Sunday, December 30, 2012 at 9:41PM ;)
True, I did post the wedding of Sujitha and Manoj, but in the morning before the wedding began, I did some casual shots of
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 2:11PM ;)
I will begin here, with Manoj astraddle the white horse, his bride, brothers and other family behind him, even though the wedding had commenced earlier. The day's ceremonies had begun with a symbolic making of the marital bed, a portrait of Lakshmi at the head, bride and groom dolls and an abundance of food, fertility and prosperity laid out over the bedspread. This was followed by a blessing ceremony, after which the bride and groom changed into their wedding clothes and gathered outside.*
The groom then mounted the white mare. The bride stepped up behind him with his brothers, sisters and other family members on both sides of her. At my side, the blue tail end barely in the fame, was a kind of motorized, rolling, double electric organ set; in front of this, the wedding band from last night's post and, all about, well wishers and wedding guests.
The custom extends back into antiquity, when grooms would carry swords as they rode their white mares and sometimes, in some places, still do.
The procession would sometimes take the groom and his family to the home of the bride, sometimes to the wedding place. Destinations can vary.
;)
The destination today will be a Ganesha temple not far away and then back again. The music is struck by the band and the rolling organ and then Manoj follows them to the road, as his bride follows behind.
;)
And here is the band, and there is the rolling organ, the groom seen through the window behind. The music is loud, strong, energetic.... FUN... the members of the band tilt and jerk ever so slightly this way and that way, in a manner that strikes chords of "reverence," "cool" and "soul" all at once.
;)
And here is the view from inside the rolling organ. Even now, way up here in Wasilla, Alaska, when I look at this picture I can hear and feel the music all around me; I feel the heat of the sun, roasting the air. I remember the glare of that sun upon my head and the burn of it against my skin.
;)
The band, leading the way up the road.
;)
The band leads the way to the temple.
The bride and groom make their alms...
;)
They kneel before the altar...
;)
They look upon and hold their offerings out to the idol of Ganesha, symbol of the Hindu diety Ganesha.
;)
Ganesha.
;)
The couple turns to leave the temple and return to the wedding hall.
;)
The bride, in the midst of the groom's family, as she follows his horse back towards the wedding hall.
;)
The procession suddenly stops - but the music continues. I had attended two previous Hindu weddings, both down south in Bangalore. There had been no dancing of any kind - not during the wedding, not during the reception and feast that preceded and followed the ceremonies.
But now, two young women begin to dance...
;)
Then men begin to dance.
;)
Such beauty, here beneath the hot, harsh, sun! I felt blessed, just to be able to witness such a moment.
;)
The men danced with men, and the women danced with women. Those from Southern India joined right in (right). All laughed and had fun.
;)
Now, joyously, both families mix together, they walk to the large opening into the hallway to the open-air wedding hall.
;)
The bride and groom enter.
;)
Soon, the bride and groom are on the wedding platform. The priest leads them through a number of blessings and rituals.
;)
Finally, the priest hands two necklaces to the groom.
;)
After placing the necklace made of thin, black beads around Sujitha's neck, Manoj follows with the gold.
;)
Manoj and Sujitha are now formally wed in Hindu tradition, as practiced by the Lingayat. For any westerners who might think of Hinduism as a monolitic religion, it is not - no more than is Christianity with its multitude of different sects, each of which shares a certain basic belief in Christ but with countless variations and interpretations of it.
So too is it in Hinduism.
;)
After draping each other with garlands, the bride and groom stand between their parents as rice flies. There are more events to happen - the washing of the feet of bride and groom by Sujitha's Uncle Murthy and Aunt Vasanthi, the placing of rings upon the toes of the bride by her mother, the giving of gifts, the posing for pictures...*
;)
Even as the more than 1000 guests continue to file through the reception line, bearing gifts and offering congratulations and best wishes before moving into the dining room to eat, I join Murthy and Vasanthi in a cab. Ravi and Buddy give us their goodbyes...
;)
And off we went, to see ancient new places in India, to the north and west. Before returning to London in a week, Sujitha and Manoj would stay in the Biradar home in Pune, and would make a series of visits to a number of temples.
Originally, it had been my plan to follow them through it all, but then Murthy bought me a couple of airplane tickets, reserved multiple touring cabs and hotel rooms for us all and invited me to follow him and Vasanthi on their tour of northwestern India. Suji said I must go, that Jaipur, The Pink City of Rajasthan was wonderful, a place she would like to go. I must not miss such an opportunity, she said.
So I did - and The Pink City was wonderful, as was Udaipur and Ahmadebad, where I got to wander through a quiet and serene compound that Mahatma Ghandi had made home.
At the beginning of this series, I stated my three purposes in coming to India on this, my third trip:
To attend Sujitha and Manoj's wedding, to learn more about India and to attempt to come to terms with the self-inflicted death of Soundarya by visiting the place where she had left this life, the crematorium where her physical matter had returned to the basic state of ash and dust, and to the sacred waters into which her dust and ash had followed that of her husband Anil's.
