Our next trip ended up being to Lucknow; which is in the
North/East part of India. One of my coworkers, Astika, was getting married and
invited us to the various ceremonies. We flew through Delhi, which of course
meant a stop at the glorious Starbucks at the airport there. Hooray! A long
layover also meant Annabelle (and Amanda) got to shop for accessories for the
wedding.
We arrived in Lucknow in the early evening and it was quite
different than the other cities in India we've been to. It's less of a big city
(although it is of course still quite big, all things considered). The traffic
was very heavy, but always seemed to be moving along; which was a welcome
change. We arrived at our hotel with an
extremely tired girl and a close-to-very-sick mom. A bed and some NyQuil (just
for Amanda...promise) did the trick for them.
With the girls solidly passed out, I decided to head to a
pre-wedding get-together that Astika and Abhi were hosting. It was at a local
restaurant and just a small event for friends. Aside from great food (as
always), I also tried a water pipe for the first time and caught up with an old
colleague who now works in Dubai (Simon). After few drinks, Simon and I got one
last drink. But, when that was done we decided we'd have just one more. That
happened two more times...thanks Simon.
When the party was over Simon told me he was sure his
auto driver was still there because he gave him a good tip on the way there.
Here's some advice...promise your driver a really good tip at the END of the
night IF he sticks around for you... Don’t front the good tip. After it settled
in that we didn’t have anyone waiting for up, our next great decision was to
start walking around Lucknow at midnight for a new auto. After about 15 minutes
we were lost. Luckily, Astika and her brother were driving home and randomly
found us. After bartering a bit on price, they gave us a good deal and we were
headed home! Just kidding on the bartering, of course. They gave us a great
deal to start with.
The next day we spent some time exploring the city. The
first part of the day included a quick trip to the Chikan markets (a type of
handmade stitched clothing) and a park visit for some serious swinging. We
found a massive swing about 15-20 feet long and proceeded to make Amanda quite
nervous.
We then headed over to a shopping area where Amanda came
REALLY close to getting a lehenga for the wedding, but it would have been
extreme right timing since the wedding was that night at 8:00*. We then met our friend Kavita (also there for
the wedding) for some good local food before heading back to get ready for the
wedding.
* 8:00 was listed
in the invite, so we should have known to add at least 90 minutes to that...but
didn't.
For the wedding, Annabelle wore a new lehenga, I wore a
kurta and vest, and Amanda busted out her sari from our last trip. We were able
to enlist the help of someone at the front desk to help Amanda dress herself in
the sari. After half an hour and a phone call to her mother for advice...she
got the sari on Amanda and we were off!
We arrived right "on time", but were greeted
only by Astika's parents and everyone preparing food for the wedding. We were
perfectly fine with it, but someone actually called Astika and she talked to
Amanda and apologized for not being there. We felt terrible, but it does go to
show how amazing the people we got to know while here are.
While Annabelle watched some guys prepping paratha for
about 15 minutes, we checked out the rest of the venue. It was a big open area
with chairs and a huge decorated stage set up. Around the perimeter were a lot
of various food and drink stations for guests. There was also a small dance
floor that kept all the kids entertained for a while. And no…they don’t do the
Chikan dance at weddings. It was just a
bad pun used for a creative title to the blog.
Eventually more and more people showed up, including
Astika. She was quickly shuffled away to prepare more, but was absolutely
gorgeous in her wedding attire (a red lehenga and a LOT of jewelry). Then we
heard some commotion, music, and fireworks. This was Abhi's entrance - a lot of
fanfare. We didn't see it, but I imagine he came riding up to the venue of a
white horse, which is very common (at least up North). After that, people went
back to eating and visiting as if nothing was really going on. They continued
to do so even when Astika started processing down the aisle. We almost didn't
notice it and people had to actually be asked to love out of the way for her.
Crazy.
There was a brief garland ceremony and then a loooong
series of pictures, including some with us in them. Then came dinner which was
incredible. The paratha that Annabelle watched being prepped earlier was
fantastic. And they cooked it inside a huge heated pot by slapping the rolled
out dough on the inside of the pot. We ate and chatted with others for a while
and it was 11:30 before we knew it. Annabelle was going strong, but we knew we
had to leave before a meltdown. Ice cream was the perfect bribe, as usual, but
not before saying thank you and goodbye to Astika and Abhi. We missed the main
ceremony that was a couple of hours later in the wee morning hours, but it was
quite the experience overall. And Annabelle fell asleep with a cone in her
mouth on the ride home...
The next day we had a late start in order to sleep in,
but then headed out to the Kukrail Reserve Forest Northeast of town. It was a
huge park area where they had a bunch of playgrounds, a crocodile hatchery, and
some other open space with wild animals. After walking through most of the park
we headed back for some swing time. There were a lot of school groups there at
that time and we ended up being the main attraction for them. Annabelle usually
attracts small groups, but this ended up being a huge crowd. Since Lucknow is
smaller the residents probably don't see as many tourists, explaining the crowd
we got. But the park was huge and we were able to find a secluded swing for a
while.
When we left, a troop of monkeys crossed our path, which
was pretty cool to see. One of the last monkeys stole someone's lunchbox from
his bicycle and scooted up on a fence. The man decided to buy some popcorn to
bribe the monkey...which almost worked. The monkey politely dropped half the
lunchbox when the man approached, then took the popcorn, and proceeded to drop
the other half of the lunchbox...on the other side of the fence. Well played.
Our last stop was at the Bara Imambara (literally “big shrine”), which is a
Muslim shrine dedicated to the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussain
ibn Ali (and others), in 680 AD. This event is observed annually as the
Mourning of Muharram.
And that was Lucknow! It was great to get to experience
an Indian wedding and see another part of the country.
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