The wedding

On Saturdaynight, two man came to the house to make henna art out of our arms and hands. The higher on the arm the better, so the mum made sure they did a good high job :)

 They each worked on a hand, and after it dried for an hour, you could turn around for the other side. In total it took about three-four hours to apply and dry, in which you cannot touch anything with your hands....for me a difficult task! 

 After that we could take of the dried henna, that left a nice orange pattern, that had darkended the following day. Some Indians do this every months, but everybody doesit for weddings. Maartje came very late that day, but on the pre-wedding party they also hire these guys to henna the rest of the guests.

Sunday it was time for the religious wedding. We all went to a venue where the religious person, for now called the priest, built up a whole plaform full of fruits, lights and drinks. Rohan and his family were sitting with him on the platform, while the rest of the family was shattered around the room. For about an hour the priest did all kinds of hindi rituals, and the family was asked to join him in some rituals, as were we. We got bracelets, red dots on our fronthead, we waved with fire.... The for me weird thing about it was that most of the rest of the family was just chatting, the mum got up once in a while to organize something in the back and to make sure everyone was having enough snacks. 

After the rituals it was time to dance on a very loud band with mostly trumpets, drums and a singer. While we were dancing people waved money above our heads before donating it to the goddess. In the brakes we went outside for the most dilicious snacks, like al my favourite indian starters. After the dance, around 23.00 it was time for an indian buffet with about 25 different dishes, all really good, and 5 deserts....after which everybody soon disappeared home....

The following day it was celebration day. First the entire family moved into a hotel in the neighboorhood, including us :) Then Rohan had a set up argument with his dad over money...why was his dad buying one car after the other, while he, Rohan, had only a bike? Rohan left de house in anger to hide with an uncle. We all went to the uncle and forced the door to come in, where Rohan and his dad, with interference of the entire family had the financial argument and in the end the seetling for ????? 

Now being friends again, we could all go to party :) Maartje and I danced the tranky doo, and then all other family members, two by two, weather they liked it or not, had to dance on stage :) It was all followed by some good indian disco, and of course a super nice big banket..... During the party all the girls good have their hands coloured with henna patterns, as well as Rohan. Sarah had her own party, so it was a Seghal party. it was not so much about Rohan, but more an entire family celebration. 

Although the food was lovely, I clearly ate something wrong and the entire night I threw up.... bad start of the big day! The following day my stomach wasn't good, and all the other Utrecht people were sick :( However, we couldn't miss the wedding of course! There were several rituals, Rohan and Andrei were covered in turmaric, their was a session in which Rohan got his bibs made of money and a crown made of pearl necklaces....

and then it was time to go!!!! We got into very very bad traffic, so we were more than an hour late :( We were a bit surpriced when in the middle of the highway we all suddenly had to get out of the car. Rohan was put on a horse with his nephew in front of him, there were 8 lanterns on electricity by a truck and a full band playing indian music, while we all had to dance. 

This is already a little bit out of our custums, but the fact that this all happened ON the really bussy highway and that we danced along the cars untill we reached the venue, made it in our western eyes a little surrealistic.... The venue was truely amazing! A very large garden was lightened with christmastree lights and there were many tents to sit down on beautyful decorated chairs and tables. There were probably a hundred different disches to eat, although I haven't tried one due to my sickness..... When Rohan sat on his special chair in his special tent, it was time for Sarah to arrive. She was utterly stunning in her red dress!

 It was the first time I met her, and she is super nice! The rest of the night they had to sit in the special tent, so all of the guests could come to congratulate and have their picture taken. There was no music or dancing this time, but we didn't feel well enough to dance anyway :) After all the pictures, there was a long religious ritual, ending with them walking around the fire.... We didn't completely make it till the end, as we were all pretty sick, but we stayed till almost 3.00 so at least we got the whole experience. How great we could be part of such a spectacular event! 

The following day Sarah was welcomed to the house with again some rituals and presents. In India de wives leave their parents house to mive in with the parents-in-law, or in sarahs case: to move to Utrecht :) But not before enjoying their honeymoon first :)