Film City

I am horrified that I didn't bring my camera on my travels this week. I thought it would just be a work trip - little did I know. I went to Hyderabad for a senior leadership meeting to disseminate the evaluation results of our last six months of work. By the way, I so enjoy my work. I don't dare assume that someone gets to work their entire career in a job they enjoy as much as I enjoy what I do now, so I hope I remember to cherish it. It's exciting to see that the work we do has impact. We've substantially increased the number of men who get STIs treated at our clinics and slightly increased condom use! Woo Hoo!

Okay so the meeting took place in Ramoji Film City, which turns out to be like Culver City, it's a huge area of film sets. So the first morning I went for a jog on a fake maharaja palace. First I ran up the front steps like Rocky and then ran around the outer walls and really felt like breaking into Bollywood dancing. It's a funny effect these have. The next morning I went up to the American House, which looked like something in a suburb in So Cal, but was pretty good and then through the Japanese gardens, which were beautiful (and used in Khabi Khushi Khabi Gham), then through the arizona gardens of cacti. We later went on a bus tour and the place is crazy. My favorite place was the fake Ellora/Ajanta caves, which are in Maharashtra in real life. I've always meant to go but if they are anything like the fake, I'm definitely going. They were so cool (even in plaster of paris).

Now I'm in Bangalore. It's beautiful here, in the 80s, fully spring with everything blooming. Delhi on the other hand is flooding and cold!

Indian Weddings

So I went to my first Indian Wedding last night! It seems shocking that I could have been here this long and not actually go to a wedding. Although I've seen many, I never actually went in. My colleague, Chumpa, was getting married so I brought my friend Beth, borrowed her sari and to the wedding we went. The invite said 8pm but the groom didn't arrive until 9:30 and the bride at about 10:30. What Beth and I realized is that the wedding really isn't about the bride and groom (or even their parents, as it often is in the US) - it's really just an excuse to eat and dance. Even as the 'ceremony' was going on people (men) continued dancing up a storm in a corner.

Let me back up. How they do weddings here is erect enormous tents (like half the size of a football field in this case) where they serve food, have a dance floor and have various parts of the ceremony set up. The groom arrives on a white horse, and his friends and family lead the horse to the tent by dancing around it like it's their job - they also have a band in white and red uniforms (they are ALL ALWAYS in white and red, don't know why). They also put money around his neck. Then there's a pooja (blessing/prayer) ceremony for the groom which involves flowers and incense and bananas and giving of gifts to both the "preacher" (pantaji, I think) and the groom. There's something about feet too, as his sister had to take his socks off. Then he goes and sits on a big throne (there's another one empty next to him for the bride).

The bride comes in and walks down the aisle to the throne where many many pictures are taken. Audience is not paying any attention to any of this and continues to dance and eat. This is when we left. I understand that the ceremony goes until 5 or 6 in the morning with on-going poojas - and don't forget that this is like day 4 of the wedding ceremonies! The top picture is of Beth and I and some of my colleagues (dare you to find Borat!), then the bride and groom. The bride looked about that terrified the entire time I saw her (which admittedly was only about 10 minutes). It was an arranged marriage but they had met. Anyways, good excuse to wear a sari!