off we go

We are headed to the airport now, the flight is at 12:10AM, and we'll reach ATL Saturday at 7:30AM... only an 18 hour flight! It's been fun, but I'll be glad to sleep in my own bed again :)

Catch you on the flip side!

trip to the village

So we took a trip into the village... the village being a restaurant on the second floor of a shopping mall that was decorated as a village in India. The restaurant had different foods from all over India, and all of the staff were dressed like villagers. Needless to say... it was an interesting experience.


Here we are next to some cattle cart at the entrance. The guys working were so very nice enough to let us borrow their sweat ridden cap-turbans to pose with.


I actually got a job while I was here driving loads of something (not important to the story) around Mumbai. I got 100 rupees a day ($2)


And here is Pooja contemplating which vat of food to fill her plate with. As for me, I went suicide-style and mixed a little of everything



Here is one of the 'villagers' serenading us with a tune. I asked for my heart will go on, but that wasn't in the play book.


You know when people secretly go up at a restaurant and tell the staff it's your birthday? Well that happened, except instead of birthday it was these two got hitched, let embarrass them! We were then called to the middle of the floor, where we were encouraged to dance dance! As you can see, I got to wear another hat.

Here is a video of the music:

Another fun part about the village are the 5 rupee movie picture shows. Give this guy 5 rupees and he will rotate a stick that moves pictures on the inside.

At 9:30, don't be late for the Rajasthani puppet show!. This dialogue free puppet show is sure to be a hit for the entire family.

Picture Time...

On Saturday we had our reception, where friends and family could come say hi and have their photos snapped with us. There was also cake, and lots of different food items. There were multiple buffet lines with 35 or so different types of food.

There were about 350 people there, and they all wanted to take pictures. We were standing about 3 hours taking pictures with everyone...



The welcome decorations they had waiting for us


The buffet lines with all the different types of food



This is the throne where we took all the pictures. The chairs were all gold


This was before the reception... we were actually at a GQ photo shoot. Sometimes we have trouble fitting it all in


And this is... a cake.

Taking pictures with the family. Do note that this is only one side of the family, the other side required another picture



Getting our groove on to some 'boing boing boing'


This picture needs no caption... but alas, Rushi breakdance battling vs a 10 year old



Hey look, the man with no emotions dances and smiles

dun dun da dun

Here are some of the pictures from the ceremony. It was pretty long so there is a lot of stuff that got left out. It was fun though... and very interactive. Before the ceremony... goofing around Me and my second rate translator. Just kidding, thanks Rushi I wasn't supposed to see her all day, so when she was walking in, they put up a sheet, and then got mad at me for trying to sneak a peek. Finally I get to see her! Then we got to lei each other. Ok it's not a lei... I just wanted to say that They tied us together, which symbolized being stuck together... no turning back now This is us feeding the fire with something... it got big and hot We had to walk around the fire a few times... each lap around meant something else, but my translator (rushi) kept messing up Pooja had to fast all day until now, and I get to feed her the first food... symbolizing that I will take care of her. My princess bride Now, if I only knew how to get out of these things... The end

The most important word to learn in India

I have now figured out the most important word you need to know when traveling to India. When you are eating, you will be given food, then more food, then more food. If you are asked if you want more, your answers will politely be ignored and more food will be given to you. Instead what you have to do is cover your plate with both arms and say "Bus!" This means something along the lines of My stomach is going to explode, enough already!

I then found myself saying "Bus" quite frequently. Frequently enough, in fact, that I decided to make a permanent sign to use when eating.

Getting All snazzy

Before the wedding ceremony, all the guys were getting ready at one place. I felt obligated to add these pics

In India it is cool to have a mustache, unfortunately I don't have enough to be cool, so I must shave it


Rushi: "Do these pants make my butt look big"


It must be the perfect height


Before this, I had a huge beard, trust me

mehndi / henna preparation

Before weddings, the women decorate with henna body art, here are Pooja and Kinnari gettin' it done

the puja at poojas

Since all of their family was in under the same roof again, they decided to have a get together and have a puja... which basically meant all the friends and family gathered together to bless the house and bring good fortune. Since we were also having a marriage ceremony, they thought, hey lets have a double-whammy puja and bless their marriage too.

So here are some pictures from the puja. And as mentioned in the last post, I was sick and vomiting through this whole thing.


Here's me in my new fancy new outfit


Rushi's biodata picture for shaadi.com

Kinnari and her Dad


Soo purrrrty


Pooja has a very loving family!


The dudes. These clothes best worn commando-style


We are holding coconuts in our hands, which I don't know exactly what it represents but it's hard on the outside soft on the inside so we're supposed to work through both?


Everyone came around and rubbed this yellow paste like substance on our face. I forget what this was for... but here's Bad Chad taking advantage of the situation and rubbing it all over my face


Yes, that is a fire in the living room. It was pretty hot... literally

I didn't sign up for this

So somewhere between getting pooped on by birds and eating food from the streets, I picked up some nasty bug that left me incapacitated in the bathroom... mostly vomiting. Due to this, I did not take many pictures from the puja at the house. I will try to gather pictures from the other cameras and upload these shortly though...

Just another day in Mumbai

Here are some more pictures after another day out on the town. We went to different parts of the city shopping and goofing off and what not...

Rickshaw driver! Quick! Take me over there where the ladies are! Step on it!


You can never have too much fun with an unmanned rickshaw



Pooja and Kinnari are some mean bargainers


While standing under a tree, I got pooped on by a bird. It got on my shirt, down my arm, and on my feet. It was all green and warm... oooohhh


A picture of one of the shops. There were streets and streets of shops / stands with shoes, jewelry, bags, etc... lots of neat stuff, and lots of bargaining.


Rushi was sold these sandals with the promise of attracting females. As you can see by the look on his face, he is very happy with this idea


Dad asking, do these sandals go with my skin complexion?


I am going to bring this style to the US... what can I say, I'm a trend setter


Look how painful everyone looks after eating a huge non non-veg sandwich.


You can never hide from Ronald... he is everywhere


Just a random delivery, or McDelivery, girl we saw at McDonalds


Here is Chad and look what he found... A Bar. Way to go Chad!