A Little History, Culture & News from India

Aurangabad

In February, we spent a long weekend in Aurangabad, which is a smaller city of about 870,000 people one hour (by air) east of Mumbai. We went to get away, but also to see the Ajanta and Ellora Caves, which are ancient sites with Buddhist, Hindu and Jain (another religion common in India) caves. The first picture is of Karen and a random group of Indians in a cave who asked if she would pose for a picture with them. This actually happens quite frequently, although more to Karen than me. The second picture is of some kids at the Daulatabad Fort that were really staring at us, so I took their picture and showed it to them, which they typically like. The picture requests and staring are sometimes because people are curious and foreigners are a novelty to them, but sometimes it seems the interest lies mainly in pictures of or with a pretty western lady. Speaking of pretty ladies, check out the four goddesses I spotted at the Aurangabad Caves. There is certainly something special about the three to the right, but the one to the left is still my favorite.

The Ellora Caves, a listed World Heritage site, range from 1,000 to 1,400 years old. They are a collection of 34 caves carved into the face of a large stone outcropping, with different sections dedicated to and created by the three different religions involved.

The first picture is of the largest monolithically carved sculpture in the world, which was impressive and was the best 'cave' of our Ellora and Aurangabad experience. There are some other pictures here of the caves and carvings. We actually missed the Ajanta Caves (half of the reason we went to Aurangabad), which are an older and apparently similar set of caves, as the site was closed the day we planned to go.

So we instead visited some local attractions: the Aurangabad Caves, the Daulatabad Fort, and the Bibi-qa-maqbara. There is a video below of the monkey antics we saw while hiking up to the Daulatabad Fort. Finally, there is a picture of the Bibi-qa-maqbara, which is a poorly maintained mausoleum built in 1679 by Aurangzeb, the namesake of Aurangabad, for his wife. It clearly resembles the Taj Mahal (also a mausoleum), which was built by Aurangzeb's father. It is smaller and lesser known, but was still nice to see.

Holi - The Festival of Colors

There is a major spring festival celebrated in India (and many other locations with large Hindu populations). I read about the significance of the festival; it is confusing and is rooted deep in one of the stories of the Gita (Hindu holy book). It relates to a mother deciding to apply color to her fair daughter's face (fairness is preferred in India) to make the fair sister and her darker brother more equal. On this day, people typically wear light/white clothing and expect to get colored. There are squirt guns, water balloons, bags of colored water, tons of colored powder, drinking and ingestion of other substances (marijuana drinks and snacks and perhaps something derived from opium). It seems mainly young people participate, but it is common for apartment building societies to hold parties in their courtyards. The activity seemed moderate and reasonable in Mumbai, but we've heard it can become gross and aggressive in other locations, with people throwing rotten eggs, urine, cow poop, etc. We were lucky enough to be invited by one of Karen's colleagues at the American School to the party at her house. The event started mid-morning and went through the afternoon. There was great catered Indian food, a DJ playing really loud Hindi music, and a garden hose (flowing with nozzle) tied to a light pole like a sprinkler to run through. When we arrived, there were kids running around - playing colors amongst themselves - already fairly well colored and wet. We went with three other western teachers from the American School; none of us knew what to expect or how to get started. But soon enough, the kids became bolder and we were pulled into the action and drenched. You can see Karen and some other ladies posing and dripping above, and then Karen, Swapna (our host) and Jane below that. I, a lover of squirt gun fighting (something I hadn't been able to do for a long time) went a bit crazy - becoming known as "Samosa Man" by the kids there. I still don't understand why that name - samosas are a prism-shaped, fried street snack with vegetables and potatoes in them - but that is fine. Certain kids made me their primary target and I had a great day chasing them around and getting blasted with bags and buckets of colored water. Karen was a little less active, which is I think why they decided to toss her in the mud. This was clearly gross, but makes for an entertaining video (see below). All in all, it was a great day and was probably our favorite festival of those we have seen in India.