This journey with Murthy and Vasanthi would accomplish the second goal as stated above - to a degree. India is so vast and varied in landscape, history, culture and tradition that it would take a lifetime of study and travel to even begin to grasp it - if even to begin to grasp India is possible.
I never intended to draw this Return to India series out anywhere near this long, but it was just a slow process for me to work my way through the photos to this point. Essentially, what I have done here is to make an initial, rough, edit as I have crept along and I have involved readers in the process. Except to drop in on a few images here and there for spot checks, I myself had not looked at my different takes until just before I posted them here.
I have not yet looked at the takes I made while traveling with Murthy and Vasanthi. I will save that material for later times, to be dropped in a piece here, a piece there, as I must turn the attention of this blog back to Alaska very soon.
For now, this leaves only the journey in search of coming t terms and peace in the wake of death of the beloveds. Sujitha and I took this journey together, before we left Bangalore for Pune. So I will make one more post to relate something of this journey, followed by a quick post-script.
*I plan to made two slide shows as addendums to this post. One will be a more complete view of the wedding, to include images of the preliminaries to what I have posted today, as described in the narrative above, along with a bit of the followup. The second slide show will just be a score or two of portraits and faces of some of the many people who came to the wedding.
Before I make these slide shows, I will create the final post and post script and set them to appear tomorrow, the final post about 24 hours from now, the post script either the next day or late tomorrow night. If time will allow, I will then make the slideshow addendums and drop them in between this post and the final before I go to bed tonight. If time doesn't allow, I will drop them in tomorrow - but I want to get them in tonight.
Series index:
Friday, April 27, 2012 at 8:39PM ;)
The drive by large van from the K. Ganesh home, where we were hosted, to the house of the groom's parents took somewhere between half-an-hour and 45 minutes. The bride used the time to apply her makeup and finish her beauty routine. By the time we arrived, Sujitha looked... well, see for yourself... stunning and gracefully beautiful! Now it was time to enter the home of Manoj's parents - the household that she was about to become a member of.
;)
Along with a host of relatives who had come up from Bangalore and an uncle who had come from Wasilla, Sujitha was greeted at the gate of Manoj's father and mother, Mahadev Bimanna and Jayshree Biradar with a blessing.
;)
As lunch is being prepared, Sujitha sits with her cousins, Aishu Visnu and Brindha Padmanabhan, in the upstairs living room.
;)
There is time to visit and socialize. Sujitha returns to the lower level and then poses in the doorway to the Biradar home with Manoj. Above the doorway is a representation of the deity Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings. The doorway frame is decorated by the same forehead symbol that identifies members of the Lingayat faith.
;)
Back inside, Sujitha visits with her close friend and former coworker in Bangalore, Ganesh Arumugham. In the aftermath of tragedy, Ganesh was her confident and comforter at work. Ganesh plans to marry in October. In the background, Sujitha's brother Ganesh talks with cousin Aishu.
;)
As her father and brother-in-law to be pass by, Sujitha receives a hug from Aishu.
;)
Sujitha and Soundarya - "Soundu" - had often spoke of the good times they would share together at the wedding of Suji and Manoj. Soundu is not here, but the unfinished tribute to her and Anil tattooed onto the bride's arm continually reminds us of her and in spirit brings her to us.
;)
As requested, Suji puts her henna wedding art on display.
Not long after I took this photograph, Aishu and I were visiting and she asked me how I felt about India. I told her that I love India, and that I regreted that I had not come here earlier in life so that I could have came back more often, could have seen and learned more.
"But then we wouldn't have been part of your India," she responded. No, I argued, I could still have met them at my niece Khena's wedding - even after I had already gotten to know India and they would still have been part of my India. Since then, I have thought more about it. I think Aishu was right. If I had gotten to know India when I was younger, everything would have turned out differently. My relationship with the country would have been different. It would not have happened the same at all.
Aishu and her extended family are not only part of my India - THEY ARE my India.
I am glad now that I did not come earlier. I would not have wanted India any other way.
;)
Soon, lunch was served.
;)
As always seems to be the case in an Indian home, it was excellent. And don't let this fool you. The servings kept coming and coming. I ate in abundance.
;)
After lunch, there was a bangle function for Sujitha.
;)
Suji receives instruction of the way of the Lingayat when it comes to wearing bangles.
;)
Sujitha and Aishu.*
;)
After the bangle function, Sujitha and Bhanu spent time meeting in turn with and socializing with different women family members and friends of the Biradar's.
;)
There is a sacred necklace and locket Sujitha will be expected to wear from now on, although most of the time it will hang on the inside of her clothing and will not be seen. The Brahmin also wear a necklace to serve the same basic purpose, but it is made of gold and is different in design and make. She shows her Lingayat-style necklace and locket to cousin Bharathi Kalyan and mother Bhanu.
;)
The earliest, pre-temple shrines in Hindu culture date back thousands of years and are built on a design called Lynga, said to symbolize the male and female union, in both the physical and spiritual sense. The Lynga is contained within the silver locket. A Rudraksh seed also serves as a prayer bead.
