Sri Krishna weds Deepa, part 1

We were wedding crashers last weekend! Aren't we wild and crazy? In my dreams. What really happened was that a friend of our friends Suyash and Cheryl was getting married, and they got us an invitation so Sarah could see a Tamil Brahmin wedding.

Sarah, Evie and I went to the mehendi and sangeet party, where we were met by this enormous Ganesha.

Inside, all the ladies were gathered on the wedding dais for mehendi. Here's Evie getting hers done. That's Cheryl in black.

Here are Evie and Cheryl comparing designs. Evie's getting pretty good at holding her hands still for the half hour or so it takes the henna to dry.

After Evie's had dried a bit, I took a turn.

After getting our mehendi, we settled in for the sangeet. My only other experience with a sangeet was pretty traditional. The female family members sang songs for the bride and groom, substituting some of the lyrics with jokes and advice. A couple of cousins danced, and then the dance floor was opened and we all got up and danced for a while. It was really low key and really fun.

It's hard to describe this sangeet, but it certainly wasn't low key. There was stage lighting, a fog machine, an emcee, and a sound system that was far, far too loud. The family had hired professional karaoke singers (I had no idea this was a profession) and this weird dancer from Rajasthan (more on him later) to perform along with all the cousins and aunts and uncles who danced and sang.

Evie was in awe ...

Some of the older aunts and uncles performed traditional music, but most of the younger crowd did lip-syncs and dancing to Bollywood and Kollywood music. It was a little like a ward talent show on steroids.

By far the strangest thing, though, and probably the weirdest thing I have ever seen, was the Rajasthani dancer. He had three acts. The first was the tamest. He danced around, balancing what looked like bicycle wheels on his nose, head, fingers and so on.

Act 2 was almost unbearable to watch. He swallowed ten razor blades and then danced around gagging and spluttering for awhile. Then he guzzled about a liter of water, spitting some of it across the room. Then he swallowed a long piece of string. After more writhing and coughing, he pulled the string out again, this time with the ten razor blades tied to it. Who comes up with this stuff? And why?

The best part of Act 2 was watching Sarah's face. She looked more and more appalled, her jaw dropping lower and lower. She told me later she was wondering if someone should run for help. The funny thing is, most of the audience wasn't paying any attention at all. They were visiting and talking together, eating cake, wandering around. Not many people were even looking at the horrific spectacle before us.

As soon as I realized Act 3 was going to involve fire, I started looking for the nearest exit, just in case I had to carry Evie out of an inferno. The good news is that the nearest exit was 10 feet away. The bad news is that it was padlocked. Oh, how Indian!

So for Act 3, the dancer set his head on fire and danced around while brewing a pot of tea. Yes. That's what I said. He brewed a pot of tea on his head. It seemed to take a couple of hours. And then when he was done no one wanted to drink the tea. It was so bizarre!

The groom made things especially entertaining for Evie, because he flirted with her the whole evening, trying to get her to smile at him. Evie took this fantastic picture of Sri Krishna with his mom cracking up beside him.

It was a fascinating evening, to say the least, and oddly enjoyable. I'll close this post with pictures of Sarah's and my hands as they looked a couple of days after the party. Beautiful! I find it hard not to stare at my hands every time I have mehendi done. I love India!

DakshinaChitra

Last week we went to DakshinaChitra, a heritage center where they have houses and displays of art and crafts from all around South India. It was fascinating to see the difference in architecture and style depending on the region or religion represented.

This kolam (and here) was at the front gate.

We were welcomed by Ganesha, of course, a favorite god.

Here's Johnny outside the Chettinad House, which is set up to look as it would if a merchant lived there.

Did you know that Snakes and Ladders (and here) originated in India? It was meant to teach that virtues (the ladders) lead to Nirvana while vices (the snakes) lead you back to rebirth.

This is a display of musical instruments used in pujas. The music is supposed to drown out evil or distracting noises.

One of the houses held a gallery of religious art.

Here's Johnny looking at a bronze sculpture of Shiva reclining on a five-headed serpent. Johnny told me that's what Shiva does after performing his duties as destroyer.

This house had a collection of baby cradles. I've occasionally seen babies hung in cradles made from saris.

This contraption is a baby's walker.

The kids took turns grinding rice flour in one of the houses.

Here they are in front of a small temple chariot. The chariots are used to parade the temple idols around during festivals.

We watched this man make blown glass pieces.

At the weaving and pottery house, Evie made a little basket, and Johnny made a ball that rattles when you shake it.

Here they are showing off their handiwork while we wait for delicious masala dosai and shakes.

Some of the houses had textiles on display, and one showed the ikat weaving process.

Many of the houses had puja rooms or household shrines, which varied quite a bit according to region.

We finished up with a stop in the market, where Evie watched this woman making little snakes and other animals out of something that looked oddly like taffy.

