Shaadi Time!

Last weekend, we went to Kurnool to go to our program director Kavitha's wedding! Kurnool is 5 hours away from Hyderabad by bus. We hired a bus to take us there, but it was a seat short so Tessa, bless her soul, had to sit on the floor in the aisle. We stayed at the only hotel in town and they only had five rooms avaliable - which meant that there were four people to a room, or rather to a bed.

On the morning of the wedding, the 19 of us girls had to put on our sarees. If this doesn't seem like a big deal to you, you obviously have no idea how to put on a saree. It made it more complicated that only three girls in our group had ever put sarees on before. Luckily, Tessa came to our room at the crack of dawn to help us get dressed. We paired off and, following Tessa's instructions, dressed our partner. As Alessandra was wrapping me in yards of cloth, I started to feel very sick. I ended up throwing up into the shower bucket, half-dressed, while she held my saree around me. Luckily, I felt better afterwards. It took between 20 and 30 minutes to put on a saree. It's a complicated process and I have tremendous respect for anyone who does it by themselves every day.

When we added all of the bindis, bangles, gold earrings, necklaces, and makeup to our saree outfits, I think we all looked amazing! It was incredible to see everyone dressed up so traditionally. I wasn't the only person to think so, people came from all over town to see the white girls in their sarees. We were an incredibly amusing sight for everyone. Some girls even had 'aunties' insist on fixing their sarees, but Tessa was so good that even the aunties couldn't find anything wrong with the way I was wearing my saree.

The wedding was very interesting. Kavitha looked gorgeous. She was accessorized to the max. She and her fiancee were seated on a flowered dias with a Hindu priest (a fat, shirtless man) at the front of the hall. The room was full of people, but they were chatting among themselves and watching us more than they were paying attention to what Kavitha was doing. It was difficult to see what was going on during the ceremony. At one point, Kavitha and Anand had to tie bracelets on each other. They also poured rice on each other's heads, which is apparently supposed to bring fertility to the marriage. They pressed their palms against the other's forehead and held that position for a few minutes. I missed some of the ceremony because some of the women 'kidnapped' some of the girls and I. They had us watch their little babies while they changed into fresh sarees. All of the children were so cute! I especially loved the little brothers who were around 5 & 7 years old who came over to me, shook my hand, said "please madam, may I know your name?", and then asked for my 'autograph'. At the end of the ceremony, the priest yelled something and everyone in the crowd threw rice covered in tumeric at the newlyweds.

After that, it was feast time. There was a ton of tasty food. After that, we went back to the hotel to change quickly and start the drive back to Hyderabad. It was an amazing weekend and I'm so glad that Kavitha invited us. I wish her and Anand completely happiness for their future together!