Sakshi and Varun's Wedding Day

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Geo: 27.8938, 78.0681

Today we wake up, should be all excited as the wedding is today......but Clint is really sick. He slept well, but woke up crook as a dog, as much as he wanted to say he was ok, he had to admit his defeat and we had to tell Praviin that Clint was sick, and possibly he should go and see a Doctor. Well, before long, he was whisked off to the Doctors by Shubham, as busy as he was organising for the Wedding, he somehow managed time to take Clint, to make sure he was seen as soon as possible.
While Clint went to the Doctors, Hanh, Thanh, Jay and myself went out the front of our hotel to grab a Tuk Tuk as we only had a few hours to spare and we wanted one last chance to do some shopping in Aligarh. I'm not sure whether Jay was really up to gallivanting with us crazy Aussies, but he risked it!!! Along the way, we had traffic/pedestrian jams all the way, it was a very busy shopping day, people everywhere, the road that went up and over the railway line was bumper to bumper, motorbikes, Tuk Tuks, cars, trucks, cow and wagon, people walking, unbelievable amount of traffic. Once over the bridge, then we had to get past the market area, a one way road with traffic going all directions! We made it to the Market safely, took about 45minutes to only go 6kms!! We bought some goodies, poor Jay insisted in helping carry our bags, then we bought some very cheap blankets, and once we bought all we could carry, we went to a Restaurant for lunch. Hoping Clint has been seen by a Doctor by now, we found another a tuk tuk, and we headed back to our hotel. Along the way, we handed out blankets, finding older people sleeping on the roads, and children also who seemed to have no home to go to, and also slept on the roadside. These people seemed shocked, at least they will be a bit warmer tonight!
We arrived back to the hotel as Clint was getting back at the same time, he had a bag of pills, a bag of bananas, and instructions to make sure he took all these tablets when he was meant to!
We all stayed in our rooms for a couple of hours, tonight was going to be a late night, and this gave us time to tidy and pack up our bags, to make sure they were all ready for an early start tomorrow morning. Clint went straight to sleep, snoring away, and shivering in between.
The hours went by, and then we were informed we would be picked up at 6pm so we could go and get our makeup done. Clint, after sleeping for a while, looked glassy eyed, and wanted to keep sleeping, but we needed to get ready, making sure everything was packed to wear to the wedding. Hanh and I got our dresses on once we were at the Hotel, where everyone was getting ready, then we went into another room, where a team of make up artists and hair dressers were busy beautifying everyone needing make up! We came out looking so different and the team wanting selfies with the Aussie girls!!
Well, Clint and Thanh were dressed by now, and we had a few quick photos, then we were taken to the Wedding venue, a few kms up the road. A grand entrance, decorated all the way to the main foyer, then valet service attendants whisking cars away to be be parked. We were amazed just by the way the entrance was decorated! Walking past the dangling lighting, and past the grand water fountain in the middle, we were then met by Praviin and Poonam for photographs. We just could not believe the size of the venue, Praviin had sent us videos of before the Wedding venue was constructed, it was just a bare paddock, now it had been turned into a grand spectacular venue. We wandered to the centre of the venue, so many people commenting on how wonderful we all looked dressed up! Poor Clint, still feeling poorly, still had a smile on his face, but we were so lucky that he was able to be here, but biggest thing was to know where the toilets were for a quick dash if he urgently had to go. We sat down and about 10 waiters all with food, smothered us with attention, chilli paneer, fruit salad, juices, pizza, samosas, there was so much food that was offered and even just left in front of us, and this is only a "snack!!" A drone hovered above us for about 40 seconds, all operated by a cameraman watching all from his phone!
Hanh and I went for a walk around the edge of one corner of the venue, so many "snacks" we are wanting to try, but we were just looking at this stage. The drums started up, something big is happening at the main entrance, so we head over and see that the Groom has arrived and he is being introduced to Praviin's family with a grand entrance. We were shuffled closer to the family, then louder drums sounded and he was taken up to the main stage on the shoulders of Shubham, Rishab and I think a few of the cousins of Rohit and Shubhams, a warm welcome anyway! Sakshi, the bride, was still nowhere to be seen, but I'm sure her entrance will be unreal!
We sat back at the table, still with waiters hovering over our every need, and just mingled with the guests. Rohit, Shubham, an Praviin all checking on us, making sure we were OK.
The drums sounded once again, this time, Sakshi has arrived, looking very stunning. She was helped up onto a carriage, which had been fully decorated with fresh flowers. Her dress was absolutely beautiful, and there were a few moments she actually had to wipe away tears, hopefully of joy, it was a very emotional moment! Rohit and Shubham rolled the carriage to the stage, where Varun, waited for her arrival, the family now all joined the couple for songs and dance, and lots of photographs.
We left Clint sitting at the table (poor thing!) and we went and got some food from the hundreds of dishes that were being served in the buffet area. There was more food here that 10 restaurants put together, I'm sure every vegetarian dish ever invented was served here tonight, not only Indian vegetarian, but Chinese, Italian, and whatever else I have missed, where do you start???? First, you grab a plate, then a little bit of this, a little bit of that, by the time I got to half way, I had a full plate and I had missed so many along the way, I could have gone overboard, but didn't want to feel uncomfortable. Poor Clint, opting for a tiny piece of pizza, at least he had something. After demolishing that plate, we were entertained by another stage which had singers, dancers, videos of Sakshi and Varun and fire dancers/ entertainers.
We went up to the stage to have photographs with Sakshi and Varun, special moments of a special day. Sakshi not only worrying about herself, but concerned about how Clint was.
By now, it was after midnight, the actual ceremony still was to be held at another venue, where we got changed, this was to happen sometime after we leave. It would have been amazing to go and see this, but we are to be picked up in the morning at 7.30am, for our trip back to Delhi., so it sort of is impossible. As we were leaving, we had many photos along the way, we all wanted to stay on but we were dropping!! We said farewell to Praviin, Poonam, Rohit, and so many cousins and family members of Shubham and Rohit, but Shubham was nowhere to be seen, We were taken back to our hotel, such an amazing day, such a privilege to be invited and involved closely with this beautiful Indian Wedding. We have been treated as part of this family, so many of Praviin's family telling us that we will be missed! Looks like we will be heading back to India in the very near future!

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Comments

[Nicola and Stephen Muller]

Wow. What more can I say?