Kavitha's wedding

Now, Kaitlyn may think the reason we came to Ohio was so that Grandma and Grandpa could spoil her, but it was actually to see my friend from high school get married. Kavitha is Indian- her parents came over to America about the time she was born, as I recall. And I may be biased, but I think the Indian culture is one of the most beautiful and fascinating. I wish I could wear a Sari every day- they are gorgeous!

First up was the Henna party. It was the night before the wedding, and a chance for everyone to get their hands done for the big day. It was quite the experience! This older lady just flew through making the designs on everyone's hands, using a little tube to push it out like frosting. And then you can't touch anything for a couple of hours while it sets, and keep it away from water for a full day. But it looks so cool!



This is a terrible picture, but this is Kaitlyn and I with my friend Kavitha that night.



The next morning started early for the wedding. Now, most of my description is going to come from what Kavitha told me while we sat together at an Indian wedding in high school. So if I get things wrong, I apologize for a faulty memory. There are a lot of different customs and ceremonies to it all. The stage was beautiful!



Indian weddings have a lot of traditions based on the idea of arranged marriages. The groom is greeted outside, and then comes in to meet with both sets of parents. The parents agree to the wedding of their children at this point. You will notice that her groom is not Indian. She met him in Med school. Kavitha got his entire family Indian outfits to wear though, and that was really fun- especially the little neices Kaitlyn's age!



When the bride comes in, the groom is hidden by a quilt until she is ready, and then the pull down the blanket in a grand unveiling - because this was supposed to be the first time he met the girl he was going to marry!



Good thing they already knew each other and liked each other. :)



Now, I am shortening this by a lot, mind you. The priest was chanting for a couple of hours, and there was a lot of different things that each person had to do to bless the house and bless their marriage, etc. But I couldn't understand a word he said. And neither could the groom, I'm sure. In fact, as Kavitha put it, "it's not a silent ceremony." People in the audience are chatting with thier neighbors, and relatives come up on the stage and go back down for various parts, even bringing thier cameras up to take pictures while they are there. Eventually, Kavitha changed outfits for the second half. And they took seven symbolic steps around the fire, to mark seven commitments they made to each other.



Then she put her foot on the grindstone so he could put a toering on her feet.



Now, once again assuming that this was an arranged marriage, there is traditionally a game to play (since they would have been children, bored by the long ceremony). They had a contest where a ring was thrown in a bowl of water, and the first person to pull it out "gets the upper hand in marriage."



Sorry, Kavitha. She lost, even when they made it best out of three.



And finally, there is an exchanging of rings. Ahh, something Americans understand. I wish I had met her husband before today- living on the other side of the country makes staying close rather tricky,I suppose. But I have a feeling he felt like he was in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" for some parts of this. What a good sport!



Most of all, I am just so excited for my friend! She is honestly one of my favorite people, and one of the hardest working to boot. She just finished up her residency, but has three more years before she is a specialist in pediatric respiratory systems. So she will work with kids who have athesma, Cystic Fibrosis, and the like. Her husband also finished residency, so he will start working as a Pediatrician while she finishs. Congratulations, Kavitha!