It’s Wedding Season

Yesterday as I was going to the airport I saw several white horses highly decorated with red and gold traveling the highway with us.  I wondered if there was a parade I was missing somewhere, then I remembered: the wedding season started today. According to the Hindu calendar, there are certain very auspicious times to get married, and 10 days after the main day of Diwali begins the most auspicious time to get hitched.  Today’s Delhi Times had two interesting articles, one asking people to remember that many people wanted to get to their wedding on time, so don’t hold up traffic with their wedding processions, and another that began with this lead:  “More than 10,000 couples in the capital will be tying knot on Sunday and the number is expended to remain the same on Monday, owing to the auspicious three-day period that began Saturday.”   That’s a lot of wedding planners.

Indian weddings are the gold standard for opulence and extravaganzas; Parents save their entire lives to be able to afford the 5-day marathons of eating and pujas and traveling here and there to exchange gifts, etc.  I am stoked because last week I got an invitation to one such event.   [multi-paged invitation to the right is gorgeous just by itself]  I was worried that perhaps I would not be able to attend since I’m in Delhi for 2 weeks, but I’m flying back on the evening of the main event, and since the dinner begins at 8:30 “or so” and the actual ceremony doesn’t happen until midnight, I’ll be able to take in the whole thing.  I’ll be posting a report to be sure, if I can keep my eyes open until the vows are actual exchanged.