The rains seems to have retracted for a while and we are enjoying a mixture of sunshine and overcast weather. There is still a few impromptu dams in the neighbourhood, but overall everything is much drier and only the battered roads points to the devastation caused by the rains.

New dress code

We have been honoured with an invitation to attend the wedding of the son of the MD of Shriram Life in Chennai. This was a great opportunity to “dress up” Indian style and we are not ones to let an opportunity slip by.

So Marga decided to don a silk sari and I had a duty to fit in at her side - hence I commissioned a tailor to create a sherwani for me that will be suitable for the occasion.

The end result was that I appeared in a dress with “kabouter” shoes, but never the less it had a royal flair to it.

Eating at the Raintree

Our journey to Chennai was delayed a bit (as usual) with flights being a bit behind schedule. We eventually arrived (late) for our dinner date with Japie and Elmarie at the Taj Connemara. It was an entertaining evening, but poor Marga was in quite a bit of distress which she handled with style and composure, until it all became too much.

We realized something was amiss when she started applying her Kingfisher (beer) to parts of her body other than her mouth. Apparently while we were enjoying our Indian cuisine, poor Marga was on the menu for the mosquitos in Chennai. She tried to foil them with her beer lotion, but it proved to be nothing but additional flavor for their feast.

Our first Indian wedding

The next morning we enrolled the help of a female employee at the hotel to get Marga into her sari. I climbed into my dress and pixie shoes and off we went to the wedding. The astonished looks, gaping jaws and other interesting expressions were quite a sight as we royally walked from our room to the front of the hotel where we waited for our driver. He did not recognise us in our new attire and I had to call him on his phone before he brought the car to the entrance.

We arrived about 10 minutes before the “start time” according to the invitation and were worried that we were late when we realised a lot of guests and more importantly the bride and groom were already there.

We were however at ease when we were greeted and thanked for coming ‘early’. We had great seats in the front row, with a big screen lcd tv very close to us from which we could experience our first Indian wedding.

I felt a bit overdressed as most men were wearing dhotis and not really sherwanis. But the hosts and other guests were very friendly (or polite) and compared my attire to that of the Maharaja of Rajasthan.

The ceremony had many interesting rituals and a large number of ‘role players’ including priests and family. Often the bride and groom were swamped by priests, family, photographers and a film crew which made the proximity of the nice big tv to us a great advantage to see how the rituals were performed.

We still do not fully understand all the rituals which included holding hands while water are being poured over their hands, placing a piece of wood on the brides head (by the groom) while the bride is sitting in her father’s lap and the groom dragging the bride by her big toe a few inches at a time. We intend to investigate to uncover the hidden meanings ….

(The piece of wood on the bride’s head symbolises that the two now become a team and that they must pull together and in the same direction as two oxes pulling a cart. The sitting on the father’s lap and the ‘wood’ ceremony occurs at an auspicious time).

Wedding party

During the evening we attended the wedding reception (in different clothes) and noticed that almost everyone (including the bride and groom) also donned different clothing.

The wedding ‘hall’ was lovely decorated with coloured lights, flower arrangements, a fruit display and dessert area that had a carnival feel to it. It was very festive and upbeat. We were also surprised by the wide range of clothing that the guests wore – from golf shirts, suits to colourful sherwanis – any thing seems to go.

I was later told that due to the very warm and humid Chennai climate that wearing something comfortable is very acceptable, as opposed to wearing something traditional.

Besides being part of a never ending queue to give our best wishes to the bride and groom and to deliver our (and other Sanlammers’) presents, the highlight of the evening for us had to be the dinner. We were served a mixture of South and North Indian cuisine in typical South Indian style:

A big banana leaf with little heaps of different kinds of spicy food, and the judges (i.e. myself and Marga) agree that it was delicious. We have both worked on our tolerance towards spicy food, which made the evening’s dinner very enjoyable with very little “sweating” involved …

Skattejag (“Treasure hunting”) in Chennai

The next day we postponed our morning flight to the evening and decided to enjoy a day as tourists in Chennai. We were surprised to find we had a new driver the next morning and it did not take long for us to dub him Scot Scott.

We found that we knew more about Chennai than him and when we directed him to Chennai’s “major” tourist attractions he spent most of the time talking to someone on the phone and police officers next to the road to get his next “clue” enroute to our chosen destination.

It was a public holiday in Chennai, so a number of the places were closed and we could only get a view from the outside and snap a few photos before we tormented our driver with a new destination.

We ended the afternoon with a shopping expedition which featured the ultimate test of manhood (shopping endurance). I accompanied Marga to Nalli’s which is a multi-story laaaaaaaaaarge sari shop. We spent 2 hours there and returned victorious with 4 saris and a dhoti (watch this space for more information on this one).

Surprise holiday

From Monday I am taking Marga on a birthday trip. All she knows are when we are going and when we are getting back – the rest is strictly confidential.

We will be out of cellphone and email range for that whole week, so be patient for Marga’s next episode of our Indian adventure …

As always the website is updated with photos. See www.hyd.co.za

Namaste mere dost (Greetings my friends)