;)
In the late afternoon - early evening, Sujitha's father Ravi will perform a lead role in a Puja function called Kalasha. In the meantime, lunch has left just about everybody feeling sleepy so they nap on the floor. Sujitha uses her dad as a pillow.
;)
Ravi, performing the Puja of the Kalasha, along with Chandu Bagale, maternal uncle to Manoj.
;)
Again, my knowledge is too limited for me to attempt to go into any detail, but the coconut, mango leaves and water in the post are considered to be a symbol of abundance and the source of life, to contain the elixir of life. The Puja Kalasha is considered to be auspicious, a prayer ceremony to request all the things it represents to be plentiful in the couple's life.
;)
Priest Mallayswami conducts the puja. A videographer with a strong light also documents the event. I should note that this videographer was very polite and friendly and eager to help me out. He did not speak English, so we could not speak directly, but if he was not shooting and he saw me shooting into what he deemed to be too dark of a space, he would turn on his light just for me.
I didn't always want the light - sometimes, I just wanted the glow of a lamp, or the softer light natural to the room, but he made such an effort to assist me that I could not help but appreciate it and so just accepted it. I have decided that the strong, hot, glaring video light has become a natural part of Indian weddings and is just one more element for me to work with, rather than to rail against.
;)
Ravi holds the plate with burning lamps.
;)
Ravi wears the type of hat worn by the men in this part of India.
;)
Participants are blessed and purified in the smoke.
;)
Manoj is blessed.
;)
Sujitha was blessed in the same manner. I photographed it, but I like this shot a few seconds later better.
;)
The couple prays.
;)
Chandu Bagale feeds Ravi either sugar or something made of sugar.
;)
Ravi returns the treat.
;)
Sujitha stands with Manoj and the family about to become her own.
*April 28: There is special significance to the ring on Suji's little finger that I was unaware of when I posted this. She explains in comments.
Series index:
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 3:04PM ;)
Before I jump straight into wedding related functions, I decided I need to quickly reintroduce the groom first. So here he is, Manoj Biradar, at a men's clothing store in Pune, checking the fit of the suit he will wear to his wedding.
;)
And here am I, with the bride and groom and Natarajan, in the suit Sujitha bought for me so I could attend her wedding in good style. Don't worry about the long sleeves. It will be tailored to fit me just right.
Series index:
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 8:43AM ;)
First, I must apologize - this post is going to be a bit of an eye irritater. I shot it all through a rather foggy, dusty, taxi-window, often backlit as Murthy, Vasanthi and I headed for the Mumbai airport after the wedding so that we could catch the jet to Ahmedabad - once home to Mahatma Gandhi.
Yes, Sujitha and Manoj have now been formally married in the Hindu tradition of Manoj's family and community in and near Pune. I had been to two Hindu weddings in Bangalore - that of my niece, Khena, to Murthy and Vasanti's son Vivek as well as the wedding of Soundarya and Anil, but this was very different.
It was magnificent, to be certain - wild, fun, hot, chaotic and now Manu and Suji can get on with building their lives. Of course, I have had no time to so much as look at a frame or two..
I am just going to wait until I return to Alaska to blog the wedding - and all the stories from this trip that are most important to me.
There is just no way I can do justice to them as I travel.
So from here out I am just going to keep doing this - posting random little things here and there, catpured as I move along.
Yesterday, I did not get on the net at all. I am on it now, in an internet cafe, which will be closing soon. So, for that reason, I am not going to take the time to put the photos in order or to give you a travelogue - I will simply state that I shot these through the cab window, in between Pune and Mumbai, and in Mumbai.
We stopped for snacks, but not here.
;)
For a time, we entered into darkness, but soon emerged into the light.
;)
A fellow sojourner.
;)
I don't know for certain, but I'll bet he drives one of these rigs.
;)
Everywhere I look in India, someone is putting up a new building. America, knock off all this ignorant, self-detructive, silliness that now passes for politics within your borders. India is catching up to you and might just pass you by.
Same is true with much of the world.
;)
Mumbai.
;)
Brave fellow.
;)
I, of course, cannot look at a crow without thinking of Soundarya. They may not all have known it, but in Soundarya the crows had a friend.
;)
Make of it what you will.
;)
Mumbai.
;)
There's lots of billboards in India - most of them covered with pretty girls.
;)
Really, what are the odds that in the second or two it would take us to pass by, we would come upon this advertisement, in this setting of massive cement just as a cement mixer rolled past between us?
Sometimes, I am a most fortunate man.
Ok. Internate cafe getting ready to close. Typos be damned. This post is done.
By the way, its cheap to hire a cab for a whole day - as little as $10, plus gas and oil.
Update: I did not know it when I took this picture, but this man is the most famous athlete in India, a cricket player, whose status is no less than that of a Michael Jordon, a Steve Young, Joe Montana, or Mohammed Ali: Sachin Tendulkar.
