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Another South Indian Wedding

End of August is a very auspicious time for indian weddings because of both Lord Krishna's and Lord Ganesha's birthdays. Everywhere on the roads the marriage halls will be decorated with lightings, guirlandes, banana leaves, banana flowers and a board showing the name (and occupation) of the bride and groom. All saree showrooms and jewellers will be calling for special wedding offers. Everyday another beautiful wedding invitation card will be landing on the desks of my colleagues. And me too i receive invitations sometimes :)
But for foreigners, especially for french people like me, a South Indian wedding is...well...mmmhh...quite boring. No dancing, no Champagne, no 3-hours long relaxed eating, no wedding cake, no garter... 8(

A South Indian wedding consists of many functions and rituals over several days, but the most important parts are the religious function and the reception. The date and time of the wedding is given by the horoscope and unfortunately it's always around 6 or 7 in the morning during the week... that's the reason why i usually miss the religious function.

For Bhavadhaarini's wedding again i missed the function and went only to the reception, which took place on Wednesday 26th of August evening. The program of the reception is always pretty much the same: you enter the crowded marriage hall (minimum 300 people or so); you stand in queue towards the stage where the bride and the groom will be standing the whole evening; after reaching the stage you offer your greetings and your present, the photograph takes a picture of you with the couple while the cameraman films the scene (smiling not compulsory); then you go down again and take a seat; after some time you go to a huge room with rows and rows of tables and banana leaves on them; you sit down, pour a bit of water on your banana leaf and watch the 'waiters' walk around with their buckets full of sambhar rice, chapatis, coconut chutney, pickles, halwa (sweet) etc. and filling your banana leaf; you eat everything all together without any particular order - with your right hand; and after maximum 10min you stand up, wash your hand and leave the mariage hall; at the exit you usually receive a bag full of snacks and a small gift.

In fact, one of the most enjoyable things to do during a South Indian wedding is just to sit and observe the people around you. Then you will see how the dirty floor and the plastic chairs contrast with the beauty of the women all in gold and sarees. You will see the children run around, screaming and throwing everything on their way and you'll realize that nobody is wasting time scolding them. You will see elder people sitting on their chair watching the couple, and you'll be wondering what they might be thinking. And people will come and ask you where you are from and who tied your saree for you - "What, you tied it yourself?!"

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