Divya and Vinay are married!
INDIA | Tuesday, 7 February 2012 | Views [494]
Sorry to disappoint, ladies and gentlemen, but both Divya and Vinay are officially off the table! In Guruvayur (pronounced goo-roo-vai-yoo. Or "G-Town") on Friday, we went to the temple at 8am to watch the Hindu wedding ceremony which was quick and to the point -- it took all of 30 minutes. There was an exchanging of rings, and Divya and Vinay each placed wreaths around each other's necks. I wish I could describe the ceremony in more detail, but I'm not sure what all the symbolism and traditions meant. The temple itself was crowded with many other people -- group after group seemed to be shuffling through the wedding paces along with hundreds of others who were at the temple for their own prayers. As non-Hindus, it was questionable that we would even be allowed to enter the temple or attend this particular event, but no one seemed to care other than the usual staring that has accompanied us on this trip.
Afterwards, the wedding party went back to the hotel and had a wardrobe change in preparation for the public wedding. After a quick detour to an elephant sanctuary, Kellie and I got into our saris -- correction: Divya's mom and one of Vinay's aunts helped put us into our saris while Michael threw on his kurta. Kellie and I were in this wedding, which was a complete surprise to us -- we had just found out the evening before that we would have a small role.
Divya picked out our saris while she was in Delhi weeks before we arrived, and she did an amazing job. After we got into our saris,, Kellie and I vainly admired ourselves in the elevator mirrors before realizing we hadn't moved in several minutes because we had never selected a floor since we were too distracted by our dresses and bangles. Shiny!
Much like in American weddings, there is a procession that starts the wedding where the groom is led into the hall by a drummer and guy playing something that looks like a flute. As they proceed through the room, they are followed by women on the bride's side carrying various items: gold plates with rice, flower petals, and a candle on it; an oil lamp with matching candlestick holders. The procession circled the stage, dropped off Vinay there and went back for Divya. Again, led by the drummer and flutist, we followed the same path and led Divya to her seat next to Vinay. At this point, we left our plates on the stage and then stood off to the side and watched offerings made to the bride and groom and their families, blessings from various people, and then Vinay and Divya circled the items on the stage (more candles, fruit, and other items) several times. Again, the ceremony was fairly short (the drummer and other guy played the entire time), and a massive line queued as people went on stage to congratulate the new couple and have their pictures taken with them.
While pictures were being taken, food was also being served in an adjacent room. As I entered the hall, I somehow got separated from my giant white friends and noticed for the first time a lot of intense staring directed only at me. I don't know if it was just the way the tables were arranged (we had to walk down a long corridor of people to reach our seats) or if people were just mystified by a Chinese girl in a sari. I'm fairly oblivious to being stared at -- growing up as a minority in the US will sometimes result in a lot of unwanted attention and you learn to ignore it -- but the unabashed gawking here surprised me. I was relieved when Michael and Kellie reappeared so that we could be stared at collectively.
From what I understand, the food was the traditional meal served at Malayese (sp?) (a region in the south) weddings. Unfortunately, I can't describe it other than being delicious, vegetarian, served on a banana leaf, and eaten with our hands. Divya joked that this is often the only reason people attend weddings, but I'm not sure that's very far from the truth. If food was this good at American weddings, I would seriously consider becoming a professional wedding crasher.
After the wedding, we packed up all of our stuff and hopped back in our bus to go back to Calicut and Vinay's uncle's home where another ceremony was held. Very similar to the American tradition of the man carrying his wife over the threshold, Divya (in yet another outfit) had to step into the house with her right foot first. There, more things I didn't understand took place, and a couple of Vinay's female relatives fed the couple as they were seated in front of some candles and other symbolic items.
Once all of that was done and more delicious food was eaten, we again hopped into the bus for a terrifying ride to Kadavu -- a nearby resort that is known for weddings. There we lounged, drank, ate (of course) and toasted the new couple. Congrats, Divya and Vinay!