Johnny and Evie each bought a couple of souvenirs. I especially like the little stone elephant pendant that Johnny bought. He's been wearing it on a black cord, and it looks awesome!

DakshinaChitra got two thumbs up from us! It was fun, and we learned a lot. We'll be going back.

Lost in Translation

Neemrana Fort Palace

We had a lot of fun climbing around ancient forts and palaces on this trip north, and to cap it all off we actually stayed in one. It was about halfway between Jaipur and Delhi, otherwise known as The Middle of Nowhere, or Neemrana.

The Neemrana Fort Palace is a 15th century fort that's been restored and made into a heritage hotel. The oldest part of the fort was built in the late 1400s, and sections were added over the centuries. Our suite dated to the 17th century.

Here are the kids standing at the front gate. There are spikes on the door to defend against opposing armies' elephants, and just inside the gate are fun artifacts like a huge set of keys and a couple of ancient-looking palanquins.

We had a blast exploring all the tunnels, stairways and hidden courtyards in this place. I have to admit it was a little rough on the knees, as we were constantly climbing or descending stairs or ramps (even in our room!). Here's a view from the terrace where we had lunch just after arriving at the fort.

After lunch John and Sarah and I took turns hanging out in that pool with the kids and taking a great audio tour of the fort. We discovered that our suite was part of the zenana, or the women's section of the palace.

The tour took us to 11 levels of the fort, including up staircases that hugged the outside of the fort (no handrails!) and led to rooftop courtyards. Do I need to explain why we didn't take the kids on the tour? The tour was super interesting and full of fun details about the buildings, art and artifacts. We were even shown the doors to Kate Winslet's favorite suite! Chic, no?

Here are some photos that John took during his tour.

And here are some views from our balcony.

Dinner was in the oldest part of the fort. Here's Johnny all ready to tackle the buffet.

The kids were excited about all the animals we saw, everything from miniscule frogs to camels to donkeys to hogs and the ever-present cows. We were looking out over the hills after breakfast and could hear peacocks calling. Johnny recognized the call from our time at Kabini River Lodge. I just love his nerdiness! We spotted the calling peacock in a tree not far from us and stood watching it for a long time.

Here are the kids clowning around after breakfast.

Johnny was having a difficult day, so he and Sarah and I stayed behind to pack while John took Evie and Samuel on a camel ride. I didn't mind staying behind at all, as my limited experience with camels involves not much more than haughty looks, spit and an unpleasant smell. John assures me that this camel was clean and friendly. Right.

Samuel's face in this photo just kills me. I want to draw a thought bubble over his head ... "Why on Earth is that camel eating leaves? Disgusting creature."

The camel ride takes you from the fort to a well and back, and John was thinking he was heading out to see a hole in the ground. Boring. Well, it was a hole in the ground, yes, but it was surrounded by (John's words here) "seven levels of huge, ancient awesomeness!"

Here's the hole in the ground. I'm trying not to imagine Samuel and Evie staring down this hole, as I'm sure there was nothing to keep them from tumbling to certain death.

Here they are on the return trip with the fort in the background. Evie tells me that riding the camel was really fun but kind of scary. I'm guessing the fun won her over, though, because she and Samuel have been pretending to ride camels (using pillows and couch cushions, mostly) for days now.

We checked out just after lunch to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the Delhi airport before our evening flight. The kids did some last-minute exploring and found this great stairway leading out of our suite's courtyard.

Here's the nameplate for our suite, the Jharokha Mahal.

And here are Evie and Samuel heading down the stairs to our room. When we first checked in and were taken to these stairs I was thinking, "You have got to be kidding me." But at the bottom of those stairs was a fantastic, three-room plus two-bathroom suite with a private balcony. Awesome! And the smell of bats in the stairwell made the whole experience that much more authentic. ahem.

This is our suite from one of the lower courtyards. The three arches are on the private balcony, and the single arch is on a tiny balcony off one of the bedrooms. Johnny loved sitting on that little balcony, which you get to through a large window over one of the beds. I only let him do it when Samuel was gone, though, as it was yet another portal to certain 2-year-old doom.

The drive back to Delhi was pretty uneventful, once we got past the water truck that was blocking traffic in all directions just at the base of Neemrana's mountain. Hello, India! While we were waiting for the driver to show up and move his truck, we watched a goat climb up and down a roof. Riveting. No, really, it was pretty exciting. We couldn't figure out how it got to the roof in the first place, or why no one seemed to care that it was there. Valid questions, don't you think?

Back on the main road, we saw pilgrims participating in the Kanwar Yatra. The pilgrims walk to holy places along the Ganges River, and then they walk back to their villages carrying holy water to use in their local Shiva temples. Our driver told us that many of the pilgrims walk for weeks. We must have seen hundreds of them walking along the highway or gathering at one of the rest tents set up every few miles.

We hit Delhi well before rush hour and so got to the airport with time to spare. A quick flight home and we all collapsed in our beds, exhausted after another fabulous adventure in India.