A Punjabi Wedding

Last weekend, we had the opportunity to attend and participate in the festivities of an Indian wedding. The family of one of my old colleagues here (Amandeep) was one of three families hosting a wedding for Amandeep's sister-in-law's brother (I think) . For those that don't know, Punjabi refers to a community of people in India that are historically from the Punjab region in the north. They are also called Sikhs and are generally distinguishable (at least the men) by their headwear and beards. In the first picture, you can see Karen and I in the background awkwardly trying to dance with the crowd, but you can also see the groom's father (red turban) and a woman's hand with henna painting on it. Decorating women's hands with henna is a traditional part of marriages here; I think it looks pretty cool.

Indian weddings are a major family affair with many traditions and rituals. Parts of this grand event were scheduled from Friday through Monday, but we only attended the bharat (procession to the temple) and the wedding ceremony itself on Sunday. Going to the groom's family's house (which would also be the home of the bride and groom after the wedding) to observe the pre-ceremony activities was a fun and interesting experience. This picture shows the sister and other female relatives of the groom putting his blindfold on. The blindfold stayed on until the wedding ceremony when the bride came in. We did not know the bride or the groom before the wedding day, which was strange, but the kindness and hospitality of the family made it a welcoming environment. They fed us, gave us Diet Cokes, got us to dance and sit in pictures with them, and allowed us to experience first-hand many of the traditions in the wedding. At the wedding, there were hundreds of people in attendance. It was fully catered with varied Indian fare in a two-story venue. Eating and the social gathering took place on the open-air ground floor, with the temple and ceremony on the second floor. There was a reception on Monday night that we did not attend.

The wedding ceremony consisted of the families sitting, organized by bride side/groom side on the floor facing the front where the holy man (don't know the name) sat behind something like a pulpit (see the picture). He read the standard marriage scripture from their holy book aloud and everyone listened. The bride and groom sat in the center at the front, quietly listening. Four times during the ceremony, they stood up and walked around the pulpit, connected by a piece of pink fabric. After each of the first three walks, there was more reading from the book. Then, they made the final symbolic and solidifying walk around the pulpit, which constituted the point they were actually married. So they entered matrimony without saying a word - interesting. After the ceremony, the bride's brother gave a speech and everyone went back downstairs to eat again. There was a stage with thrones, which is where the picture of the newlywed couple, Karen and I was taken. At that point, we had known the groom for less than five hours and the bride for less than five seconds. Immediately before the picture was taken, and in anticipation of the puzzled look on her face as to who these random white people were at her wedding posing for a picture with her, our host of the day Gurdeep (Amandeep's gracious older brother), introduced us to the bride. Finally, the fairly entertaining video of the Bharat (without any footage of us dancing....although we did...in big Indian clothes and 93 degree F heat) is below [the video wouldn't upload...I'll try again later].

Time to Go

For those of you that have not heard, the time has unfortunately come for us to leave India. When we came, we expected our stay to be a couple years, but due to the global financial crisis and economic turmoil, my assignment here has been cut short. We actually only have a few weeks left in Mumbai, which is both sad and exciting at the same time. We are moving back to Denver where my company is headquartered, set to arrive in early May. There will be things we miss about India and living overseas and there will be things that are wonderful to have back in our lives. In this instance, we didn't have much of a choice, so we're off to the next chapter to see what it holds. At least I still have a good job. I'll miss the realism, intrigue and general chaos of India. We'll be happy to have clean air, food we recognize, and open spaces that allow us (and make us want) to do outdoor activities. At this point, we are focused on closing everything up with work and our personal affairs here, and readying ourselves for life in Denver (cars, home search, phones, etc.). There will likely be one more posting, to document anything interesting in our last few weeks here, our brief stops in Europe on the way home and our re-settling in Colorado. Thanks for reading and, if you're in the US or are headed to Cyprus for Joris and Stephanie's wedding, we look forward to seeing you soon!