India changed my life, what about yours?

This intercultural blog is aimed to be a point of convergence between new and old India travelers, it will allow the new comers to have real experiences available in order to enrich their expectations and make their own contributions. Not only foreign travelers will write and post their pictures, but also will involve the local´s point of view. We have invited a bunch of Indians to collaborate and omment on the travelers’ anecdotes.based on history and cultural background.

The Wedding

Experiencing traditions is one of the best ways to go deep into their culture, in 2004 I had the honor and privilege to be invited to Wini´s wedding; we have been friends since I got in the Melton Foundation and she was so thoughtful on organizing her wedding near the symposium dates, that way her MF friends would be able to go; I still haven´t thanked her enough.


One thing is to have the possibility to go to your friends’ weddings… a complete different one is having the opportunity to go to your friend´s wedding that happens to be Indian and the wedding happens to be held in Bangalore.


What to wear? When in Rome… well of course we needed a traditional sari of course, but we arrived and the next day was the wedding, no time to go shopping, but enough time for my good friend Vasuda to help me out; she told me, “don´t worry, I´ll get you one”, so she did, and arrived with a wonderful green and gold sari, but it wasn’t just to bring it to me, she also had to help me put it on, that was a serious dressing class, no jokes! What she forgot to let me know, and I just knew after the wedding was over, was that beautiful sari was not only her mom´s, but her mom´s wedding sari!!!!!! Can you imagine using someone’s wedding gown? Superstitious people say that means you will never get married…. Let´s wait and see what happens :-)


What to do? Fabi and I decided to use that very special occasion to meet “real people” from India, “non melton” ones, and we certainly did; as we made a perfect click with a bunch of adult women related to the bride (aunt, mom, and others) and as we were in India for a second time, we were decided to ask all those questions we left behind, no doubt would stay in our minds, no curiosity would be unsatisfied. And this group of wonderful ladies were so open, so clear and also very welcoming; and what we never thought, they were as curious as we were; so the whole conversation was like a big two ways questionnaire, asking and answering everything, a very interesting information interchange; we spoke about wedding night, premarital sex, feminism, woman at work, pleasure, arranged marriages, and so on… we never thought that would be so easy, and I think we were very lucky, we not only had a great time, but also learned a lot and gave our personal two cents for their understanding of our culture, as I think I now understand better theirs.


-.Chica Ruffinelli

9:56 PM | Etiquetas: , , |

 

4 comentarios:

Jaikar M said...

An Indian wedding is a lot of cultural learning within a few days time. In fact, its one of the most visual ways to understand the nuances of Indian culture. There are lots of ceremonies associated with a wedding and the speciality is that there is a specific significance behind every ceremony that is held. Some of these come from the olden days where weddings used to take place at very young ages and some of them are rather more contemporary. Family structures, Food, Society, Rituals, Culture - One can see it all in an Indian wedding.

June 1, 2009 at 2:23 PM  
TejnBuddy said...

I look a little crazy in the picture. ;) But hey, pictures don't lie right.

Seriously, this is a very enjoyable read Chica and it was very special for me that you and so many of my Melton friends were there! :)

June 1, 2009 at 2:56 PM  
Fabi said...

One of the things that made a big difference between 1999 and 2004 at a personal level was; personal developement.
To have being able to travel and experience others' culture as well as reading about cultural differences and cultural shock made a great impact as how to deal with diverce issues.
So, as Chica said asking was a lot easier the second time and it helped to understand better what was going on.

June 2, 2009 at 4:15 PM  
Steffen said...

I truly was an amazing wedding! I often do think back in good memories

June 10, 2009 at 3:37 PM  

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