The quest for liberation

Tag: Wedding

Sri lanka – the wedding festival

With Bene I went to Sri Lanka for Shika’s and Vishwas’ wedding. Both from Hyderabad but decided for the green island down south being a perfect place to marry.
After a short flight we sat in the bus taking us from Colombo down south to Bentota. The island feels nice, temperatures in the 30s with a humid breeze, not that much trash lying around and the clouds are just as amazing as in Cuba.
All wedding guests checked in the Taj hotel, which was booked for the following days, round 400 people were invited, a big happening! The following days felt actually more of a music festival than a Hindu wedding 🙂

The 5 star resort was just splendid, a bit maze like though, lots of ways to get around, you actually need a map to navigate the first time 😉
The day we arrived, a pool party was just about to start, big sound system, professional lights and a live band warming up the scene, to be followed by Hyderabadi DJ’s playing the songs I came to know in the Telangana state’s capital. The bar just a hand reach away and the buffet with some nice seafood being a good introduction to the place. We met a lot of interesting people and enjoyed to the max, well we enjoyed so much that we missed the wedding ceremony, which took place early in the morning the next day right at the beach.
Feeling a bit hangover and embarrassed we took it easy stayed away from the big crowds and went along the beach to watch the sun go down followed be a spectacle of colors in the sky, orange to greenish until the last rays of light vanished from the sky.

The beach party was already kicked alive during that time, same sound system, twice as powerful as in a usual Hyderabadi club the bass was pumping hard, trying to drown the waves that crashed some 20 meters afar on shore. Same DJ’s playing the same songs, interrupted every now and then by some drummer guys playing traditional music and even using the didgeridoo entertaining the crowd with natural vibrations. Most of the friends we made the day before and the ones we already known from Hyderabad (Cheers Arjun! ) were enjoying the breeze of the ocean as much as the one from the sound.
Ninja like security guys dressed in black were taking care that no one of the party people will go down to the ocean or more far away from the party as eye sight, it’s dangerous we were told, still we went a bit away talking to the nice guy and taking him with us so he still can fulfill his duty in watching us. From afar the whole party looked and felt like a space ship landing with all the lights and dark sounds.
Another highlight that evening, the seafood bbq and buffet, oysters chilled on ice, lobsters, king prawns and many more delicacies fresh from the sea on the grill made for a perfect diet! Yum…

We went to see another place the next day with our room just a stone throw away from the ocean. Arriving there we discovered the place being German and the local waiters greeting us in our native tongue, a bit weird but hey they had Schnitzel on the menu of course we ate, and it was good! Sometimes it’s nice to get a taste of home if you’re traveling the world 🙂
We found out that this day will be an after party thrown by Raju a good friend of the freshly married couple for their honor. On a full moon night – also being an important Buddhist holiday, a dry day – a handful of people hopped in the bus and 90 min further south started drinking at a nice resort right at the ocean, a perfect surf spot with big waves moving in parallel. With DJ’s flown in from Mumbai and another delicious seafood bbq the party got started, a traditional Sri Lankan music group played the drums and flutes while professional fire jugglers went crazy on lighting the beach, peaked by fireworks I felt being taken back to Diwali night.

We partied hard, till the morning came…back at our place we gazed the orange moon setting over the ocean just at the same spot the sun set a couple of hours ago, of course we had a swim in the splendid waters with powerful waves crashing in before the new day arose.
The last day we took it pretty easy, enjoying beach life. In the evening though, we went to see some Buddhist temples to get our blessings and to ask for forgiveness for drinking and celebrating the previous night and not obeying the rules…

Cheers to Shika and Vishwas for having us, unforgettable moments and a nice introduction to Ceylon as the island was called during the British colonial rule.

Hyderabadi weddings and parties

After diwali night the wedding season in india is starting this year, everyone was holding back as an important river festival called pushkar also took place before and it’s not a good habit to marry during that time, also you don’t want any rain – a lot of parties happening outside.
A typical indian wedding has multiple celebrations where friends and family get together for praying, drinking, talking and eating. The dinner happens to be quite late, and after you eat, usually you stop drinking and soon after leave the place. To still keep on drinking during the evening and to satisfy the starving stomach snacks are available, at the proper cocktail and wedding parties waiters walking around with plates, serving deliciously spiced little pieces of chicken, paneer or veges with different kinds of dips. At the other pre wedding parties food is either way ordered and shared among the group, or at bigger happenings bbq will be available.

The first wedding I attended was Nivy’s and Lohit’s we stayed among palace like buildings with lots of space, hundreds of people. Beautiful sarees in different bright colours were worn by the ladies. Men wear kurtas, suits or other formal/traditional indian clothes. Julian a friend from berlin who arrived just in time was also dressed in a nice kurta that made him perfectly blend in.
For Chitra’s & Siddhu wedding Bene and Stefan more friends from germany joined, we all were dressed in kurtas that day following the indian style. The rituals were similar here, the clothes as beautiful but the setting was different, next to a lake and the stage was just golden, supported with the beautiful sarees and shining jewellery it felt royal! Hurray to the good times guys!
In india the bride buys the groom, the ladies family will end up of paying for all of the glorious parties and also a dauri, something like a wedding gift, will be handed over to the groom, this can be anything from small jewelry to big houses, whatever they can afford.
The wedding ritual is pretty set but timing depends on various aspects like the star constellation or the moon phase. it goes on for hours, bride and groom sit while hindu priests guide through the steps of prayer all is happening at a nice stage guided by some traditional music surrounded by the closest friends and family members. You will just get a chance to talk to the freshly married couple in the end when all official stuff is done. It’s a hard day for them, lots of smiling and shaking hands receiving the best wishes and staying relaxed is not easy.
Once married in india you better think twice if you want to break up after some years and go through all of all the preliminary steps, parties and rituals again…
No alcohol will be served during the official wedding celebrations, smoking is banned too, so you have to go a bit away from the crowds when longing for a tabaco infusion…
Big buffets are available and everybody is eating with the right hand, holding the plate in the left while standing, so much good food and the deserts are killer too 🙂

There is a lot of drinking in Hyderabad! When no wedding related celebrations was scheduled we went to private rooftops or houses to hang out with friends drinking a beer, or two 😉 listening to music and just having a good time. So we even went up on a hospital’s roof, chait is a doctor and of course he’s living on top of the building with his family!
Or some other interesting private homes in jubilee hills, rewarding with nice views, sweet music and more interesting people to talk to.
Good times, not the healthiest but you gotta go with the flow and the pace of the city.
Clubs play a big role in hyderabadi lifestyle too, fancy and a bit expensive places with different music ranging from edm sounds to mass compatible electronic music and even psy trance. Changes between the different styles happen quite fast so it’s a bit distracting as you feel the dj is not that experienced going from one hard break to the next, on the other hand everyone got to listen the music they like during the night, well most of the clubs close round 3 and 4 and you get kicked out, different to the berlin clubbing scene…

 

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