Vol 88 India Part 4

Hope you like henna.......

Priyanka and I returned to her family's house/hotel in the morning to find that the mendi (henna) artist had arrived and was already at work.

There were women everywhere. In the most beautful sari's.


The living room was always filled with women. The lady in the middle is the henna artist. She was so good!

Here's the first cousin done.

Detail of palm side.

And the back side.

Here I am with the bride and one of her nephews. Her name is Ankita but everyone calls her Sweetie. And she is a sweetie.

Here she is again, with more of the nephews.

It was all little boys in this family until this little angel came along.

Shortly after we arrived breakfast was served. Everyone was always served a plate of food where ever they happened to be at meal time. As I ate, women would come and refill the things I had finished. If you ever have a chance to eat Indian breakfast, take it. Flat rice, jelabi, and a crispy stuffed bread. Wow good.

All day long Aunties and cousins and sisters came and went and each of them got mendhi on their hands in preparation for the wedding the next day.

The henna artist drew the main outlines then Priyanka filled it in with detail work. (Remember, Priya's an artist).

A really good artist. Palm side....

Back side. So pretty.

Priyanka's sister's hands. Palm side.

Back side.

While this was going on family and staff were hard at work on lunch. I was not allowed to help. :(

This and the next one are my favorite photos from the whole trip. Click on them to blow them up. I just loved her and the light.

I just LOVE this photo!

Lunch was incredible again. Rice, dal, aloo ghobi (potato and cauliflower curry), paneer korma (Indian cheese cubes in a creamy tomato curry sauce), roti (Indian flat bread), raita (yogurt salad), raw tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. Oh my was it good.

After lunch someone went out to a paanwalla and brought home a bunch of paan for everyone. I had never tried it so they insisted.

What is paan? I shall quote Wikipedia"

"Paan, from the word pan in Hindi پان and some other related languages, हिन्दी : पान ), is a South and South East Asian tradition which consists of chewing Betel leaf (Piper betle) combined with the areca nut. There are many regional variations.

Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener. It is also commonly offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality and as "ice breaker" to start conversation. It also has a symbolic value at ceremonies and cultural events in South and Southeast Asia. Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco as an ingredient in their paan fillings. Although most types of paan contain areca nuts as a filling, some do not. Other types include what is called sweet paan, where sugar, candied fruit and fennel seeds are used."

Ok, the paan they bought for me was betel nut, tobacco, ground fennel seed, sugar syrup and rose petals. I bit into it and I swear to God it was like eating an incense stick. The overpowering flavor was rose. It was like a mouthful of sweet rose perfume. Ya know, I pride myself on having an adventurous palate. As long as there is no meat in something I usually like it. I did not like paan. They all watched me as I tried to chew that first bite. Then I stopped and said "I'm sorry, I just don't like it". They all laughed and told me to spit it out. Which I happily did.

More beautiful mendhi. Palm side.

Back side.

And then it was my turn!

After the henna paste is applied you must keep it on for 2 hours. There was a bowl of lemon juice and sugar with a tiny sponge that all the ladies were constantly rewetting their mendhi with. If you keep it moist it doesn't crack and fall off. It's important to keep it on for at least 2 hours to ensure a dark color.

After it is scraped off it looked like this. Vick vapor rub was applied and I was told not to wash my hands for at least 6 hours. Try that sometime. Try using a toilet and then not washing your hands. The longer you go without washing your hands the darker the mendhi will be.

Snacks broke out. Samosa's. Ridiculously good samosa's. Milk sweets, milk tea with ginger and a crispy cardamom, grape sweet that was quite good. Then ice cream. Sigh.

I wrote in my travel journal (thank you again, Leanne) "I think I died and went to vegetarian heaven".

All the "ladies" got mendhi. They explained to me that when you look at your hands in the weeks after the wedding and you see the mendhi, you should think of the bride.

Sweeties turn! That's her best friend sitting to her right.

It took hours to do Sweeties mendhi. She told me she felt blessed to have me at her wedding. Imagine! I was so grateful to be there and she felt blessed? I felt blessed! Not just to be allowed into this family's home but to be welcomed. I could not have felt more blessed and grateful. To be surrounded by so much love made me realize how ready I am to find my own man to love.

The results were stunning. Click on them to see the detail. Palm side

Back side.

The garden of the house/hotel. So pretty.

The porch.

Mother of the bride getting her mendhi.

Palm side.

Back side. It's so pretty!

The bride's feet are also decorated.

Tradition say the darker her mendhi gets the more her husband loves her. So she was being very careful. The mother of the groom would be judging her mendhi at the wedding so it was important not to mess it up.

While her feet were being done her friends were teasing her. That is her fiance's photo. Theirs is a love match, unusual in this family. They met at work.

Finished.

Priyanka was the very last to have hers done. She couldn't do hers until she and the artist had completed everyone else's.

I gave her grief about being shy for a photo so she immediately dropped her shyness with this pose.

Her palms.


Could she be more lovely? And she is. She is truly lovely.

Of all the Aunties running around in the house this was my very favorite. Super sweet.



Once the mendhi was done some napping broke out. I napped.

Then it was off to dinner. One of Priyanka's cousin's was having their 1st wedding anniversary party and even though it was important to stay home to be with her family, it was also important to celebrate with her cousin. She and one of her sisters decided we should go have dinner with the cousin and her husband. A bunch of us piled into 2 cars and went to a really nice Italian restaurant.

The decor was very tasteful and elegant. The food was a set menu for the anniversary party and was scrumptious. Vegetarian again :) An interesting combination of Italian and Indian. Minestrone soup with lemon juice and chili etc. Being a couchsurfer sure takes me to places I would never have experienced otherwise.

We stayed as short a time as we could without being rude, then raced home.

And dancing broke out! Yay!

I was happy to watch from the side lines, hiding behind my camera.

Then they started playing the soundtrack form the Bollywood movie "Om, Shanti, Om". This is my very favorite Bollywood movie as it was the first one I ever saw. My friend Katie and I went to see it at the theater last winter when it first came out. I've seen a bunch of Hindi movies since then but "Om, Shanti, Om" is the best by far.

And it has a really catchy soundtrack. I couldn't help it, I started bouncing and next thing I knew Priya's brother had grabbed the camera from me.....

..... and I was a dancing fool. And I mean fool. I really can't dance to Hindi music so I looked a bit silly.

Her brother tried to take a photo of me and I got shy. Piyanka was standing beside me and said "Unh, uh! If I had to let you take my photo, you have to let him take yours!"

She was right! About this photo she said "Here you can see your beauty, your joy". Smart cookie.

One of the things that struck me was how nice everyone was. Just nice, nice people. I wondered if that is what it is like when a stranger is invited into our family. I think we are all nice, nice people too. That thought made me happy.

Then Priya did a solo dance. Lovely.

Next her cousin took a turn. She is a really good dancer too. Then Priya's sister took a turn.

Then it was a dance party until we were all too tired to dance more.



Everyone slept there that night. some in the hotel rooms and Priya and her kids and some other female relatives slept in the family room.

We were all excited because tomorrow was wedding day!

(I cheated, by the way- I washed my hands.)