|
|
|
|
|
| Author: |
MrHyde |
| Date: |
Saturday, July 24 2004 @ 09:30 AM EST |
| Viewed: |
786 times |
|
| |
 |
 The wedding was set for Friday night at the ISKCON Temple in Albert Park followed by some food. Initially, we were only going to have a small ceremony with only family available, but later (about 2 weeks ago), we decided to invite a few close friends as well.
On the day, there was complete chaos at home. Everyone was doing something or the other. We had decided to leave home at 4 PM in order to get to the temple at 5 before the guests start arriving and so that we could meet the photographer for some shots. However, by the time we left it was nearly 4:45 and after that we got stuck in traffic. It was 6 PM by the time we reached the temple. Most of my friends had already arrived as well. Traditionally, weddings take place at the bride's house with the groom and guests reaching the house in a long procession with lots of music and dancing. Hence, all my friends had to leave the temple and wait outside till I made my entry.
After been greeted by Priyanka's parents, the procession made its way into the hall where the ceremony was to take place. After introductions by Annirudha, the ceremony started with Priyanka's Dad offering some prayers and greeting me. We had to repeat prayers in Sanskrit and I had trouble understanding what Annirudha was saying and am pretty sure that some of the words I uttered were completely wrong. During this time, Priyanka made her entrance... well before when she was supposed to. We couldn't have her distracting everyone's attention as she looked absolutely stunning. So she was sent back.
Once the initial prayers were completed, the coonch was played and Priyanka entered. However, this time everyone knew what to expect and I believe some of the initial surprise was no longer there. She started making 7 circumabulations (as Anirudha calls it) around me before sitting on my right. This was just the start of all the circling. I believe she ended up making about 36 or so circumabulations.
We had conducted a trial a few days earlier, but we had completely forgotten what we had done. Also, so had Anirudha as he was changing things on the fly. These two combined made me completely confused over what we were supposed to be doing and had to just follow whatever the priest said. I reckon Anirudha is quite a funny guy and as such I was enjoying the whole ceremony. Everything was very light-hearted and fun. If anyone is interested in the meaning of all the ceremonies, a word document consisting of the order of ceremony and the English translation of all prayers said during the wedding is attached.
Once the ceremony was completed, we moved to the temple room for the final ceremony... the seven steps after which the marriage would be complete. After that all guest went upstairs for dinner while Priyanka, I, Cathy and Michelle went to the priests room to sign the legal papers. One of the traditions at Indian weddings is that the bride's friends hide the groom's shoes and if the groom can't find them, he has to buy them back. I knew that they would not know which shoes are mine and when we went from the ceremony room to the temple room, I didnt wear my shoes as I knew they would be looking for it. I found out later that they had tried, but couldn't find my shoes. They kept taking someone else's shoes to Priyanka asking if they were mine. When we went to see the priest after the wedding, I noticed Cathy had disappeared for 5 seconds. That immediately told me that she had found my shoes and taken them. :(
After the legal paper were signed, we went to the dinner hall for dinner. I was totally surprised when we entered the room. I was expecting a small affair... eating either standing or sitting on the floor. Instead, there was a nicely decorated sitting arrangement as well as a head table. The food was very tasty as well. All the food was cooked at the temple itself by the temple cooks. The temple does not allow others to bring food in from the outside because not only is the food supposed to be vegetarian, but also cooked in some particular way. I especially liked the lemon water.
After we had our dinner, we mixed a bit with the guests till it was time to make our exit. However, I still hadn't got my shoes yet. Sandeep had tried to look for them, but couldn't find them. I knew they had to be outside somewhere as you can not take shoes into any room at the temple. I wanted to go out and look myself, but since I was attached to Priyanka, she wouldn't let me go. So I had to negotiate a price. I would have been willing to go home barefeet as well, but she wouldn't let me do that either. The price started at $100 each (there were 4 involved). That was way too much for shoes that I bought for $30. After some hard negotiations and some help from Cathy, we agreed to a price of $30 each.
Eklav had decorated his car and drove us two back to Rowville for a few more ceremonies. Once we reached home and were entering the house, my sisters blocked the door and wouldn't let Priyanka in till she gave them some money. Priyanka was ready to give them whatever was in her purse, but then my stupid sisters would not accept the money. After entering, Priyanka did a few more traditional ceremonies before we sat down in the living room for a few games.
One of the games involved looking for a ring in a bowl of milk. It was a best of 7 encounter (that number 7 again) in which I took an early 3-0 lead only to be brought back to 3-3 before I finally won. Another game involved untangling a piece of string that had been tied to each of our hands early in the day with just one hand. There were supposed to be 7 knots in the string. However, Priyanka's had only one knot which I easily untied. Mine had 7 knots and it took Priyanka both her hands to get them untied.
Later on in the night, we left for the Radisson Flagstaff Hotel where we stayed till Sunday.
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
PW.