Ari Samaj Wedding!!! 12-12-2010

Okay I'm behind in my blogging so I'm going to get to the goods until I get back to the US and can elaborate. The wedding was amazing! Colorful and spiritual. As a true south Indian bride I was decked in gold and a gorgeous sari. Check out the pics and I will explain more later about the beautiful ceremony. =) All photos are copywritten and taken by Jagan Bobbilli.

Delhi

As the jet lag clears and I meet up with my family, I begin to really experience India. I went to Delhi Haat a local craft bazaar with my mom and best friend. Adithya and his cousin S accompany us and we eat (real) Indian food. Although I am still clutching my bottled water like it was gold to protect my sensitive american tummy, I am doing great as far as stomach problems are concerned. So much fear of tummy sickness while in India, so I just wanted to clear the air =)
I will admit I wasn't quite prepared for the poverty. Seeing the small children beg for food and skinny dogs lying on the street has definitely got me a bit shell shocked but I try to just focus on the task at hand. Taj Mahal =) We  have an awesome driver for the next three days and even though I squelch in fear every 30 seconds, he manages to come out of every near collision unscathed. I am convinced he "psychic drives." It's like he uses the force and knows when a car is coming in our lane or when to cut in front of someone.
We get a "tour guide" at the Taj. Adithya warns us he might just be making stuff up but he did show us some awesome detail like how the marble glows under a flashlight. This simulates how it would look like in the moonlight. Another thing I naively unexpected was the amount of burkha wearing Muslim women in India. We just don't see that much in America and it's a bit shocking at first. But once you realize it's a normal part of their everyday culture just like American's wearing jeans you ease up a bit about it. The amount of stares I was getting made me wish I was hiding under a burkha! Okay enough talk, you want the pictures. The Taj is huge!!! and Delhi is busy, crowded and has GREAT shopping and food. The End =) On my way to Hyderabad to get married!

Stay Tuned
Namaste!

India day one

 I sleep on the plane and as I awake I look over at Adithya, “Say hello to India,” he tells me. “We’re here?” I ask dreamily. We clear immigration and exit the airport. “There are so many people”, I comment. Adithya smiles. “Dehli has a population of about 15 million,”

 My eyes dance from color to color, from the cars zipping by, to the shouting and smoke. In a daze I enter the taxi. As it drives off and begins winding in and out of car after car, it hits me. I never woke up from the plane. This is a dream. There is too much color, too many people, every car is nearly crashing into my taxi only to swerve out of the way last minute. I must be in another world. But as we continue to pass the women in their saris, the fresh coconuts being sold, the roasting peanuts, food kart after food cart and finally, a cow! I realize. I am in India…I have arrived.

Thanksgiving 2010

<3

48 hours

     I leave for India in 48 hours!!! How did I get to this moment so fast? Six months ago I was standing in the living room of my mothers house crying tears of joy as Adithya crouched on one knee and put a ring on my finger. Now I am packing bottled water and my two Salwar Kameez suits in great anticipation for our Hindu wedding in India. When you fall in love with someone like I did and you fall in love with their culture, there is no greater gift you can get then to see where they grew up. Adithya lived in India for 17 years and this is a huge part of who he is, who I love. In planning the American wedding I initially thought that would be for my family and that the Indian family would come to the Indian wedding. Little did I know Adithya has like 40 cousins in America who all want to attend. But, Can I really complain that people want to attend and share our special day? No. For my whole life it's always been my mom, my brother and me. I saw my dad often and grandmother and have ONE aunt. =) But I always dreamed of a having a huge family as a little girl. I always wanted a network of people that you could count on, that loved you. Well I am inheriting a pretty large family now =) Wish granted. One auntie has become 30, One cousin has become 60 and I get another set of AMAZING parents. I feel like Christmas has come early.

     That being said there are so many fears that run through my head, will I use my left (Unclean) hand in the wedding? Will the food be too spicy and I will tear up and offend? Will I say something on accident that will offend? Will too many people show up to the American wedding and feel cramped in the small bungalow I booked for our, "intimate and small" wedding I initially wanted? Will the Indians at the American wedding expect Indian traditions and be shocked when I walk out in a white dress and have a twenty minute wedding vow? I only allow these thoughts a brief moment in my mind because in the end as my father and mother in law would say. "All is well," I am grateful for this amazing journey. Follow me over the next two weeks and I promise to entertain.

In Gratitude,

Namaste

It's all happening!!!

     So I leave for India in a month and a half and I'm getting so excited. It's all so real. My best friend, my mother, my brother, and a dear family friend will be accompanying D and I to India to par take in our cultural union. It's so weird to be simultaneously talking on skype with mother in law about the different trim colors on my wedding Sari and also to answer my phone and have Davids Bridal say my white veil came in.


     Everyone who knows me has always said it would take someone VERY unique and different to catch my eye and get married. Well I think a wedding in India, wearing red, and having swirly henna designs up to my elbows is unique and different enough for me =) Is it wrong that I am more excited for the India wedding than the American one? Once you see the wedding preparations for a Hindu wedding you feel kinda Blah about the white 20 minute, "I do" we have here in America. In Hindu wedding's there are flowers of all colors EVERYWHERE, garlands hanging around your neck, and strips of flowers hanging from the walls. The actual vows take HOURS not 20 minutes and it involves fire and red powders and prayers chanted in an ancient language. You eat with your hands from a banana leaf, your feet are bathed in Milk, you wear GOLD! and bangles! Did I mention that our astrological star charts had to be examined by a Priest to find the perfect wedding day? How special, how amazing, all of the thought put into our one day of union. Can it be more movie-like and amazing?


Excited international bride signing off. I have homework to do. Reality sets in. Having two weddings, while getting my Doctorate in Psychology and working part-time is not as easy as you think. But worth every strand of hair loss and stress =)


Namaste!

Our Engagement session in Payson, AZ.

History

So when I was six years old and playing with my barbies, I planned my future wedding. My husband had blond hair, blue eyes and wore a black tuxedo. I was in a white dress with chiming church bells in the background. At that time my ideal wedding never involved flying 24 hours to another country, wearing a red dot on my forehead and a colored Sari but now I couldn't imagine it any other way. I met a boy with brown skin and black hair, he introduced me to the kindest culture and has the best parents and I fell in love.  Now I get to have two weddings with a bunch of fellow animal loving vegetarians. I get to learn another language, see one of the seven wonders of the world and wear COLOR on my wedding day. (Gasp) Welcome to my world. May you Love India and her people through my wonderful experiences.
Namaste