inside the park that are about 500 years old. It is definitely one of my favorite places in the city; maybe largely because it's an escape from traffic, but it is also really beautiful.

This past weekend, I went to Delhi Gay Pride--a parade and rally--but I got there late so I only saw the end. Compared to the one in Seattle, it was small, but still loud and energetic. I was happily surprised that there is even a Pride event here, since India is so conservative.

We saw these puppies on the street the other day. There are so many dogs everywhere that I want to pet, but I have to remind myself that I didn't shell out the $800 for rabies shots!

In a saree store--so hard to choose!

Road Trip + Wedding!

Over the long weekend, (yup, Monday was a holiday and Thursday is this week, too :) Hey--don't be too jealous, I get no Veteran's Day or Thanksgiving) I took a trip with some friends from work to a coworker's wedding. First, we went to Rishikesh, a town on the Ganges River that attracts a lot of people coming to worship and bathe in the Ganges, as well as a lot of yogis from around the world who come to study at one of the many yoga schools there. Apparently, the Beatles spent time in Rishikesh and wrote many of the songs for "The White Album" while there. Next, we drove on to Dehradun, where Rashmi's (the bride) family lives. The wedding ceremonies took place over the course of four days. Saturday was an engagement ceremony, which we weren't there in time for; Sunday, the bride and groom had separate events so we went to the bride's only--prayers and lunch at her house in the morning and then a dinner and dance party at night; Monday night, the big reception and wedding ceremony; and Tuesday, a ceremony where the bride leaves her parents' house and goes to her husband's, but which we also couldn't attend because we had to get back to work. It was all so beautiful and special--I can't believe that what I saw wasn't even all of it. Her family was incredibly sweet, dressing up was a lot of fun, the food was delicious, the music was great, and the six of us barely stopped laughing and smiling all weekend long. 

The Ganges River in Rishikesh:

At Rashmi's house. Everyone took a turn blessing her, which involved us all being smeared with 

tumeric powder:

All dressed up for the first party:

And the wedding/reception:

Vidya was the only one in our group who knows how to tie a saree and even she has only recently learned, plus we were in a rush, so she didn't have a chance to do all of ours properly. In the interest of time, I figured I'd just go for it myself. I literally just wrapped it around myself until about the right length was left over and threw it over my shoulder. I actually thought it looked semi-accurate. As we headed out to the wedding, we were all in varying states of correctness in our saree wearing. We walked in and immediately asked some older women to help us adjust our sarees, knowing we needed a little help. Apparently, I needed A LOT. This woman looks at me with the most hilarious expression that I wish I could show everyone, that basically said "Oh dear God, what? no no no. What is this?" She and her friend then went with us out into the parking lot and fixed us all up. It looked wayyy different and needless to say, much better, once they were done with us. Then we went back for our entrance, take two (see above). 

In the interest of giving a fully representative picture of my time in India, I thought I would share that there are occasionally big roaches in our bathroom and I am sick again, having to drink nasty Oral Rehydration Salts. Taking the good with the bad...

Happy weekend everyone!