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Published: January 24th 2007
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The Bollywood Wedding
The wedding consisted of many events over three days. During the evenings, the bride and groom's families came together to party, whereas during the day the bride and groom's families were seperated. The formal ceremony took place on the third evening.
All the groom's wedding guests including us stayed in beautiful mansions rented by the family in Delhi. It was less beautiful to Lauren, whose hot water service caught on fire, after she was electrocuted by the shower taps (she is fine: Andrew assures me it was a build up of static electricity). If Andrew's dad ever runs out of work in his own house, there is plenty to fix in India!
The wedding, as with most Indian weddings, was a joyful as well as very sad occasion for the bride's family. This is because unlike in Western culture, where a wedding means the joining of two families, an Indian wedding means that the daughter of one family is given to another. In this instance, the bride has moved away from her own family in Delhi to Dubai where she will live with her husband's family. How many of us Western women would
say we
Maddy and Andrew, night 1
The combination I am wearing is called a salwaar - kameez suit. Andrew is wearing his new custom shirt and trousers. could cope with the indignity of having chores delegated to us by our mother-in-law in her house indefinitely? And this, after not even choosing our husband? Luckily Jai's mum is lovely, and they are a very modern family, but there are many less fortunate brides. Many tears were shed by the bride's family during the wedding, especially by her dad.
A real highlight was Indian organisation. We were frequently picked up 2 - 3 hours later than the time we were told to be ready by. But the best way to cope with India is to just let it be India and to just let go of the whole idea of efficiency! Besides, Indians know how to party, especially rich Indians!
*A Few Tips on India*...that I wish I knew before I came! If you are not interested, there is also some info on Singapore after this!
1. The adaptor that is marketed in Australia by Korjo as "India / Sth Africa" is a total waste of time. It is the one with three large circular prongs. Out of over 30 hotels, it worked in one - whereas our European adaptor worked in every single one -
Puja for Grandparents
Here the wedding guests at the groom's house perform a short ceremony in honour of Jai's grandparents who have passed. including the only one where the "India / Sth Africa" adaptor worked!
2. If you are a bit templed out and don't want to see any more, you can doing everything you want to in Varanasi in a maximum of 1.5 days, including a sunrise boat tour, sunset boat tour and walk along the ghats. I would also highly recommend Open Hand cafe at Assi ghat, which has beautiful food including great coffee, cheesecake, muffins and to-die-for sandwiches, all faithfully interpreted from the Western style - it was a nice break after a couple of months of curry.
3. Darjeeling is a great place to go shoe and DVD shopping. At least four days is needed to do everything you want to in Darjeeling. It's pretty cold in winter - most days we were there is was around zero degrees celsius.
4. If you can afford it, always travel in 2AC over 3AC. 2AC is really quite luxurious and comfortable, whereas in 3AC (i.e. 3 tiered), there is not enough room to sit up and read in bed. Also, in 3AC, if you are on the top or middle bunk, you have to agree with the person in the other
Groom's mum's sari on day 2
Jai's mum was pretty cool, even allowing meat at the formal ceremony! Don't be fooled by the sari though, most of the time she hangs out in Dubai in jeans! bed when to go to bed, because putting the bed up means no-one can sit on the bottom bed anymore. I don't think I explained that well, but 3AC is just a pain in the neck -
but suitable if you are getting on the train late at night and getting off it in the morning.
5. I can recommend Sethi's tailor in the Carol Bagh market, near Swati deluxe hotel. Sethi is sensational: extremely meticulous, reasonable about prices, very honest, has excellent materials........I am a complete fusspot, and I must say, I was very impressed by this tailor! They can also do women's suits if you ask them.
6. Watch your head and watch where you are walking really carefully. Steps often end abruptly, and there are often mysterious "split levels" in hotel rooms that are meant to be one level. There is also often a little thing to step over to get into the bathrooms. India is probably not very friendly for disabled people.
7. From the countries that I have been to I think it is fair to say India is probably a bit tougher on the patience relative to some other developing countries. We coped -
Maddy getting henna tatooing
Here I am having henna done, which is commonplace among female wedding guests. but lots don't - be prepared to be patient! It's not that some things will go wrong - it's that everything will go wrong!
Singapore
Singapore has been heaps of fun!
We have been doing a lot of shopping, although shopping is a fine art in Singapore. You have to take the time to find good quality at sensible prices - though if you like good quality at any price this would be your heaven, and you can shop indiscriminately! Also, a really simple way to halve your food bill in Singapore is to order "iced water" with every meal. In Australia, the drink:food cost ratio is very different and you can get caught! E.g. If you order sandwich and drink in Australia, the sandwich will be $8 and the drink $3, whereas here the sandwich will
be $8 and the drink $8. So just go without that Singapore sling and problem solved! Besides, water is much better for you and you need so much here due to the humidity. The tap water in Singapore is fine to drink.
For anyone going to Singapore, I would definitely recommend VivoCity, which has just opened 2 months ago
and is at HarbourFront. There is a very good mix of lower priced (e.g. $30 - $100) garments and decent designers, such as a very large Ted Baker shop. Also, the very first Tang's built since 1932 is now at VivoCity and it is quite a spectacular place, though I must say I didn't find Tang's particularly good value compared some of the other deals around. There are very interesting little boutique shops at VivoCity, which are different to the same shops which repeat over and over down Orchard road. Some of the shops are surprisingly cheap given what they look like (i.e. look very flash!) so don't be put off by the usual "large-quiet-flashy shop = ripoff" adage and give them a try! In short, Singapore is a shoppers heaven but it is also one big trap if you are not clever (mind you, disregard this advice if you are rich!)
A note on local food
I am lucky enough to have a truly *fabulous* Singaporean buddy, who aside from being the coolest best guy ever and having the coolest best car ever, tells me that Smith St. is the new Newton's. Smith St, Chinatown, has been
closed off as of a year or so ago, and you can get everything here, including stingray - which was delicious!
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