Marital bliss in Rajasthan
One year BC (Before Covid) we received an invitation. My nephew was getting married in India.
One year BC (Before Covid) we received an invitation. My nephew was getting married in Udaipur, Rajasthan. It would be a three-day celebration, an occasion not to be missed and our first visit to India.
We arrived in Delhi in late December 2019. It was the coldest day in 100 years according to our Airbnb owner in Hauz Khas. The small bar heater in our room was utterly inadequate. We joined other guests for breakfast wearing coats and scarves. A mother and daughter from Russia sat shivering at the table.
With mugs of home-brewed chai warming our hands, we exchanged travel stories aided by Google Translate and gestures. Despite warnings of the air pollution, we wandered around the neighbourhood visiting markets, parks and ancient tombs seeing happy people wherever we went.
We flew to Udaipur to congregate with fellow wedding guests and the bride and groom at Chunda Palace, a hotel on the banks of Lake Pichola. The views were breathtaking; the rooms all decorated with traditional artwork. Beyond, locals were going about their daily routine, cars, motorbikes, auto rickshaws and cows crowded the streets.
The wedding celebrations were unforgettable, starting with Mehndi night, when guests, dressed in all shades of yellow, mingled and young girls painted our hands with henna. The wedding day ceremony featured colourful drummers announcing the arrival of the groom and, later, the bride. There was music, dancing and laughter at the evening reception on the hotel rooftop and throughout the three days and nights we all ate the most delicious food. After the wedding we continued on to Jaipur and Agra. We travelled by night train, private cars and auto-rickshaws and visited temples, step-wells, museums and “must see” Taj Mahal.
We flew back to Australia in mid-January 2020. Soon after our arrival, borders closed but our concern for the welfare of those wonderful people we met in India continues, with WhatsApp messages now our only form of contact.
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