First Impressions of Delhi

I arrived at Delhi airport at the ungodly hour of 3:30am a couple of nights ago, so I would make it in time for Nisha's engagement party the next morning. The event took place at the Maurya Hotel. All the women were dressed in beautiful, colorful saris and langas of every color, making me feel like a plain ugly duckling in my plain black dress. First came the groom's ceremony, where a group of men chanted something in Hindi around Nishant, the fiance, on the stage before giving him his engagement ring while everyone watched from below. Nisha arrived afterwards, looking absolutely radiant in a traditional Indian outfit of light and dark green. She was showered with gifts from him and his family, including an incredibly beautiful diamond necklace set and of course, the diamond engagement ring. An army of photographers documented the event like paparazzis. This was followed by dances by Nisha and Nishant's wedding parties. I would have been included in Nisha's group if I had arrived early enough to learn the dances. They were fun to watch - teasing the soon to be bride and groom about falling in love and getting shackled in marriage. Of course, tons of food followed afterwards. There was so many courses that I couldn't even try a bit of everything for that would be too much food.

In the evening, the guy and girl's events split. Nishant's side rented a huge club in Delhi for what was essentially a bachelor party. The girls went to Nisha's house for henna and another small traditional ceremony. I had henna done for the first time on one hand. It took hours to dry making it impossible to do anything. It dried a bright orange on my hand, leaving behind an intricate design. Nisha had it done on both arms up to her elbow and on her feet. Her design was incredibly dense and intricate, taking the 2 henna artists over an hour to do. She was so handicapped by the henna that she had to be fed her dinner, which was an elaborate, fully catered chaat bar, completely different than the curry based lunch we had.

This morning, before heading to Nisha's house again for the Goddess ceremony and other ceremonies at noon, I went to the New Delhi train station to purchase train tickets for my trip in India with Jia and Sabrina. The event was stressful - most tickets were completely sold out with long waitlists. There is a tourist quota that required passports to purchase but I only had my own. So I had to purchase tickets at the general quota area. The Indian train reservation system was really complex. I muddled through it as best as I could but only procured a fraction of the tickets we would need.

The station was seedy to say the least, and showed a stark contrast to the elaborate engagement I had witnessed the day before. Poverty is a huge problem and the area by the train station seemed worlds away from the beautiful, gated Sunder Nagar neighborhood I am currently staying at by Nisha's house. It was loud, dirty and gritty. Men milled around everywhere, openingly staring, making it rather uncomfortable as a female, even though I had a driver with me. Rather open public urinals (mostly for men) euphemistically called "Public Convenience" are everywhere. I had originally planned to travel for a couple of days on my own if I could not meet up with Micah, but now it no longer seems like a good idea. Still working on a Plan B. I might go to Agra with Nishant's friends from the States even though I will be going with Jia and Sabrina. Jia and I are going to Varanasi together, then meeting Sabrina in Agra from where we will head to Ajmer/Pushkar, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer before I head back to Delhi for my flight.

I arrived at Nisha's house in time for the first ceremony where everyone dabbed oil and some colorful powder all over her head, shoulder, knee and feet. I did this as well. It could not have been comfortable for Nisha though! The guests were feed little snacks of samosas and pakoras while waiting for her to get cleaned up. Then came another ceremony where she had a pink string tied around her wrist. Afterwards, people walked around her in a circle, throwing rice that she passed to everyone as part of the Goddess ceremony. She was given gifts and people paid her respect by touching her feet. Then she left to go to the salon where she will get dolled up again. Her dress will weight almost 20 pounds she told me yesterday.

Over 1,000 guests will be in attendance tonight at the wedding. There will be food galore again, and a couple of ceremonies, including the wedding ceremony which will officially make them husband and wife. I hastily picked up a dress yesterday since I did not have anything suitable for a wedding - a fancy beaded black dress that looks a bit more Indian than what I wore yesterday. Hoping to fit in a bit better this time. The festivities start at 7pm and will last until 4am. One MIT alum from the class of '69 who interviewed Nisha jokingly said that in India, the divorce rate is so low because no one wanted to go through another wedding ceremony again after going through their first. They are long and exhausting for both the groom and bride. It will be a spectacle!