Thursday 8th Nov
Went to get money out, had breakfast with Sam, Sam went off
for her Reiki Class and I just blogged for a bit. I went across to get internet
access and was invited to the wedding tonight! Seems like everyone is invited –
even those who don’t know the bride and groom seem to be inviting people along!
Then I went down to meet Sam at Mona’s Guesthouse (the woman
who was teaching her Reiki). I chatted to the woman who owned the guesthouse
for a while, she made me Chai and we chatted about her life, her children, the
wedding coming up tonight which everyone was invited to and she showed me her
Sari’s that she was deciding between to wear to the wedding, which were very
beautiful. She has two, a light green one which she got after her wedding, and
a red one that she saved a whole year for!! It only cost 3000 rupees – around
£30, however for an Indian woman, whose husband probably earns no more than £5
a day, and with two kids to feed and clothe, that’s a lot of money! She also
said that if I came back tomorrow she would paint some Heena on my hands for
half the price of what the massage shop wanted. So I agreed I would definitely
be back.
Then I went through into the other room where Sam was to
practise a little of what she had learnt on me. She did some healing on my back
as it was hurting a bit, and it did actually dull the pain a little. We were
invited to the wedding again, this time by Mona. So there was no way we wasn’t
going to go, this was a rare opportunity and we were taking full advantage of
it!
After we walked into town to ask Ali, the guy running Otto’s
guesthouse, how much it would cost for a driver and car to take us into the
mountains on a day trip. Turns out it’s cheaper than doing it through the tour
companies so we are thinking of doing this on Saturday. Then we just wondered
around, shopped a little, saw Otto, who’d just had his bike’s paintwork wrecked
by the guys who’d cleaned it and again, the day had gone so quickly it was time
for Meditation and dinner again. David, the guy we’d met last night, joined us
for meditation class too. Then we went back to high bank to get ready and met
for dinner, where we met another German guy, Arne, before heading across to
join the hoards of people traipsing up the path to the wedding.
OH MY WORD. We’d been through the area during the day when
they were putting it all up, but how they’d transformed a cruddy piece of land
in a day was astounding! The entrance was beautiful, drapes of beads, flowers,
lights and a carpet leading you in. Then when you went in there was a mass of
purple fabric-draped seats to the right, facing the stage where the bride and
groom sat, meeting and greeting guests and having their photo taken. There were
a load more seats towards the back and even a kids bouncy castle. Then further
down there was a dance floor, an area to have a professional photo taken, and
through to the other tent (just made out of draped silk) was all the food and
drink! I’m not kidding, the amount of food and drink there, was enough to feed
an entire village – which was probably a good thing as I think more than half
of Rishikesh turned up! We didn’t try much of it as we were scared of getting
sick. The only thing they were lacking though, was no Chai!! What kind of
Indian Wedding doesn’t serve Chai, but serves coffee, mocktails and ICE CREAM
SUNDAES instead? Puh.
So after we’d toured the place, we lined up to have our
picture taken with the bride and groom. We wanted to ask first though in case
we were taking the mick, as we weren’t sure we were allowed. But after being
told by 2 people that it was ok we felt a little better. It was hopeless
however, as being the polite people we are, we waited patiently for our turn,
but this was actually a bad thing, as it allowed tons of Indian guests to just
push their way onto the stage, as I guess they just thought we were observing
the bride and groom. So we gave up and went back later in the evening to do it.
It was a little weird going up and saying congrats to strangers on their
wedding and then sitting with them to have a photo taken, we’d actually be
featured in their album which is weird!
Then we sat for a while observing. Met some guys from
Scotland and Ireland. THEN the dancing began!! It was true bollywood style,
though it was weird to see them ‘bollywooding’ (as we named it) to things like
J.Lo, Pitbull, Gasolina, Justin Bieber and Gangnam Style – got a few video’s of
it! There were obviously a lot of Indian songs too. We got up and danced for a
bit too – as you just have to, plus it brings all the travellers together as
you all have something in common – you’re wearing skanky clothes, you’re white
and you haven’t a clue what you’re doing! But don’t worry, there’s plenty of
pervy, sweaty guys ready to pull you in and show you how it’s done *shudder*.
One of the guys at our regular cafe, who is super nice but a
little weird and over-smiley, promised me and Sam a dance, even though we
really didn’t want to, and we had been trying to avoid him, however DAVID, called
him over and then he wouldn’t leave us alone. So we made a pact to get him
back, which included getting him shoved into the middle of some
over-enthusiastic guys dancing, and telling a pervy guy where he was staying.
HA! There was also a running joke that David was going to tell his parents that
he and Sam had gotten married, Indian Stylee, and so they were husband and wife
all night – made for some amusing jokes and conversations!
So yea the party just went on and on, getting rowdier and
rowdier – kinda like an Ableman party really. There was the overly drunk uncle,
another pervy uncle, overly estatic dad that his daughter was off his hands,
the controlling mother-in-law, the best friend trying to make the bride a
little happier at her marriage, the husband who had gotten a better deal than
the wife, the rowdy teenagers, the really old grandma who could still have a
good time, and the grandpa who still loved a good drink/dance in his cowboy hat
and multicoloured glasses. There were even all the neighbourhood stray dogs,
including Lucy our cafe’s dog, scrounging around for leftover food and
occasionally frequenting the dancefloor! haha
We left around midnight, but it didn’t finish until about
1am. But because our guesthouse was literally right next to it, we couldn’t go
to bed as we just wouldn’t sleep. So instead we went to another guesthouse
where there were a few people sitting outside avoiding sleep too. A few drunk
Scottish guys, Americans and Germans, and we ordered what we’d been craving all
night – a CHAI! And it was soooo amazing especially as it was super cold out!
One of the guys kept going on about how he’d met a lovely sexy Indian girl
called Saski, and kept shouting out her name...sigh. Eventually we called it a
night, even though after the wedding finished, they started taking it all down,
which meant it was super noisy still even at 5am. I had a bad stomach that
night, I think from the water served with the coffee at the wedding, however
after a pepto tablet and popping one of my malaria pills which is an antibiotic
that helps stomach bugs – it nipped it in the bud pretty quickly and managed to
sleep a little.
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