Srikanth and Keerti's Wedding Day

Srikanth Nori and Keerti's actual wedding day seemed almost anticlimactic affter all of the events that had been leading up to the wedding. The wedding was held in a huge warehouse type of builiding because there were 3,000 people there! Both Srikanth and Keerti's dads are very successful men, and they both invited all of their colleauges from work. Keerti's dad is the tax commissioner for the state of Andhra Pradesh, and so the governor of the whole state was there! The thing was huge, so basically Matt and I ate food, chatted with all of our new Indian friends, and then left. Oh, and I had another conversation with Srikanth's dad about Matt and his tight trousers and how he needs to do yoga. Haha!

The ceremony lasted for hours and hours. It seemed like chaos. No one was paying attention to what was going on in the ceremony, everyone was just chatting and eating and being noisy. There was live music as part of the ceremony, and that was cool. The singing was really cool also.

The family stood on stage throughout the ceremony, but wandered on and off because it was so long. Keerti and Srikanth looked bored for a lot of it. Keerti's outfit was intricate and amazing, and she had an outfit change about half way through the ceremony to a new, even more intricate outfit.

The Brahmin priests that conducted the ceremony were young and jovial. They were on a break when I took this picture of them, and I was surprised cause they started asking me all sorts of questions. They wanted to take a picture with me but then they decided it would be disrespectful for the wedding ceremony. They made e promise to meet up with them after the ceremony for pictures but Matt and I left early cause it lasted so long.

At one point, everyone made a line to give the couple their wedding gift. There are special envelpes for wedding gifts, and you fill them with cash. Luckily, one of our new Indian friends brought us an envelope so we could follow the tradition.

Banana Leaf Lunch after the Groom is Prepared

After the Srikanth was officially "prepared" to be a groom, there was a yummy delicious lunch served on a banana leaf. It was delicious. We ate lunch in the traditional way: no silverware and sitting on the ground. Matt and I are usually very enthusiastic about doing things the traditional or local way. However, in this case, doing things the traditional way conflicted with the famous Indian hospitality. To me, it was hilarious. As Matt's future wife, I should probably be a little bit more sensitive, but I just can't help but laugh!

Basically, Matt is probably the stiffest person on the earth. It comes from the Massey family genes, his love of soccer, his tight pants, and his refusal to come with me to yoga class. Apparently, according to Marti, Matt had stiff legs even as an infant.
As you can see from the picture above, Matt can't sit cross-legged. Being the good sport that he is, Matt was willing to put up with the discomfort in order to eat with the family. However, Srikanth's family was appalled by the site of Matt sitting in that weird way, with his knees up to his chin. I myself felt uncomfortable just sitting next him! Matt kept insisting, and still insists to this day, that he is not uncomfortable sitting cross legged. It is hard to believe that, but whatever.

Srikanth's dad insisted that Matt move to his own table behind the family. I decided that I didn't want Matt to sit alone, so I moved back to sit with him. Then Srikanth's dad and I got into a discussion about Matt's tight trousers and how he needs to do yoga. Haha! I couldn't stop giggling. I am a horrible girlfriend. I wasn't giggling in a mean way, it just looked funny and I couldn't stop, especially as Srikanth's dad kept going on about the tight trousers.

Matt did much better with eating the lunch though...I hate eating with my hands and so I asked for a fork. How un-festive of me!

On another note, just to embarrass Matt further, I think he looks really cute in these pictures!

Preparing the Groom

As Srikanth's (the groom's) guests, Matt and I were invited to the ceremony to prepare the groom. Basically, Srikanth's whole family was there, and a Brahmin priest. The ceremony

was quite long, and the the priest was chanting the whole time. At one point, all of the women in the family poured oil on the grooms head and wished him luck in his marriage. It was very interesting...the best part was the singing of the family members.

Mehndi

Part of the preparation of the bride in an Indian wedding is the mehndi ceremony. It is sort of equivalent to a bridal shower because it is all women. Basically, all of the female friends and family get together and have their bodies decorated with mehndi, which is sort of a temporary tattoo made with henna. The bride's family hires some professional mehndi artists, musicians and caterers for the party, and then the women sit back and sing, eat and get decorated.

The longer you leave the mehndi on, the darker it will be and the longer it lasts. It is very important for the bride to have very dark and intricate designs because the darker it is, the happier the marriage will be. You are supposed to leave it on all night long, and keep moistening the henna with oil, sugar and lemon. Keerti (the bride) seemed totally shocked that I hadn't brought coconut oil with me to India. Then she said, "oh well, if you don"t have it, you can just use baby oil." Haha! I don't think I have ever owned baby oil!

You are supposed to leave it on all night, but I felt too oily and gross, and didn't want to mess up the hotel sheets, so I washed mine off when I got home from the party. It was still pretty dark, but it wasn't as dark as everyone else's. Good thing my marriage isn't depending on it!

