India

Cindy and I went to Hyderabad, India this past week. We attended the wedding of one of my friends, Naveen Gudigantala. Naveen and I met at Texas Tech where we both went though the Ph.D. program together. Cindy and I had a great time and we’re definitely planning on going back to India soon. Here’s a little info on what we did, where we went, and what the wedding was like.

Day 1 – Wednesday – The Marriage Ceremony
We flew out of Sharjah at 12:05am. The flight to Hyderabad was a little over 3 hours, so we landed at 5:30am local time and were met by the driver that Naveen and his family hired for us (this is a necessity in India - if you think we should have just rented a car, you've never been to India. Naveen doesn't even drive there anymore). We headed into town to check into the Marriott. Cindy and I got some sleep, had a fantastic lunch of local Indian cuisine at the hotel, and took afternoon tea. We arrived at the (Hindu) marriage ceremony at 6:30pm. We were escorted to the front of the tent where the ceremony was being held, and were seated in the first row on the left-hand side (where the bride’s parents would sit in a wedding back in the States). We were definitely treated like guests of honor. Not everyone showed up exactly at 6:30, but by the time the wedding ended, there were 1,200 people there. Naveen and his bride, Kranthi, were both seated on the stage at the front of the wedding tent. About 40 family members were seated around them on stage – with many of them coming and going throughout the ceremony to greet guests as they arrived.



I have no idea what the priest was saying/reading/doing since I don’t speak Telugu, Hindi, or Sanskrit, but the marriage rites lasted about 2 hours. There was a band of traditional Indian musicians that played every 10 minutes or so as the priest directed them. Then, after the marriage rites were concluded, there was a receiving line where Naveen and Kranthi stood on the stage, while the guests filed past them and sprinkled rice and flowers on their heads as a blessing. It appeared that less-important guests filed past first, with more important people coming towards the end. Many of the people who came through at the end paused to have a picture taken with the couple. We were told to wait until near the end at which time Naveen’s father personally escorted us up to the couple. Here are our pictures with them.

After the ceremony, and after going through the receiving line, we went back to another nearby tent for dinner. There were two tents for the reception, one of which had seating and the other of which had all of the buffet items – salads, Indian food, Chinese food, Thai food, desserts, and even ice cream, cotton candy, and popcorn for kids. Here are a few pictures of the “reception”. We left the reception at about 11pm.

Day 2 – Thursday – The Puja
On this day, we went to the “puja” – a religious ceremony at Naveen’s home. We sat around and visited with Naveen and his family for about 30 minutes before the puja started. They had a priest come to the home who told stories about their gods, and then instructed Naveen and Kranthi about how to be a good husband and a good wife. After this, Naveen, Kranthi, their families, and the guests burned incense and presented offerings (flowers, rice, coconuts, fruit) to their family god. The puja lasted from about 10:00am to 1pm. Here are some pictures.









After the puja, everyone went outside for more photos with the couple and for some food. They had the entire street in front of their villa blocked off and a tent erected for the party (maybe 50 yards long and stretching across the street). There were some people that came both Wednesday night and Thursday, but all told, there were about 1,600 people who came to the wedding, the puja, or both. Here are some more pictures.

One of the best parts of the day was that Naveen and his family got us some traditional Indian wedding clothes which they presented to us in a quick but formal ceremony. I’m not sure what you call my outfit, but Cindy’s is a saree (or sari). We absolutely loved getting to wear the clothes and get our pictures taken with everyone. They couldn’t have picked better colors for either of us. We think that as much as we liked it, the Indians liked it even more. Many of them did not speak English but we picked up “wow”, “beautiful” and “lovely.” They were definitely excited to see us wearing their traditional dress.








Day 3 – Friday – Around Hyderabad
Naveen’s family prepared an itinerary for us on this day. It was nice to have someone who knew exactly where to go and what sites we should see. We started the morning at the Birla Mandir Hindu temple in Tirupati. The temple was a beautiful marble structure (which is apparently a replica of another, more famous temple about 700km away that is made of gold). After that, we went to the Charminar district of Hyderabad, the oldest part of the city.

Then, we went to the Golconda Fort and the Qutub Tombs. You may not have heard of these, but if you have ever seen photographs of India or movies set in the tropical part of India (i.e., none of the buildings you saw were the Taj Mahal), this is what you saw. It was gorgeous. Here are some photos.

After this, we went shopping. We never go shopping when we travel, never. Not when we went to China, not in Paris or London or New York or Montreal, but we did today. We went to a shop for Cindy to look at more sarees. She didn’t buy any more sarees, but she did find some bangles to go with the sari she was given for the wedding. After that, we went pearl-shopping (Hyderabad is a major center of the global pearl trade, with 9 out of every 10 pearls sold in the world passing through here on the way to retailers. The craftsmanship of the merchants who drill, string, and mount pearls here is world-renowned). Cindy found a great necklace and earrings for an insane price. We also went by a couple of bakeries to pick up some local goodies.

Then, on Friday night, we had one final wedding function to attend, a dinner with the bride’s family at a local hotel. As usual, the food was abundant and outstanding. Again, we were treated as honored guests.

Day 4 – Saturday – Hyderabad and then Home
We had breakfast with Maruti, a work associate of Cindy’s who lives in Dallas. It was just coincidence that he happened to be in Hyderabad on business. So after breakfast, we went around to a couple more stores to shop, then headed to the airport for the flight back home. after being delayed at the airport, we ended up back in Sharjah at around midnight.

We were expecting a great trip and it was even better than we could have hoped. We're already planning to head back to India in the near future.