Weddings are one of my favorite types of events to attend. They are filled with happiness, color, and delicious food.. and these things are amplified even more in India. One thing in India is that weddings differ from region to region, of course between religions as well. I have been to quite a few Indian weddings, but these have primarily been South Indian weddings within my family. This past weekend, I attended my first Bengali wedding!

West Bengal is a state in Northeast India, bordering Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The journey there was divided between two trains over the course of about 21 hours. I'll talk about the train ride later.. back to this wedding.

My roommate Agatha and I attended our co-worker's cousin's wedding in a town 6 hours north of Calcutta called Barharampur. This town reminded me a lot of where my mom grew up, a place called Mysore. Just a nice small town in India with quiet streets FILLED with bikes, where everyone knows your name (like Cheers). Our co-worker, Ananya, has many relatives in this town and everyone lives within blocks of each other. For the wedding festivities, there were functions held at the brides house as well as the marriage hall. Again, these were all walking distance of each other.

The day we arrived, we freshened up and headed off to the mendhi ceremony. This was a small gathering with all the bride's immediate relatives. There was one mendhi walla (man who applies the mendhi) who applied mendhi for each of the ladies, while the male relatives hung out and chit chatted with everyone. It was really nice going to this small event because we were able to meet all of Ananya's relatives in a quieter setting.

The following morning was the wedding day! We started the day off by painting our feet with red dye, a traditional Bengali practice called alta. We then headed to the Bhagirathi River to collect some water for the wedding rituals that followed. The Bhagirathi is a large river that flows through the city and connects to the holy Ganges. On the way to collect the water, we had a little parade with drummers leading the way as 15 of us danced behind them through narrow streets in the town! It was great fun.

Later that night we attended the wedding, both Agatha and I dressed in traditional indian attire (sari's). The wedding rituals were quite different from what I'm familiar with. Even the type of sari and jewelry worn was completely different. It was a really nice experience! All of Ananya's relatives were so sweet and welcoming and made sure we had a great time. Following the main ceremony, we had dinner with three courses of desserts! Actually, every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) was ended with a variety of desserts including rasgula and gulab jamun (my dad's favorite). Saturday, there were a few small rituals we attended. Mainly family meals and a 'last farewell' sort of ritual in the evening where the bride cried away as she headed off to her new home with her new hubby.  Sunday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and headed to Calcutta!