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| Page Views: 6,120 | My marriage reception party by Rupanworld - last update: Aug 3, 2007 |
21st January 2005, Calcutta, India | Like every girl, wanted to look the best that day |
After a long relationship of seven years, I and Paritosh finally decided to tie the knot on 25th January 2005. The place was obviously Calcutta, where both of us had come for our higher education leaving our hometowns (his at Bankura district of West Bengal and mine at Silchar, Assam). The day was Friday and the ceremony was to take place all through the day, with the reception of guests starting from 6 PM in the evening at Bardhan Villa. |
| Another one in thoughtful mood |
|  | Normally all Indian marriages are composed of many small events and ceremonies adding upto many days and the celebrations begin (with the particiapation of family members, all the relatives, friends and even office colleaugues) almost a month before the wedding day (especially the shopping part which is no less than a celebration in itself, the whole wardrobe of the bride and the bridegroom gets totally changed with overthrowing of most of the old dresses and addition of a whole new range, very colourful, very expensive and very diverse). My marriage was however, different. My family was far away in Assam, had very few friends in Calcutta and as regards the relatives, I decided to involve few of them as most of them were either very old or too young to help me and those who were capable, were residing outside Calcutta. I had no other choice, but I enjoyed the entire procedure, doing lots of shopping for myself, clothes, shoes, jewellery, furnitures etc. etc. |
| Tired of sitting on the chair, had a walk around |
| | Since my sister was already married and was residing with her husband in the same neighbourhood, I got her company for the most part of my preparation for the big day. She, as usual, was not an expert in shopping and it was always I who did shopping for her. So here also, she accompanied me to every place after her office, and I was the leader. It was fun. We went across the best shopping places, the best clothes, had great food in between, went to cinemas and in the end, always had great days to remember.
As for marriages in a Bengali community in India, the custom of the bride wearing a Banarasi Saree (originating from Varanasi, the famous brocade work in Silk) is almost a necessity. Another thing, the bride has to wear red or a variant of red, although these days many girls go for other colours as wwell. My Banarasi saree I got specially made on order from Varanasi. It was red and BEAUTIFUL. All pictures in this album show me in this saree. |
| The mehendi (henna) designs on my hand |
| | Putting the mehendi (henna) designs on the hands was not originally a part of Bengali culture but with the mix of culture between various communities of India, this tradition, that was more prevalent in other Indian communities like the Marwaries, Gujratis, Punjabis etc., these days, the Bengali community people have also adopted this custom and more or less every Bengali bride puts on lovely Mehendi designs on her hands (and feet) during her wedding. I was no exception. It is believed that the more dark the mehendi colour is in your hands, the more your husband is expected to love you (!!!), but that's a customary belief again. So during wedding, every girl wants her mehendi to come out very dark (that's a secret). The first thing friends want to see when they come to attend they wedding is how dark the mehendi colour in the bride's hand is. Mine were, however, very very dark. |
| Mehendi (henna) designs on the back of my hands |
| | For all those who love Mehendi (henna) designs, and who happen to visit Calcutta, here's a TIP, although I know this is not the right place to give tips. There's a college in Calcutta called Basanti Devi College and it is situated near Gariahat/Rashbehari Road. In the evening, one finds rows of very good mehendi artists sitting on the footpath outside the college under the trees, waiting for customers to apply mehendi on their hands (infact it is the other way round. There's such great rush there that the customers actually have to wait). But those are great mehendi artists and tthey do BEAUTIFUL designs. Moderate designs on both the hands should cost somewhere around Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 (only!?!?!?). My bridal designs cost me only Rs. 500 (on feet as well) |
| Finally, a picture of my husband as well |
| | I am not used to putting on a lot of make up usually. But on the day of your wedding, you have got to look the best, or so goes the saying. Even I wanted to. So I did. And the cameraman loved my look so much that he almost forgot my husband. There's no wonder that there are very few photographs of my husband taken during the reception ceremony on 21st January 2005. This is one of those. Ofcourse there are many others. I thought this would be the best one to share with fellow VT members. After the whole day's toil, he was too tired, but still managed a smile. I bet, Indian marriages can be very tiresome, but we do love them and always want to be amidst celebrations. |
| A break, some quick food for the hungry bride |
| | There were delicious Indian dishes in the menu for the reception party and I love Indian food (Spicy!!!!) I was very hungry sitting there and meeting guests and after the whole day's toil. The first ceremony of the day had begun as early as 7 AM and the reception continued till 11 PM. At about 9 PM, I realised, I could not withstand any longer and had to taste the great food that all the guests were relishing. I got somebody to do me the favour, as I was not expected to move to the dining hall and have my dinner with guests. In this photograph, I am seen taking a bite off the hands of one of my neighbours. The dish was 'Bhetki Macher Paturi' (Fish baked in mustard and cooked in Banana leaves). That's yummy!!!
For the wedding ceremonies that took place during the day of 21st January 2005, including Kanyadan, please visit my personal album 'My Wedding Ceremony' |
| Another one, talking to the guests |
| | Busy talking to the guests. There were 300 guests attending the party on that day. So it turned hectic, but ofcourse that's one day in your lifetime, and everybody's there to meet you, be part of your celebration. So its worth the toil. Marriages in India are a sacrament and people love to be with you on that day. All relatives gather at the family house of the bride/bridegroom days before the wedding day, plan their dresses, the enjoyment, help with the huge load of work and participate in every bit of the celebration. As for Bengali marriages, small bits of events and ceremonies (each having a different religious implication) combine and make up a whole wedding. In other communities also its same, or even more. Even applying mehendi (henna) is a ceremony where the bride and all members of the family, friends, relatives and neighbours participate, other ceremonies are like the Haldi, Sangeet, Ashirvaad, etc. The entire celebration is very enthusiastic, noisy and ofcourse, is accompanied by great Indian food, always. |
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 Comments for Rupanworld about World | | | | |
Donna_in_India Thu Oct 15, 2009 13:53 UTC
Hi Rupa - Thanks for adding me as a friend. I have added you back. :-)) | highlandlaura Fri Aug 14, 2009 01:29 UTC
Thank you for birthday wishes! Wish I could visit India! Maybe can swing it in the not-too-distant future! | RAJASTHANBYCAR Tue Aug 4, 2009 06:09 UTC
Dear Rupanjana Ji how are you thank you for Vt on line.I am in Delhi now. | aah_stone Wed Jul 15, 2009 13:15 UTC
Happy belated birthday. Hope it was a lovely day. All the best. Andrew |
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