The Wedding

ben on the train to Pushkar
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We left Delhi in rather a rush in the end – well a rush for us in that we booked tickets on Tuesday 19^th to leave on Thursday 21st!

We were spurred into action by Ravi as when we rang him to let him know we would love to come to his wedding it turned out he was in Delhi staying in a hotel round the corner with his wife to be Lenka, we met for dinner during which Lenka confessed she was dreading a big Indian wedding and she was so glad we were going to be there as even though she’d just met us we’d be the only people she’d know!

random children at the wedding wanting "one more" photo for about half an hour!
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So we made the most of our 12 television channels, ate chicken and drank vodka in preparation for another stint in a vegetarian, tee-total holy city

The journey to Pushkar started with a near tragedy as we left our hotel bleary eyed at 5.30am jumped in a rickshaw and headed to the station luckily it wasn’t very far as halfway there I realised I’d left tigger in the bed!!!!!!!!! Horrible moment but we went back and I got him and everything was fine in the end so panic over

Anyway then we had what has to be the most enjoyable journey so far, New Delhi train station wasn’t to hectic as it was sooooooo damn early, it was easy to find our train, carriage and seats which were spacious and comfortable. During the 7 hour journey we were served tea or coffee with biscuits and toffees (!!) twice and a pleasant but rather odd brunch consisting of a paneer burger, two pieces of bread, three chips, four peas, two slivers of carrot and real Heinz tomato ketchup!

the happy couple Lenka and Ravi
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I got talking to the guy next to me who was with his super cute and unbelievably well behaved toddler, he turned out to be a crime journalist (not the toddler) who lives in Delhi and has insisted we contact him when we got back to Delhi so he can organize a tour for us he also offered to throw me and Ben a party to celebrate our wedding which sounded good but I felt it only fair to clarify that it wasn’t us getting married in Pushkar but our friends!

I went to the toilet at one point and was accosted by a Swiss girl who asked where I was going, “the toilet” I answered, it turned out she had meant where was I going on the train – I found this a rather amusing misunderstanding and laughed but she stood there stony faced and I knew we weren’t going to get on. She asked a stream of inane questions an blathered on about her friend she was with while staring at me in a pop eyed kind of way and I, looking bored and irritated, wondered if she was ever going to let me get to the toilet, finally she left and I silently hoped I wouldn’t run into her in Pushkar.

waiting for the henna to dry
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The train took as to Ajmer the nearest train station to Pushkar where we found Ravi and Lenka, Ravi’s driver was there to pick us up and take us to our hotel Peacock Palace, which is on the outskirts of the town but it has a pool so we’re staying for the time being.

Ravi came to collect us the next day at lunch time to take us to his house where the wedding would be in a nearby village Cadel. Along the way we picked up the other westerners – Donna a crazy Spanish girl, Tino an also crazy Romanian Gypsy who spoke fluent Hindi and enjoyed shocking the locals by slipping into it at opportune moments and an Israeli girl whose name sounds like a smoker clearing their throat – it was a bit like Hen.

The Holy Lake at the centre of Pushkar
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When we arrived we had to get in a line and walk over the threshold one by one so Ravi’s sister could put red powder and rice on our foreheads as a welcoming blessing – as this was happening guess who appeared at the back of the line …… the swiss girl from the train with her friend! At first I thought she must know Ravi somehow and I did a quick “fancy seeing you here” and ducked off into a nearby room where the westerners were being put as it had a fan!

A little later I asked Ravi how he knew them and he explained that he’d never seen them before – their bike had broken outside his house and when they’d seen westerners lining up to come in they thought it was a temple of some kind, the friend – Moshky – had started talking to Lenka she recognized his accent and found out he spoke Czech and they had instantly been invited to join the wedding! As I am innately kind and generous of nature (and I realize we were stuck with them) I decided join them outside. This turned out to be a huge mistake, my first impressions of her had been spot on and Moshky turned out to be the most soulless bore – during the course of the wedding he lectured us on topics including “the work of the Dalai Lama”, “the statues of the UN” and my favourite was aimed at the Israeli girl and was entitled “how Europe hates the Israelis”!!!

Lenka being henna'd
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The afternoon however was just lovely; Ravi’s house was lovely and had a big courtyard where a marquee had been set up and a big outside kitchen where a team of people were constantly cooking for a total of 36 hours! His family were so welcoming and friendly, his sister, Divya, especially going out of her way to make us feel part of things. We were offered food and drink about every five minutes and the whole place just had a lovely atmosphere. The only downside to it was that Lenka didn’t seem to be enjoying a single second, as the day went on she seemed to be getting more and more stressed and while me, hen and Donna were thrilled when Divya asked if we wanted our hands painted with henna, Lenka acted as if it was a serious inconvenience. She sat looking pained as they effortlessly painted beautiful patterns on her palms and when they had finished she went outside with Moshky as she “couldn’t stand the noise”, Ravi followed her out soon after and then he and Lenka disappeared for the rest of the evening!!

ben at the wedding
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We were fed again and then treated to some dancing however we were then told that we would be picked up at 6.30am the next day as it was imperative we were there and all dressed up by 8am so we decided it was time to head home! As Ravi had disappeared I had to introduce myself to his brother and then ask if he could organize us a lift home!

The next morning Ben, hen, tino, Donna and me met at 6.30 and waited for our lift (the swiss were traveling separately), by 7.30 we were a tad annoyed – after half an hour spent trying to find a taxi and arguing over the price we finally arrived at Ravi’s at 8.15am. I was convinced that the whole thing had been called off but it turned out it had just been postponed a little and the car was going to pick us up at 8.30m instead – I expect they thought we would have worked it out telepathically!

everyone looking grim in the temple
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Lenka was still in bed as she was feeling ill – Moshky said he’d spoken to her and thought it was just psychosomatic, I nodded wisely and went to ask Ben what that meant. I found Lenka and she told me that she and Ravi had disappeared last night as they’d had a huge fight but that everything was ok now and she felt she could struggle through the day – she just didn’t want a big fuss

She then spent the morning making a big fuss by complaining about everything, Ravi had got the ceremony to be changed to 30 mins rather than the usual 4 hours and Lenka looked miserable and pained throughout the entire thing, every time she had to do something she made a big deal of it by sighing, rolling her eyes and saying “oh my god”. A few times she had to stand and one of these times she “fainted” into Ravi’s arms but the best bit was at the end when the couple are supposed to walk in a small circle 7 times apparently there was no was she could manage this so it was decided she could just take 7 steps, on about the third she “fainted” again except this time Ravi failed to support her and actually tripped and fell on her!

ben's red mark had been sweated into a sword at this stage!
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Me and Ben and Ravi’s mother had a good laugh!

Lenka disappeared into her room for the rest of the day, but the party continued and we were fed more food than I have eaten in the last month. The high point of the afternoon was when the Hindu priest attempted to extort some money from Ravi’s father so a fight ensued and the priest got a clout!

We left at about 2pm as it had already been a very long day and on the whole a most entertaining event!

xx