Golconda Fort

Matt wrote our initials on the wall. Yes, I know it is an ancient monument...but it was just sandstone so I think it will rub off soon.

This is me right after Matt proposed. I felt realy weird at this point, like I wasn't sure what to do with myself. Matt was like, "Let's take a picture". I thought, "Um, ok, I guess I will go over to the edge" but I felt really awkward standing there. Also, all of the muslims were being called to prayer at this point and the sound was eery.

While we were in India, Matt proposed to me. He did it at Golconda Fort, and I was completely surprised. I really had no idea that it was about to happen. Even while he was proposing, I was thinking, "Is he proposing?" It just didn't seem real. But it was, and now we are engaged! Yay! I definitely feel ready to be marred to Matt...I guess after 7 years, you had better feel like that, otherwise something is seriously wrong!

We went to Golconda Fort at twilight, and it was really pretty. We took a three wheeler to get there, and had to drive through all sorts of narrow, twisty lanes to get to the fort, so when we got inside the fort it seemed extremely calm and peaceful. Everything looked very romantic because it was twilight. The funny thing is that right after Matt proposed, all of the muslims in Hyderabad were called to prayer by their muezim (I think that is what they are called), and it was a really eery sound to hear them all at once. We have a video of it with sound on youtube. If you can't get it from that link, you can go to youtube.com and search "mlmassey".

At night they have a light show at the fort, and it was sort of pretty at first, but I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes! And, it was long and sort of boring because it went through all og the history of the mughals and everything. Obviously, this was not the most exciting part of the night.

Also, I don't have a ring yet because Matt thought I would be too picky about what he would choose...I guess he is probably right about that, but it is sort of sad that he is scared of picking something for me! Anyway, I just added this part because I know when you get engaged everyone always wants to see your ring.

Mmm....Thalis!

Matt and Meagan Waiting for Thalis

Extremely Delicious Vanilla Ice Cream!

Our Table Mates

south Indian thali before the rice is ladled


I loved the food in Hyderabad. (Surprise, surprise!) It was a cool mix of north and south Indian food and since Hyderabad has a huge Muslim population, there were lots of meat options for Matt. We found a cool little restaurant near our hotel that served vegetarian thalis, and you had the option of "North Indian special thali" or "South Indian special thali". I always got the south Indian thali, because most Indian food in the US is north Indian, so it was fun to try lots of new stuff.



Basically, you walk in the restaurant (which was called "Vegetarian Food") and they seat you at any available seats, which means you may or may not be sitting with another group of people. Our table mates were really nice, their picture is above. When you order your thali, you get a set meal, whatever they have cooked for the day. You start off with a super sweet dessert, then get soup, then you get your "sampler platter", which has little bowls of various sauces and curries, with an empty part in the middle for rice and fried bread things (not sure the name). There are men constantly going around the room with giant pots full of rice, and you can choose between biryani and white rice. You are supposed to eat the biryani with the south Indian thali, but I always got the white rice -- otherwise it is grease overload! After the meal, you get

another dessert (no wonder diabetes is such a problem for Indians!) and then an extremely creamy, delicious vanilla ice cream. All this for 79 rupees (about 2 dollars)!

It is exactly the kind of meal I like... no need to make any menu choices aside
from "north or south", and lots of little bowls of things to taste and try.

Touch

Keerti, Srikanth Nori, Matt and Meagan

While we were in Hyderabad, we went out almost every night to clubs with Nori and his friends. I was completely shocked...I knew there were clubs in Mumbai, but I didn't expect that there would be so many in Hyderabad...I also didn't expect that we would be spending most of our time in India at clubs, up all night! I think we probably staid on US time, because we would eat and 11pm and then stay out till 5 in the morning, then sleep most of the day.

Inside, the clubs looked like clubs you would find anywhere else in the world. And they cost as much, too! Some places had 20$ covers! For India, where people are dying on the streets and most people live on less than 1 or 2 $ a day, that is an ungodly amount of money. And inside the clubs, people are not conservative at all...some girls dress skimpily and people dance very seductively. It was completely shocking to me. WHen I have traveled in India before, I was only exposed to the very poor and the very traditional in Rajasthan. So, this trip to Hyderabad was very unexpected. I asked one guy how he felt about all the poverty and malnutrition in his country, and he said, "There is nothing really you can do." I think the rich in India are so used to the contrasts in wealth that they don't even notice it anymore. (Or maybe they just don't want to notice it.) Anyway, the disparity was mind bending. But then, everything in India is mindbending...I guess that is why I love it.

Srikanth Nori's fiance Keerti (in the middle) and her friends.

Keeri's aunt owned a club called Touch. It was a great club, actually, with good music and a fun crowd. It was sort of cool, cause pictures from Touch were in the local newspaper alot. (Sort of like the "In Touch" magazine for Hyderabad.)

