england 2007, part 3 of 5: wedding day = crazy day
september 1st - my brother's wedding, this is a long one:
a totally crazy day today!! being england, coaches aren't capable of parking in certain areas, especially residential. so instead of boarding from my uncle's house, we had to walk past the local gas station to get to it. now imagine about 100 or so indians in traditional garb walking down the streets of a london suburb at 9am on a saturday.. hehe people actually honked their horns! one guy shouted out his window "sasriakal" and we shouted back "wrong religion!" hahaha :) (that was a sikh greeting, we're hindu :) )
when we got closer to leicester the cousin sisters all moved into a 16 seater suv limo (which suv, I can't quite remember) with my brother and my brother-in-law. the limo itself was entertaiment.. think of cheesy egypt paraphenalia in a limo.. we took a few tourist style shots (to follow) plus our normal silly shots :)
once in leicester is where the trouble hit. there were road closures (apparently leicester is infamous for this).. so imagine two coaches and a sixteen seater limo having to do a three point turn and a u-turn in traffic on a busy saturday morning. after we made the u-turn in the limo, we basically got separated from the buses. so off we went, because we called dad and got confirmation that it was okay to keep going and not wait for them.
off we went with music blasting getting geared up for the wedding. we pull up to a hall on the main road, turned up the music louder, rolled down the window and screamed! then i looked out the window, noticed the name of the hall.. that doesn't look right, noticed the car parked outside.. that's not my uncle's car, noticed the dhol player.. that's not my cousin! we're at the wrong wedding!! hahaha :) we almost picked up a second wife for my brother! hahaha :) we actually could see the RIGHT hall from where we were but couldn't figure out how to get there because of more road closures! luckily one of my cousins came over, hopped in the front seat and directed the driver.
finally arrived at the hall and started all the rituals and what not. inside the hall before entering the mandap (the wedding area), my sister-in-law's mother has to do some rituals to welcome him, which requires my brother to take off his shoes. so i went down to take them and all of a sudden people are on top of me! one the games to break the ice between the families is to steal the groom's shoes but that traditionally happens when we go back to my sister-in-law's house after the wedding for her to change into an outfit we give her. and it's a game played by my sister-in-law's siblings. the person on top of me was one of her aunt's. since i didn't particularly like the the fact she was on me, i shoulder checked her and she fell on the ground. i passed one shoe to my cousin who accidentally passed it to the wrong cousin without realising. so they had one shoe and we had one shoe. this became a problem because my brother needed his shoe back to step on a clay pot before entering the mandap. luckily the priest stepped in and told their side to return it, which they did. but after stepping on the clay pot, he had to take his shoes off again. yes.. once again i got tackled.. but this time by her uncle. so i hipped checked him which kind of worked but he jumped back again, then my sari got ripped and the flower in my hair fell apart. NOT HAPPY! seeing the chaos, one of my uncles stepped in and told them to stop because traditionally this was neither the time nor the place for it; not to mention the fact it was getting out of hand. one of my cousins helped me fix myself up as i was slightly dishevelled so i'll at least look somewhat decent in the pictures.
other than that the wedding went really well. after the wedding a few of us, not my parents, took my sister-in-law to her parents' house so she can change into one of the saris we gave her. here is where they stole my brother's shoes, which we let them. when leaving, the negotiations began to get the shoes back. my brother-in-law went up to £25.. and out came his master negotiating skills - since they still wanted more, he told them "if you were any kind of family, you'd give him back his shoes so we can get on our way since we don't have much time.." hahahaha :) bring out the guilt trip. oh he's good :)
and the night ended well with me getting piss drunk thanks to my cousins (and inadvertently dad since we used his money for the rounds).
a totally crazy day today!! being england, coaches aren't capable of parking in certain areas, especially residential. so instead of boarding from my uncle's house, we had to walk past the local gas station to get to it. now imagine about 100 or so indians in traditional garb walking down the streets of a london suburb at 9am on a saturday.. hehe people actually honked their horns! one guy shouted out his window "sasriakal" and we shouted back "wrong religion!" hahaha :) (that was a sikh greeting, we're hindu :) )
when we got closer to leicester the cousin sisters all moved into a 16 seater suv limo (which suv, I can't quite remember) with my brother and my brother-in-law. the limo itself was entertaiment.. think of cheesy egypt paraphenalia in a limo.. we took a few tourist style shots (to follow) plus our normal silly shots :)
once in leicester is where the trouble hit. there were road closures (apparently leicester is infamous for this).. so imagine two coaches and a sixteen seater limo having to do a three point turn and a u-turn in traffic on a busy saturday morning. after we made the u-turn in the limo, we basically got separated from the buses. so off we went, because we called dad and got confirmation that it was okay to keep going and not wait for them.
off we went with music blasting getting geared up for the wedding. we pull up to a hall on the main road, turned up the music louder, rolled down the window and screamed! then i looked out the window, noticed the name of the hall.. that doesn't look right, noticed the car parked outside.. that's not my uncle's car, noticed the dhol player.. that's not my cousin! we're at the wrong wedding!! hahaha :) we almost picked up a second wife for my brother! hahaha :) we actually could see the RIGHT hall from where we were but couldn't figure out how to get there because of more road closures! luckily one of my cousins came over, hopped in the front seat and directed the driver.
finally arrived at the hall and started all the rituals and what not. inside the hall before entering the mandap (the wedding area), my sister-in-law's mother has to do some rituals to welcome him, which requires my brother to take off his shoes. so i went down to take them and all of a sudden people are on top of me! one the games to break the ice between the families is to steal the groom's shoes but that traditionally happens when we go back to my sister-in-law's house after the wedding for her to change into an outfit we give her. and it's a game played by my sister-in-law's siblings. the person on top of me was one of her aunt's. since i didn't particularly like the the fact she was on me, i shoulder checked her and she fell on the ground. i passed one shoe to my cousin who accidentally passed it to the wrong cousin without realising. so they had one shoe and we had one shoe. this became a problem because my brother needed his shoe back to step on a clay pot before entering the mandap. luckily the priest stepped in and told their side to return it, which they did. but after stepping on the clay pot, he had to take his shoes off again. yes.. once again i got tackled.. but this time by her uncle. so i hipped checked him which kind of worked but he jumped back again, then my sari got ripped and the flower in my hair fell apart. NOT HAPPY! seeing the chaos, one of my uncles stepped in and told them to stop because traditionally this was neither the time nor the place for it; not to mention the fact it was getting out of hand. one of my cousins helped me fix myself up as i was slightly dishevelled so i'll at least look somewhat decent in the pictures.
other than that the wedding went really well. after the wedding a few of us, not my parents, took my sister-in-law to her parents' house so she can change into one of the saris we gave her. here is where they stole my brother's shoes, which we let them. when leaving, the negotiations began to get the shoes back. my brother-in-law went up to £25.. and out came his master negotiating skills - since they still wanted more, he told them "if you were any kind of family, you'd give him back his shoes so we can get on our way since we don't have much time.." hahahaha :) bring out the guilt trip. oh he's good :)
and the night ended well with me getting piss drunk thanks to my cousins (and inadvertently dad since we used his money for the rounds).
posted by bacon at 5:47 p.m.
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