First some notes about the travel experience. Since there are no direct flights to Nepal from Bengaluru, we had to connect through Delhi. Getting to Delhi was a domestic flight, and then we had to claim our luggage for transfer to the international terminal, which was a 45 minute bus ride through the Delhi airport property. What a PITA! Then we had to re-check our baggage and go through Indian Immigration, which is more rigorous than Bengaluru International (which has exceptional Immigration services, BTW). The flight to Kathmandu was interesting once we got sight of the Himalayas. However that glow quickly faded at the Kathmandu airport and Nepali Immigration. Kathmandu is a one runway city - beware, there are Vogons here. There were only two Immigration officers for a planeload of people, and there was no clear guidance as to which or how many forms required completion - another PITA moment. However, we endured the process and got on the bus provided for the arriving Will's Clan to take to the hotel. There were about 16 members of Will's clan arriving on the flight from India, and two of the lot got separated requiring a quick reconnaissance of the arrival area to collect them.
And before I get into wedding activity narrative, some discussion of what we saw in Nepal is in order. Like India, Nepal has a large portion of it's population living below poverty levels, and you can see decay in the buildings. There is a pro communist group called the Maoists, which were causing some trouble in other states of Nepal. The week prior to the trip, the Maoists had stopped all flow of all fuel into Kathmandu. Another political group, the Naxals are likewise pro communist. India, too, has serious problems with Naxels in its Northern states as the Naxels cross the Nepali border fluidly. This was interesting to us as one of pictures Alli captured from the bus while going to the hotel from the airport was of a Naxel sign on a building. While touring the Darjeeling area in September, we had to deal with India Border Security Force checkpoints who were specifically in place to control the flow of Maoists and Naxels between the two countries
Our first wedding activity was the groom's dinner, which was held the day of arrival at Krishnarpan. It was an 16 course meal laced with multiple toasts of a local drink called white lightning. The seating was traditional and close to the ground, which took a bit of compromise for us longer legged Americans. Alli and Larrie did not comlete the full 16 courses as we just did not have the space for all the food, even though the traditional dress we wore that evening allows for rapid expansion of the waist line. The restaurant, and the surrounding grounds of the Dwarika Hotel, are very pretty, and the place has a fantastic ambiance. Due to 16 courses, many toasts of white lightening , and exploring the grounds around us we were late returning to the hotel, but even so, some of Will's clan had the energy to go to a disco and dance the night away. Alli and Larrie retrieved Jessie and went to bed.
Saturday was the day of the wedding. Hindu weddings are traditionally spread out over 3-4 days, but due to logistics Will and Pratima collapsed all the various activities into a single day. [A link to a description of the wedding
ceremony is above, it is too much to attempt to describe in your own words.] Will's clan departed the Yak and Yeti escorted by about a 11 piece marching band at 8 am. We went through the narrow streets connecting the hotel to the nearest main thoroughfare - only to encounter a marathon in progress, which delayed us quite a bit having to pass through the runner stream to reach the traffic stream. Will was in a separate car in front of the bus. Being more nimble, his vehicle got into the traffic stream quickly. The whole entourage stopped just short of the main road to get the band into a van for transport to the Park Garden on the other side of Kathmandu.
The bus we were using for the weekend developed mechanical problems during the trip to the Park Garden. We stopped once, and the driver opened up the engine compartment, fiddled with something, and then we got moving again. But, I don't think he ever got past 2nd gear after that. While the wedding was going on, a new bus was brought in to take us back to the Yak and Yeti while the original bus was being repaired. By the end of our visit, we were back to the old bus.
Upon our arrival to the Park Garden area, we stopped about 100m short of the driveway on the main road, the band got out of the van, we got out of the bus, and the whole procession was led by the band up to the site of the wedding on the grounds of the hotel. Keep in mind that the Park Garden is the "home" of the bride's clan, so we were noisily announcing arrival of the suitor.
The bride was not yet on premise of the ceremony area, and we had to wait for some time before we heard the clamor of her procession making its way to the site of the ceremony. The bride's band led her procession, and it was a more traditional group with a couple of rather Susical horns that would bleat out randomly throughout the day.
[Note: I am not embedding too many pictures into this report as I think that by viewing the pictures by themselves and reading the material on Hindu Weddings in Wikipedia provides a better understanding of the event. The pictures in our web album on Picasa are in time sequence.]
First was the engagement ceremony for the groom to announce his interest and for the bride to accept or reject his proposal. Upon acceptance, Will's clan (including the band) had to vacate back to the main road and re-enter the property for the wedding ceremony - to simulate that a different day. All-the-while, the members of the bride's entourage were in a tented area to simulate that they were visibly invisible to the members of the groom's entourage.
