My marriage on 9 2 11 - A Typical Indian Marriage
2am on 13th Feb, 11: Half awake standing in a long queue of Delhi international airport to check in for my flight to Mauritius. Flight was supposed to depart at 4 am and my night was all ruined due to travel to airport and then taking care of the rest of the check-in formalities. An announcement comes by and I got to know that my Air Mauritius flight from New Delhi to Mauritius was delayed by 12 hours. Whoa.. what's next!
Passengers who were standing in the queue started making fuss but no point. We were shifted to a hotel nearby and were asked to spend the night there. Frustrated we went there, spent the night and woke up next morning to know that flight was delayed by 24 hours. Air Mauritius was courteous enough to extend my return flight by 1 day so that my honeymoon still remained of 7 days.
Yeah! I got married 2 days back on 9th of Feb, 11. My friends call the date as 9 2 11 (in hindi, that is a proverb which indicates you run away after completing the task).
My engagement was on 8th Feb, 11 at Parshad Bhavan, Jaipur. It typically had a few rituals in which bride and groom both received gifts from the other family and then ladies sangeet followed by dinner. I and Juhi danced on the beats of bollywood music "teri aur.. teri aur". Here is the video:
After our individual dances we had a duet in front of a large audience of around 300 relatives.
There were also a couple of dances performed by my mother, mother in law, brother and sisters and other relatives. After a rocking session of 2 hours we were all up for dinner. We had invited all the close relatives for dinner on engagement, I guess around 500 guests attended the function.
Something worth mentioning here is that I lost my gold chain that my father in law gifted to me before the dance. I remembered something fell from my neck when I was dancing on the stage but realized it only after dinner that my chain is missing. We rushed back and tried to search it but all in vain. Later I found that chain slipped from my neck and fell inside my vest and it was all safe there. A big relief! :)
Some pictures of engagement day:
The function on 8th Feb went pretty well and we had a night to rest before another day full of events. 9th Feb started with a few rituals at home such as chak bhat, ghud chadi, etc. In evening we all left for marriage garden where the bride side was waiting for us.
As a custom in North India, groom side goes to the wedding hall dancing on Punjabi dhols and bollywood music. Whole DJ kind of stuff walks along and relatives of groom dance on the road to marriage garden. Groom just enjoys the show riding on a horse.
We had around 100 relatives dancing in groups for 2 hours on the beats. As the party reached wedding hall the fireworks were in galore and the beats went up with more energy.
I was welcomed at the doorstep by my mother in law and I had a toy sword (touran) from which I had to hit the welcome gate. This is customary in Indian marriages and depict that groom has won the fort and now can take his to-be-bride with him.
I got down from my horse and started walking towards the stage. I was accompanied by my friends who were dancing all around and also pulling me to join them. I went to the stage and was waiting for my bride (eagerly waiting!). Meanwhile all the guests came inside the garden and started enjoying the grand show. All of them were welcomed by bride side with dry fruits, perfume (itra) and flowers.
Wedding garden, Moti Sarovar, Mansarovar was a huge garden and was decorated very nicely. There were around 20 different stalls for starters or desi chat. Also some 20 different curries along with many sweet dishes and a huge variety of breads. There were in all 1500 guests invited from bride's and groom's side.
Since the barat (groom's party) reached right on time (8pm), my bride was hurrying up with her make up. But soon the wait was over and she came down in a beautiful palanquin (palki). I went down from the stage to get her on the stage from her palanquin and sit along with me.
Then we both sat next to each other for couple of hours and all our relatives greeted us on the stage. Had lots of photographs and also gifts :D.
Around 11 pm, the party was over with most guests done with dinner and back to their adobe. Left ones were close family members and priest. We sat around in mandap where priest (panditji) made us take 7 vows to live happily ever after :). Whole affair was finished at 3am on 10th and till then we were all exhausted. Half slept we went back to our car where my in-laws bid us adieu and we went back to my home.
2 days later we were off to Mauritius for our honeymoon.
Passengers who were standing in the queue started making fuss but no point. We were shifted to a hotel nearby and were asked to spend the night there. Frustrated we went there, spent the night and woke up next morning to know that flight was delayed by 24 hours. Air Mauritius was courteous enough to extend my return flight by 1 day so that my honeymoon still remained of 7 days.
Yeah! I got married 2 days back on 9th of Feb, 11. My friends call the date as 9 2 11 (in hindi, that is a proverb which indicates you run away after completing the task).
My engagement was on 8th Feb, 11 at Parshad Bhavan, Jaipur. It typically had a few rituals in which bride and groom both received gifts from the other family and then ladies sangeet followed by dinner. I and Juhi danced on the beats of bollywood music "teri aur.. teri aur". Here is the video:
After our individual dances we had a duet in front of a large audience of around 300 relatives.
There were also a couple of dances performed by my mother, mother in law, brother and sisters and other relatives. After a rocking session of 2 hours we were all up for dinner. We had invited all the close relatives for dinner on engagement, I guess around 500 guests attended the function.
Something worth mentioning here is that I lost my gold chain that my father in law gifted to me before the dance. I remembered something fell from my neck when I was dancing on the stage but realized it only after dinner that my chain is missing. We rushed back and tried to search it but all in vain. Later I found that chain slipped from my neck and fell inside my vest and it was all safe there. A big relief! :)
Some pictures of engagement day:
 |
| HTC Desire - Grin on my face |
 |
| Juhi's dance performance |
 |
| Juhi getting gifts from my side |
The function on 8th Feb went pretty well and we had a night to rest before another day full of events. 9th Feb started with a few rituals at home such as chak bhat, ghud chadi, etc. In evening we all left for marriage garden where the bride side was waiting for us.
 |
| Groom's relatives all dancing in the way to marriage garden |
As a custom in North India, groom side goes to the wedding hall dancing on Punjabi dhols and bollywood music. Whole DJ kind of stuff walks along and relatives of groom dance on the road to marriage garden. Groom just enjoys the show riding on a horse.
We had around 100 relatives dancing in groups for 2 hours on the beats. As the party reached wedding hall the fireworks were in galore and the beats went up with more energy.
 |
| Bride's Mom waiting for groom to come |
I got down from my horse and started walking towards the stage. I was accompanied by my friends who were dancing all around and also pulling me to join them. I went to the stage and was waiting for my bride (eagerly waiting!). Meanwhile all the guests came inside the garden and started enjoying the grand show. All of them were welcomed by bride side with dry fruits, perfume (itra) and flowers.
 | |
| Food stalls at wedding garden |
Wedding garden, Moti Sarovar, Mansarovar was a huge garden and was decorated very nicely. There were around 20 different stalls for starters or desi chat. Also some 20 different curries along with many sweet dishes and a huge variety of breads. There were in all 1500 guests invited from bride's and groom's side.
Since the barat (groom's party) reached right on time (8pm), my bride was hurrying up with her make up. But soon the wait was over and she came down in a beautiful palanquin (palki). I went down from the stage to get her on the stage from her palanquin and sit along with me.
 |
| Juhi in her palanquin |
Then we both sat next to each other for couple of hours and all our relatives greeted us on the stage. Had lots of photographs and also gifts :D.
 |
| Grand Stage for our wedding |
2 days later we were off to Mauritius for our honeymoon.
Thanks for sharing the information...
ReplyDeleteSubhamastu is a growing kamma matrimony website, matrimony service exclusive for kamma's around the world. Search kamma brides, kamma grooms and kamma community matching profiles for your life partner here.