Incredible India

Wow. Where shall I begin? "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start" (Recognize the line/tune Mom?). Yes, folks, we made the trip to India for our friend's wedding. The video is the groom's wedding procession. You can hear folks in the background saying to watch out for the horse droppings (there were 4 horses in the procession). Droppings were avoided by all I knew around me, and well, what a party!!!!

Had an uneventful trip from the 'middle east' to Mumbai/Bombay, India. When we walked out of the airport, we were greeted by the groom's brother and a friend of the groom's from the groom's adopted country (we'll call her Ms. P - a VERY educated, VERY accomplished lady. We made a new friend right away!) We parted ways with the groom's bro, and our little family and Ms. P were taken in a nice Ford SUV by private driver no less to Pune, India. The drive was around 4 1/2 hours. What a drive - up into the mountains.

We arrived safely in Pune and stayed at the Executive Hotel. The bride's family would not even consider us paying for our own room. I'm still blown away by the generosity of all the people we met. Our hotel was comfortable and clean and had LOADS of steamy hot water and, Cartoon Network in Hindi. So, needless to say, the family was more than comfortable.

We got up fairly early in the morning, had a nice buffet breakfast with made to order eggs at our hotel, coffee with loads of milk and sugar, and about 5 bowls of chocolate cereal for Munchkin #1. We were wired and ready for the day.

We needed to find me a dress/outfit that was appropriate for the wedding. So....thanks to our driver and Ms. P (who grew up in Pune but now lives in Houston), we began the explorations. We first tried a 'western' style mall, but I was really looking for something with more local flavor (after all, I have another wedding to attend back in the home country and I like to wear different stuff). Well, with a recommendation from Ms. P's sister-in-law (Ms. P's brother is a retired Bollywood actor - quite famous), we found a great shop. Well, I guess a lady married to a Bollywood actor would know a GREAT place to find an outfit.

When we went into this great shop, it was a truly designer kind of place (I'm still amazed we bought something in there). It was not as expensive as I would have expected. But, it truly showed the two different sides of Pune. The lush, beautiful and monetarily powerful and 'outside' the severe poverty of homes made from whatever building materials are at hand. Ms. P believes that India's poverty is part of it's current power. People want to no longer be poor, so they are working very hard to improve their standard of living. Interesting stuff to think about.......

Fancy outfit found (thanks Husband for the present of that shopping bag!), we headed for lunch at a Chinese restraunt Ms. P knew. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Of course, the kids eat anywhere in the world where there's rice and noodles. And, ice cream for dessert (thanks Ms P).

Now, it was time to REALLY explore Pune. With Ms. P having grown up in Pune, she knew the good places to go. We found a shopping area with tiny stores just busting with things. The best was the 'textile' shop. If you get the stack of email photos, that's the place where we're sitting buried under merchandise being displayed for us. Mom, this is the place your Christmas present came from - truly awesome shop. It literally felt like being submerged in culture. Yards and yards of fabrics to make Punjabi dresses, yards of Sari's - many covered in tiny little gems, stacks of shawls, pillow covers and a bajillion other things that can be made from fabric. Awesome. Gee, I wish I had bought more. What a place.

That night, we were invited to attend a dinner with Ms. P at the bride's house. I think we were like representatives of the groom's to an important function/precurser to the wedding. The bride's mom made, truly, the best Indian food I've ever had. The bride's lady family members sang to us while playing a drum and then Ms. P and I (no men allowed) were invited/pulled into a back room for dancing. I was expected to dance which I tried to do with gusto and to the best of my ability. Unbeknownst to me, someone told my husband, "Hey, your wife's dancing!" So, the Husband just had to have a peek. Next thing I knew, I looked out the door and there is the husband clapping for me. I was SO imbarrased because I was TOTALLY caught off guard. Well, one of the bride's aunties (a distinguished older lady in a sari) pulled me out of view and shot the husband the dirtiest look you ever saw! But, she felt better when she was told that he was my husband. We got some good laughs from that! After I got to dance with the bride, one of the aunties pulled me aside and said, "You are my daughter" - a VERY high compliment. It has to have been one of the more memorable evenings of my life.

Ok. I need some sleep. More of the India story later! Peace.