Remember, if you will: we were all sitting in a certainly not air-conned bus on our way to a big, fat Bhopal wedding. But where is it going to happen? Our bus wheezed through the traffic and we lost our way twice. :yes:
The hotel (venue) apparently belongs to the Pataudis. „Apparently“ since nobody ever knows anything for sure. The Pataudis, some distinguished Muslim lineage, also include Saif Ali Khan in their fold. Must. Show. Off. 
But even this royal circumstance could not make us reach before 9:30pm. We scrambled out of the bus, which was not exactly easy in our pretty, by that time sweat-soaked saris. This bus had obviously not been constructed bearing in mind certain handicaps, so that the step hovered half a meter above the ground. A perfect, filmy moment to cast yourself into the arms of your husband. 😳
Once we had recovered from this free fall, we fumbled with our saris, adjusted our coiffure and were subsequently told: sorry. Wrong hotel. Get back into the bus.
Wait a minute. I have to :)):)):))
My German brow began to twitch. But that does not signify, since it’s getting increasingly difficult to shock me. We all climbed back into the bus, which roared dangerously, and eventually managed to reach the venue. :wave: Time for the barat. The bridegroom mounted his glitzy carriage. The music began and would not stop for forty five torturously loud minutes. Everyone danced. Well, almost. Some Mamas carried around a special scent with them. An alcoholic scent. We all remember our secret scented session a long time ago (German, but with explicit photo). Mamas, by the way, are maternal uncles.
Before S was allowed to enter the venue and cast an appropriately shy look at his soon-to-be, there was a quick welcoming ceremony. I did not know it at that time, but I was to perform this same ceremony less than 24 hours later. :yes:
The party was incredibly relaxing up there on that breezy hill. Apparently, there had been one thousand guests. 8| What a tight squeeze. But since it was past 10:30pm the lawn had cleared and we enjoyed a perfectly calm stroll. Meanwhile, the couple braved gifts, photos, handshakes, photos, utterances of joy and some more photos up on the stage. We devoted our attention to the buffet and munched altogether too much. The lusty old bloke from the living room popped up next to me a couple of times, prompting me to run off each time. But then there was the inevitable. The secretly desired moment. The highlight of every party: The dessert counter. It was juicy hot jelebis and forbiddingly tasty cream. Umm! 😳
My infernal heels sank into the soft lawn a couple of times so that I had to dig them out again, until I made the most sensible decision of the evening and walked barefoot. We plopped on the lawn and just sat there for some time, having green soda (the in-thing this season along with blue and purple soda) and contemplated another round of desserts. :yes: Yes, please. ;D
But time marched on. The orchestra had packed up already and we were to follow suit very soon. We left about 1:30am (our train was to leave at 2:15am). Bhopal station – let me just pack this nicely – is not pretty. :no: We found ourselves amidst a distinctly unpleasant odour, lots of creepy, crawling animals and heaps of digestive end-products on the tracks. No, it was not pretty. And it was to last much longer than anticipated since the train was announced to be 30minutes late.
Eyes. Getting. Heavy. :yawn: Tired. Very tired. :yawn: Rahul plopped himself on a bench and dozed off. I could and would not. I sleep like a log and nothing can wake me :lalala: so I decided to walk around in circles on the platform, always listening to the metallic speaker-voice which announced the delays. Some trains were 12 hours late. XX( Not pretty. Definitely not pretty. 30min had become an hour and I was still making my rounds on the platform until I almost dove very ungracefully onto the tracks. I daresay that might have been entertaining. To others. So I sat down and waited some more.
3:20am. The Rajdhani Express from Chennai finally decides to show up in Bhopal, we hop on and are shipped back to Delhi. And to think that we were to go through all of this again. Today, in fact!
Daniela in/aus Indien 