The wedding ceremony was quite interesting involving many ceremonial and spiritual activities, and one has to wonder how many years occurred to evolve all the various elements of the wedding. The whole process was facilitated by a Hindu spiritual guru who consecrated both the engagement and wedding ceremonial spaces. Once all ceremonies were concluded and we were fed multiple times, we returned to the Yak and Yeti between 5 and 6 in the evening with Will and Pratima (the bride) riding in the car. Again, we stopped short of the hotel for the band to get out and lead us into the Yak and Yeti with the noise of announcement of success - the suitor returns with a bride!
We had planned that during the time we were off to the wedding, Jessie and Alli's parents were to have gone on a Kathmandu city tour, but somewhere some communication had failed, and they spent the day at the hotel. Jessie was glad to have mom-n-dad back, and grandma was glad to get some quick quiet time before we were off again to dinner. On Sunday a city tour for Will's clan was planned, and Alli's parents went on that - so, all was not lost for their efforts to visit another cultural experience.
It had been a long day; however, a quick change of clothes, and we were off again to another dinner at the Radisson, where there was an Olive Garden restaurant. We were amazed, an Olive Garden in Kathmandu - whoda thunk it! Upon return to the hotel well fed and tired, all retired to a quiet evening of their own with exception to the disco crowd who again went dancing until the wee hours of Sunday. Young people!
While the rest of the wedding gang went on the Sunday tour, Jessie Alli and Larrie went to the local market area, Thamel, to do some shopping. However, the true hit of the day (for Jessie) was to discover a Pizza Hut just across on the main road from the hotel. Jessie required a before and after shopping pizza. Alli continued to purchase local gem stones for necklaces, and we got Jessie some safari pants and some baggy dancing togs; although, we were unable to talk her into a very colorful shirt to go with the dancing bloomers.
We enjoyed our day in Thamel very much. It was an easy walk from the Yak and Yeti, and we felt safe the entire day. The shopkeepers were very happy to have customers, and they were not invasive (as some can be on Commercial St. in Bengaluru). One shopkeeper, who we bought several jewelery items from was very happy to have us as her first sale of the day - even though it was late in the afternoon.
Prevalent in this area for women's fashion is the use of a Pashmina shawl, which a generally rectangular in shape. Alli had noticed that a number of the women in the bride's clan had round shawls, and she wanted to find one. So, the search for the round shawl was on in Thamel. We never did find one, and again it is a testimonial to the shopkeeper that all genuinely tried to help us and indicated which of the other shops we might actually find one.
Sunday night was the wedding reception hosted by the parents of the bride, and it culminated with some (non-traditional) disco dancing. We discovered that Jessie really likes to dance as long as she can do it her way - free style as she describes it.
Monday brought a air trip to see the Himalayas
for Alli and Larrie, and the return trip home. Our compatriot, Shae McCowen, posted some great pictures of the mountains on the McCowen family Picasa site. Flying out of Kathmandu is to encounter physical security application. We were searched and patted down (more of a grope)no less that 5 times for the domestic flight. AND, this was the day that the Nepali PM chose to fly to Copenhagen to attend the world green house gas(bag) meeting, which meant that the airspace over the Kathmandu airport [remember, single runway] was clear. So, we sat, and sat some more, and sat some more in the plane awaiting a window to take off. Once airborne, and the grandeur of the Himalaya laid out off the port side, all thoughts of delay evaporated from our minds.
The Himalaya are truly an inspiration and unique to the earth, and they should be seen by all at least once in a lifetime. We headed northeast along the range, and then turned north directly at Everest. You really cannot get too close to Everest as it is on the Nepali border with China. One by one, the stewardess had each of us go up to the cockpit for a look at Everest through the pilots windows - like that'll ever happen in North America, eh? Absolutely amazing! What was even more surprising to note the lack of snow and the evidence of glacial retreat. We flew over the Himalaya on Dec 14, and the vast majority of the "foothills" were brown. Terminal moraines and other visual evidence indicated that the glaciers were not growing. Impactful evidence of global warming, I presume.
We returned to the airport, late due to all the delays, and got on the bus to drive over to the International side of the airport - remember, it's a one runway town, and had to clear 7 layers of security and pat downs and carry on searches [the last being at the steps to get into the plane] to get on the flight to Delhi, which was very late due to you know how having to go to Copenhagen.
Needless to say, after enduring the bus ride in Delhi between international and domestic terminals again, we missed our scheduled flight to Bengaluru. Unknown to us was that India, and specifically the Delhi airport, was under heightened security that night, which only slowed our progress through the process. One security person on the bus indicated to Larrie that the bus might travel faster if we paid the driver a little money, which we did not do. However, the airline parent, Jet Air, booked us into another flight that was leaving within 20 minutes. We were very surprised that our luggage arrived with us in Bengaluru. That is the second occurrence where we have had excellent service from Jet Airlines. Their on the ground teams do the needful to assure you and your stuff get to where you need to be.
We arrived at the house at 1 am 4 hours later than expected, and it was a very rough morning for Jessie to get up and go to school the next day, and Alli to go to work. Weddings take a lot out of you.
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