Indian Wedding Part 3 & 4

Friday was the mendhi ceremony/party (Sangeet) for the brides' side. Romaana, Zeby and I all went together. 

Also, just a disclaimer what we wear is not a dress, it's a punjabi suit. And all the clothes that I am wearing are Romaana's that she is letting me use for the wedding. 

We arrive at this hall and it looked so nice. It was all done up. The setting was very intimate because there were maybe 50 people in total. 

The bride enters and is seated in the front area. Unlike the engagement on Thursday, there wasn't a bunch of ceremonies. Just a lot of photos and then people could go up and get mendhi done whenever they wanted to. 

After a while food was served and then some people from the grooms side crashed the party. Then all the dancing began! Y'all. People in Africa love the song Danza Kuduro. I have heard it every where!! 

But that was about it. It was just dancing and mendhi. It was cool to see how Hindus do it. 

Saturday was the main wedding. Where the bride and groom are officially married in the ceremony. The ceremony itself lasts 2 and a half hours. The poor couple had to sit for 2 and a half hours! I can barely sit for an hour without getting antsy! All the guests were allowed to freely walk around, get food and watch the ceremonies. 

For this wedding, Romaana and I went all out. We went and got our hair styled and then came home to dress and do make up. We decided to wear saris which are  what most Indian women wear. If you ever watch Bollywood movies, you'll know what I am talking about. 

To put those things on is such a hassle! The top is super tight and putting that on while trying not to ruin my hair was interesting. But Romaana and I managed to get me into it as you can see. 😝

And then the sari itself is crazy! The sari is the cloth that is draped over my left shoulder. What actually happens is that there is a liner skirt you put on super super tight first. Then you have to tuck in the cloth into the liner and wrap it around and around yourself. Then you pleat it. And then (finally!) you drape it over your left side. You have to pin it though because holding that thing is so tiring! 

Romaana was lucky and cheated. Her sari had velcro so that instead of wrapping it around and around she just stuck it together! 

At the wedding, we got to sit right on the stage where the ceremony was.

There is the groom putting a necklace on the bride. 

After about an hour of just sitting and watching we were asked to help serve food. That was interesting...all the girls are in heavy saris, and have to serve hot food to people. At the end we were all dying of heat and sweating sooo bad! 

After that, I decided to leave with Zeby and Karim. Romaana stayed because she is so close to the bride and groom. 

We came home and changed and then decided to go check out a new ice cream place that opened. Guess what it was...a Baskin Robins! 

Karim called it BR (bank robbers) because it was so over priced. But they are the only place in Dar that sells them and probably the only one in Africa (besides South Africa which is completely westernized), so I can see why they charged so much. 

It was cool to see the cultural diffusion within the ice cream. They had a date flavor! So of course, I got it! 

And it was delicious! 

And today I found an even better nundu place!

It's called Muchacho's (pronounced Moo-cha-choo) and it is the best!! I am sorry to say it is better than Diamond Plaza and Mamboz...I wish you could have had it while you were here, dad. It is so good! I had extra in your honor!