After going to Touch the first night we were there, all the guys came back to out hotel with some of the famous "Hyderabadi Byrani" and naan. We needed plates and silverware, so they proceeded to go into the kitchen of the restaurant and help themselves. Matt and I were like, "Uh, do you think you should do that?" They were like,"Oh ya, it is no problem, we know the owner's son." Matt and I sort of shrugged and figure this is what India must be like. They left a huge mess but said it would be fine. The next morning, the owner of the hotel says he wants to kick us out! Nori's friend ended up working it out for us so that we could stay. It was sort of an interesting event though...these guys are so used to having whatever they want, it doesn't occur to them that they can't go into someone's restaurant and start helping themselves to plates and silverware and cups! But, I guess that could do that in the end, cause we didn't get kicked out or charged or anything.

Charminar

One of the major landmarks in Hyderabad is Charminar. It is an old tower...the coolest thing about it is that it is surrounded by a really fun market area. To get there from our hotel, we took a little yellow autorickshaw. I hate riding in the autorikshaws, cause it is hot and dusty and you end up sucking in all the exhause of the other autorickshaws and cars. Plus, if you are in an autorickshaw, there are no doors or windows so you are completely exposed to beggars!

Hyderabad is known as "the pearl city" for some reason...we couldn't figure out why, because it is not on the coast or any large body of water. They had a lot of pearls for sale, though! I thought about buying some, but then decided against it because I already have some white pearls that my Grandma Yeckel gave me, and a black pearl that the Hardy family gave me.

I did one very stupid thing...I decided I wanted a lassi because I love them and it was hot out...but it was filled with ice and water and half way through drinking it I thought," Oh no, this isn't China...I could get very sick from this!" But, everything worked out ok and I didn't seem to have any problems. The lassi was not that good, so it wouldn't have been worth the sickness...it was way too sweet. I guess lassis are more of a north India thing.

We had fun in the markets, but we didn't buy much on this trip because we were only there a short time and shopping in the markets is very time consuming. Also, our house is already filled with stuff from India!

Sangeet

The Wedding Couple:

Srikanth Nori and Keerti

The first night we arrived in India, Matt's college friend Nori and his fiance were having a Sangeet. A sangeet is a north Indian tradition, but Nori and Keerti wanted to have one even though they lived in south India because they said that south Indian weddngs are too somber -- no singing or dancing. Basically, at a sangeet, all of the friends and family of the couple do choreographed dances to songs. Matt took some videos of the sangeet and uploaded them to youtube. All of Matt's videos are there, and there are 2 from the sangeet.

Before the sangeet, Nori came to pick us up at the hotel and took us shopping for Indian clothes to wear to the sangeet. We were totally jet lagged and Nori was stressed about the sangeet, so he didn't give us very much time to choose the outfits. The result for me as a neon lime green salwar kameez. They all said it looked cute, but I am not so sure!

The sangeet was held outdoors, and there was a giant buffet area and stalls where you could get free bangles, flowers, paan, or have your palm read. There were 300 guests, which at least twice as big as what my wedding will be! And this was just the first event of the wedding!

The singing and dancing was amazing...I was impressed that all of their friends would get up on stage and sing and dance in front of everyone! They were having a good time, and it was fun to watch. I expect all of my family and friends to do that for me, so take note of that, cousins!

Man giving out bangles

The only sad part was when you walked to the bathroom...the poor people were sort of standing back in the shadows sleeping or watching. I guess they were probably waiting to eat the leftovers. Anyway, it was disturbing.

It was amazing to see all the women with their brightly colored saris...everything was sparkly and bright and pretty. We also met Nori's friends for the first time at the sangeet. It is amazing to think that we didn't know them then, because I really think we bonded with them over the course of the 2 weeks and now I feel like I have known them forever. Nori's family and friends adopted us and took care of us the whole time. Indian hospitality really is amazing.

Matt and Nori's friend Bahrat

India

Matt and I are heading to India in a few minutes for Matt's college roommate's wedding. It is going to be amazing to see an Indian wedding, and 2 weeks of 90 degree wetaher won't be too bad either after this cold Boston weather!

I will be back at the end of February and will post lots of pictures!

snow/sludge

So far this year, Boston has had the least amount of snow since weather has been recorded. We finall got snow last night, but it wasn't the pretty, "snowflakes floating down onto a pristine white blanket of snow" -- It was "half rain/half sludge falling down heavily into a slushy, grayish mess on the ground". Literally, there were giant raindrops intermingled with fat globs of sludge falling. Gross!

Other than last night's snow/sludge, not much is new. Matt is still working hard with his Japanese clients on their products and we spent most of last week in Seattle meeting with them. Then, they came here to Boston for more meetings. Very tiring for him! I have been busy getting ready for India, and trying to get most of my schoolwork doen before we leave.

I am very excited for Hyderabad! It is going to be great, and weird also to be suddenly transplanted into 90 degree weather!