Our Wedding Weekend

One of our Branch members, our Elders' Quorum President, Vatikutti Rama Rao, found himself a wife and got married last weekend. We traveled out to the wedding by Plane, Train, and Automobile....

Jumping onto the plane in Delhi to Hyderabad...

Waiting forever at the airport for the car to arrive. The tour book and a helpful local boy said that the Charminar was the place to go. Thankfuly we didn't end up going there! (See the previous post...)


So to avoid the chaos of the old city, Merinda rode the go-carts with the boys...

...and we hit Snow World!

Snow world was a very popular place. You get an appointment for a time and they put coats, boots and gloves on you. The room is below freezing and they manufacture snow for the room.

Isaac was a good sport, but the other kids didn't care for it much...

Russell at McDonald's. McDonald's in India is pretty good. No hamburgers, obviously, but I wish that they had some of the Indianized sandwiches in the USA. Our favorites are the Chicken Maharaja Mac and the Paneer Salsa Wrap. Fries and chocolate shakes are just the same though.


We took an overnight train to Rajahmundry, about an 8 hour journey. Traveling by train is great, especially overnight. The kids were exhausted.

Arriving in Rajahmundry at 6 am...

Before taking the car journey to the village where the wedding was to take place, we picked up some folks at the church. This is the first church building built in all of India. Hopefully we'll get one in Delhi someday!
We were late for the marriage. The reason was that angry villagers closed the road. The log and ambassador car was followed by rocks and a small mob a bit further on out of view of the picture. They were members of a particular caste upset that one of their own was thrown into prison. I guess they thought that closing down the road would help...

Finally we arrived at the village. The whole town got a wedding invitation on the small billboard here and on the back of motorcycles riding around the town for the past few weeks...

The colorful wedding crowd...

...and the couple. I gave a talk. Just to speak truth to power I talked about Adam and Eve and the commandment that you should leave your parents and cleave to your wife. I've known several couples with marriage problems and even divorces due to issues with the in-laws. (Merinda had fun seeing her husband preach like an evangelical preach with a native translating every phrase with drama!)


It was HOT!
The marriage was delayed for several months due to the Bride's family not being able to raise enough money for the wedding. The tents were huge, and you can imagine feeding all those people, the posters, invitations, mechanical peacock, life-sized namaste greeter doll, billboards... In addition, the groom got a Blackberry and a Laptop. It represents a life savings and then some for most people to marry off a daughter. They typically have to go into serious debt to put on the event.

This makes weddings very big and fun, but a little sad that somebody has to save their whole life to pay for a party.

Food in South India is eaten with your hands. They say it tastes better that way...

Here's an idea for your next Church dinner: Get some really big pots....


The kids and Merinda went back to the hotel to cool off (and bought bouncy balls and threw them around in the lobby for hours while we waited for Daddy) and a few of us were invited to the groom's parent's house...

The bride and groom wash their feet and there is a ceremony to enter the house..

The house had a river out back. We thought the water buffalo had the right idea...

...so we jumped in ourselves, clothes and all. I'm the guy in the white shirt throwing the little kid. It was so hot it didn't take but a few minutes to dry off after getting out. (Merinda: "And he wore the same pants to church the next day!")

The bride is the girl in the red sari standing next to the groom in the white shirt. This is at least her second outfit for the day. Earlier she was wearing a white sari and veil.

The villagers get their water by digging a hole near the river and filling buckets that they take to their houses. There were two Church missionaries there for two weeks doing a water project to get these guys a well.

After getting back, it was my turn with the kids and Merinda went out with some of our district leaders who are native to Rajahmundry and sweetly showed her around. The mangoes were wonderful and I've never had banannas so good.

The Rajahmundry airport:

No trip would be complete without one of Isaac's photo essays. I think he takes better pictures than any of us because people don't feel very threatened by him and he doesn't have any fear of snapping pictures in people's faces.




On our way back home we went to Church in Hyderabad. It was a trick to find and we went to several before finding it (this is one of the ones we tried.) There are a lot more Christians down in this part of the country which makes the missionary work easier. Hyderabad has four big branches!

Indian Wedding Fun

We went to our first Indian wedding and arrived too late for the family celebration at home (which I think we weren't actually supposed to go to anyway), and we sat in the living room while everyone readied themselves for the bharat--the procession/parade to the wedding place. Graham made many friends while we waited.

At about 9:00 pm the bharat began. We went less than a mile in about two hours. Generator in a truck powering chandelier lights along the way, a full brass band blaring music, fireworks, and lots and lots of dancing. The men did most of the dancing and almost always with other men. Rich was loving it. I was enjoying it, but worried about Graham's ears and getting hit with a firecracker!

At one point the trumpeter decided Graham needed his own firsthand, lasting memory of the wedding. Let's hope he can hear later!

This is Merinda at the wedding party lawn with lots of lights and glitz. I wised up this time and didn't wear black. By this time it was 1:00 am, Graham-Bam was fast asleep, and we gave up on the wedding actually STARTING and went home!

Our First Indian Wedding Reception

Okay, I know this is a really hideous picture of me, but it captures the glitz and the awkwardness I felt at this party where I had no idea what the social rules were! We drove two hours from our house for this big outdoor party, and everyone kept scolding us for not having the baby's head covered. It wasn't that cold! As you can see I was wearing sandals and my toes weren't a bit cold. But it was very fun. Lots of yummy Indian food and the people were so inviting. They had huge tables set up outside with just appetizers and then a huge empty room with a buffet dinner served. Everyone stood around eating while the Indian music boomed. The bride and groom were on a stage and groups of people kept going up to take turns having their picture taken with them.


One of Rich's co-workers was the groom and as the party warmed up all the men (no women) started jamming on the dance floor. Rich saw it as a time to pull out all his old moves from the 80s.


Rich's Indian co-workers were visibly impressed.