The gala event, Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
Anna and I left the compound in a hired car in the early afternoon for our hair/makeup/draping session at the premier salon in Delhi,
Ambika Pillai. To enter the mall where it was located, we went through security, including xray of bags, and a gender-specific pat-down after passing the metal detectors...our driver waited in the parking lot.
This salon (like many others) specializes in Bridal treatments...so hair, makeup and assistance with draping of a saree, or general dressing is all part of the package deal. We were guided into a room to change out of our shirts and into our party tops with a drape and our street pants ...well, for the party, I was wearing a dress, not a sari, and the poor girl who was with us was horrified when I put on my dress and then started to remove my jeans. For some reason, she couldn't grasp the fact that the dress was all I was wearing, I guess...assuming most of their clients would wear a sari blouse and their street jeans, it was just beyond her comprehension that I not leave my jeans on as well! Thanks to Anna's Hindi, she finally "got it," and I was not resigned to spending two hours in my jeans with a fitted dress over them.
Hair came next - I could watch Anna through the mirror, but my stylist didn't speak English, and Anna was beyond conversational distance...oh, and slightly pre-occupied with her own party preparations! I just let the guy do what he wanted...which was fine - an up-do, I liked it.
But then we moved to the make-up room. I don't wear make-up. A dressed-up day for me is some powder to eliminate my shine, and some chapstick. I'm an anomaly when it comes to Indian parties...the lady put three pounds of base and powder and who-knows-what all over my face and neck, then started on my eyes. Oh, my eyes...
Purple shadow, to the brow, dark.
Eyeliner thick enough to guide an airplane to landing.
Blush dark enough to embarrass the finest red-light-district queen...
...but the best...my lips.
BRIGHT RED, dark, lined and filled...
I didn't recognize myself AT ALL. Thank goodness Anna came back and could very quickly help me veto the facial monstrosity...so the make-up lady "minimized" the look...which still left me with purple shadow, blush, three pounds of base, but at least a more natural lip color. Hey, small victories at the hand of an artist accompanied to much more extravagance than this plain white girl can handle.
Make-up complete, Anna's sari draping was the final step. Dressed in her blouse and petticoat, the ladies of the salon started to wrap her...
...and work the choora/chura/chooda on Anna's arms. The choora are a set of bangles traditionally soaked in milk and put on by the mother's uncle, worn for 40 days straight, then removed by the groom's sister. Many Indian couples are modernizing this tradition in myriad ways...including my sister, who chose to wear them for the gala event, but skipped the soaking, placing by uncle, and wearing for 40 days...
(in the mirror in the right-hand picture you can see another bride preparing at the salon. Her choora are wrapped in fabric so as to keep her from seeing them, I assume...yet another traditional twist to choora-wearing)
You can see, a sari draping for your wedding is no small production...
...but the results are amazing, if I say so myself!
Some pictures from the party...held at the private Delhi Flying Club officer's space.
The entrance:
Inside the venue:
The orange flower strands hanging all over are marigolds - an auspicious flower.
A few crowd shots, just to enjoy the colors and variety of dress...
Children come to all the big parties...
Anu, the new sister-in-law, Anna, me...fortunately for my viewers, you can't really see just how
BIG that make-up was on me...
Some of the US contingent...
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The food was buffet...included a "street food" section, with our new favorite funky treat:
water balls!
Also included fresh, made-on-the-spot roti...yum...complete with chefs happy to pose for the silly Americans!
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A few days before the wedding, Ashish's sister and sister-in-law told me about a tradition of the sisters stealing the groom's shoes (
juta churai) during the ceremony. The shoes are held as ransom, and the groom is obliged to deal with the sister to earn back his shoes.
Ashish was cooperative, and went along with my shoe-nabbing antics...much to the delight of the female family members!
And if you're wondering...I let him off easy...I only demanded a wooden
Ganesha statue as my ransom...
Beautiful party...beautiful couple...
