Wedding Season

We were all glad to arrive in Bangalore. It had been a very busy week traveling around and seeing so much. We were welcomed by Mahesh and Seema and little Sonna. After a day we took an Auto into town to do some chores and take a look around. Just standing on the corner of Mahatma Ghandi road in central Bangalore was considered site seeing for wide eyes westerners. After a couple of days I put my mum and dad into an auto and off they went on their own. They were now Indian hardened and ready for their own adventures up north to Delhi, Agra, (Taj) Amritsar (Golden Temple) and back to Goa all in a week. It was better than great to see them and share some of my travels with them, it was sad to see them go.
I had already decided to stay in Bangalore for a few months and help Mahesh expand his clinic and do some more work here. Sunday was to be a big day in the Mahesh family. It was Children's Day at Sonnas school. Once again I was the only pink face there (well tanned face now). He dressed at Hanuman his favorite God. Hanuman the monkey God. Directly after the show we rushed off to the wedding reception of Mahesh best friend Senna. I have known Senna for a while now and we had had a mini stag on Friday night. Not quiet the eyebrow ball-bag shaving, tied naked to a lamp post, thrown in the canal type of stag night I was used to, but it was still good and actually very appropriate for India. We had chillied cauliflower and drank one beer each in a very seedy bar about 2KM from where I am staying. I tried my best to convince him not to do it but he was looking forward to married life so much. The evening reception came before the wedding and was a typical Indian wedding, so I was told. Both bride a groom stood on the stage while 100s upon 100s of guest came to shake his hand and smile at her wishing them both many blessing. Their smiles fixed in a permanent grimace after hours of smiling and greeting. They looked nervous, not surprising since this was only the second time they had ever met. The next morning at 6am, on the actually wedding day there was about half the number of people, only about 100, and once again I was the only non-Indian. I'm getting used to the stares now, the blank vacant looks I get wherever I go. Just the other day in the mini-market the cashier wanted to shake my hand and would not let go, in the end I had to make a run for it, 4 other staff members and the manager had come out to shake my hand and great me and take pictures. At the wedding I was the guest of honor and had several strong apologies for the wedding being at 6am which meant I was "deeply inconvenienced" having to get up so early. I said it was fine and I accepted their apologizes after all how can I take more importance than the bride and groom on their special day and take more importance than the wedding time in relation to the horoscopes. The groom was more anxious today. A couple of night before (on the Stag he had reveled why). He had heard his sister was coming. This freaked him out for his sister had threatened to ruin his wedding because Senna had refused to marry her daughter. YES that's right he was supposed to marry his niece 10yrs his younger. He was understandably horrified by this. Now I had heard of this kind of stuff before and had seen the results of consummation of such marriages in the clinic when cousins and uncle/nieces had brought their retarded children in to be treated. This I expected of villagers but not from a modern city like Bangalore. I guess traditions are hard to change. Luckily she came and blessed the wedding by having her feet bathed or rise poured on them or something I could not really see. A few days later Seena brought his new bride around for dinner. A fine choice I thought. A very nice girl, very polite and friendly. I feel a child will be along shortly.

After a week or so I'm now settling back into the swing of things, the crazy traffic the horns everything. Each morning, afternoon and evening is filled with the sound of wedding music . It is the season for marriages. Something to do with a old woman and a bucket of beans I think. I get confused about as and why with many rituals and traditions.
And this is a picture I took of the front of a public bus, I have no idea what the celebration was, but look pretty dangerous to drive like that.