Wedding and Rishikesh

I'm still a bit groggy from a four hour nap (got to Japiur at 6am this morning), but I'll try to write a little about the last few days. Back to Thursday night- the wedding. Yes, it finally happened, and was as over the top as I expected. February 19th is seen as the most auspicious day by Hindus. So that night, there were over 1,000 weddings in Jaipur alone. It was so cool to drive to the wedding and see about two each block. There were bands, elephants, horses, and massive amounts of lights lining the street. The sari's were so great. However, we were weary of sitting down for fear of becoming unwrapped. There was literally six feet of fabric. The housemaid helped me and Carly get dressed. We found out after the wedding that the little tops we wore were on backwards. That's the only part we did ourselves. opps. Anyways, back to the wedding itself. Weddings usually last five days. We were there on the actual wedding night, but the ceremony doesn't take place until well into the night, and most people don't stay. We stayed to see the bride presented. She was gorgeous in all red and gold. She was also covered in henna. She was constantly looking down, which I found out that is normal behavior for Hindus. It's intended to make her look pure and submissive. Binew, the aunt, told us that the marriage was arranged, and they had been on a couple dates. Arranged marriages are still very much the norm, and there are always pages of ads in the paper. I'm sure they were both a little apprehensive to be sharing a life with a person they hardly know.
The food and music were probably the best thing about the wedding. Indian-Chinese food is sooo good! They had rows of food, and Niveta was directing us on what we can and can't eat (she didn't want us getting sick again). Then onto the music- it was real loud and crazy. We joined the few little kids on the dancefloor. Then slowly, some more people came to join us. It was uncomfortable for a little while when we noticed we were being videotaped by cellphones- we stuck out because of skin color and actually dancing. It was a little hard to figure out what was 'appropriate'. However, we soon got over any reservations, it just felt good to dance and be out at night.

On Friday night, seven of us took a night bus to the town of Rishikesh. It was a 10 hour ride. We left at 10:30 that night, and the trip was pretty pleasant. I had the best cup of coffee since I got here at some roadside stop. The town is the biggest center in India for yoga. There was all kinds of characters walking around. I saw this guy in a loincloth sitting under a tree outside of town that looked like he was literally part of the tree. I was so tempted to take a picture, but I felt like he had some supernatural power, and could cast some sort of spell on me So, I passed on that. We also saw lots of foreigners. A Brazilian caught a cab with us to town, and we heard German, Swedish, and Spanish being spoken at breakfast. The Beatles hung out here for two months in the late 60's, so of course, they were advertising for tours.

The highlight of the trip was the Ganga (Ganges). It really is breathtaking. Our ashram balcony was right on the water. I was surprised because the water was so blue. I pictured a brown, littered stream. It may be that way in Varanassi or other bigger cities. We went on a hike totaling about eight miles, which three were uphill in search of a waterfall. When we got to the top of the hill, we found two women pulling bamboo-like sticks out of a stream. We were so sweaty, and couldn't complain about being tired if they can climb the same path and carry sticks! It was so nice to do something outdoors and be active, without breathing in fumes from the city streets.
One night, a few of us went to see a ceremony dedicated to Lakshmi on the river. There was a huge lit up statue, and tons of people with drums chanting mantras. It gave me goosebumps watching people going up to the water and receiving blessings. Their overwhelming emotions were clearly visible. I also purchased my favorite gift: rosewood beads that I had dipped in the Ganga. They are seed beads that are said to come from the tree that is associated with Shiva's tears (later petrified by the water into seeds). Ana and Carly also surprised me with an India patch for my bag- I was so excited because I have been unable to find one.
This trip was my favorite so far. Northern India is beautiful. I could see one of the holiest rivers in the world and look at the Himalayas while having banana pancakes- can't get any better than that. I could definitely spend more time there, and might consider heading north again after the program.
I am into the last two weeks of class. There's lots of homework to be done, and I'm staying in Jaipur this weekend to finish up. Then it's Holi, then onto the internship phase.