Although we genuinely enjoy living in Patna, McManus and I get really excited about traveling to the "big city" (which usually means Delhi). And traveling here is always an experience in itself; while waiting for our 2 hrs delayed overnight train, we studiously ignored the dogs racing back and forth across the tracks, fighting (oh, Patna). We got on our train around midnight, and grabbed the first available berths and bedding we saw. And then when we got up in the morning, we were cruising through the really beautiful countryside, which looked surprisingly different from rural Bihar, with stuff like palm trees that I hadn't seen before.
We arrived in Howrah station on Christmas Eve, the day before the wedding ceremony, and headed to the Malik Guest House, where Mihika very generously provided accommodation for her out-of-town guests. We found out later that there were a whole bunch of activities that we missed by arriving just the day before the wedding, including an event called the Sangeet that I really wish we'd been around for. As Jeff Weaver described it, Mihika's and Projjol's families re-enacted their love story through skits and dance. And since Mihika is superhuman, I'm pretty sure she choreographed a good part of it while being sick with the flu - she was actually sick the whole time, but held up remarkably well through the whole week of events.
We happened to arrive while the other guests were on a daytime cruise of the Hooghly River (a tributary of the Ganges), so we snagged sandwiches at Subway (glorious) and walked up to the Victoria Memorial, a colossal monument to Queen Victoria which is now a museum of colonial British art about India with beautiful gardens. I'm not going to lie - it was a bit weird visiting a monument to British rule that was packed full of Indians, but the grounds were very pretty. There's no food allowed in the gardens, so we rested on the grass overlooking the monument while surreptitiously snacking on candy. A guard paced back and forth on the paths, breaking up cuddling couples and enforcing the "no exercise" rule, so we were extra sneaky.
That night, we joined the rest of the guests for a catered dinner at Projjol's family home, where the ceremony and most of the wedding events took place. It was really beautiful, with a huge backyard that was all decked out with lights. I got mehendi on my hands (aka henna; not sure I got the grammar right there). Mihika's family owns a restaurant, so the food was super yummy.
Before the ceremony the next morning, we went to a big Anglican cathedral next to the Victoria Memorial for a Christmas service. I've actually never been to church on Christmas (just Christmas Eve), and it was a madhouse - packed to bursting, full of tourists, and with no programs, Books of Common Prayer or Bibles for the latecomers like us. Lesson learned. But since Jeff and I can't find a church in Patna that has services in English, it was still nice to have a little bit of church anyway.
Later that day was the ceremony, which was a blur of fascinating rituals that I didn't understand but sure enjoyed watching. I'm going to roughly summarize what I saw, but I'm sure I'll get things wrong; sorry! First, Mihika was carried in by a group of male relatives and close friends, in a full-out wedding sari (so beautiful!). She covered her face with leaves so that she wouldn't see Projjol right away. Then they circled around each other maybe 7 times and placed thick flower garlands on each other. Then Mihika was lifted up again and carried to the ceremony platform, where they did a series of rituals lasting over two hours (!). FYI, our Episcopal ceremony will be about 30 minutes…
I took a few photos, but there was a lot that I missed. I know that at some point, they lit a fire and then placed a bunch of different ceremonial items in it. And they repeated a lot of mantras. Then at the end, we all took handfuls of flowers and threw them onto the platform. Kids being kids, some of the younger relatives definitely took aim at Mihika's and Projjol's faces, so they had to dodge some flower missiles in the process. Once the ceremony was over, Mihika and Projjol sat up on what were basically thrones while family and friends came up and greeted them.
Then the next day, we all went to the reception, which was an enormous catered affair on the grounds of a country club. We were told in advance that there'd be several thousand people, and I honestly believe that was accurate. And the food was just as good as it had been the whole week, if not better.
Sorry for the bad news, future wedding guests, but our wedding is going to be a heck of a lot simpler and less glamorous for all involved…
So basically the wedding was beautiful and completely over the top, Kolkata was really pretty and a nice change of pace from Patna, and we had a great time!
Ok, now here are the photos:
P.S. We found out that one of Mihika's friends at the wedding is getting married on the same date as we are! Crazy...
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