Wedding in the Family, part 1

A combination North and South Indian wedding. First, the sangeet, with the groom arriving on a horse.

Fireworks and a band.

Family members get into the act.

The bride shows off her mehendi. I think I have pictures of Sukrutha (the beautiful bride) showing off her mehendi now over the course of many family weddings, more than 10 years.

Never this elaborate though.

The next day, the South Indian wedding has some games at the beginning -- with the bride and groom hoisted on shoulders, and trying to place garlands on each other.

After the garlands are placed, they sit on a swing, and receive blessings from relatives.

After the dramatically shortened South Indian ceremony, the bride is whisked away to be prepared for the North Indian ceremony. Different clothes and jewelry, of course.

Meanwhile, everyone else justs sit around, looking beautiful in gorgeous silks, surrounded by garlands decorating everything.

More on the North Indian wedding, and the reception, food, and songs from the Sangeet, to come ....

Ben-10 in Bangalore

I attended a Cartoon-Network sponsored event cause Amartya and two of his friends wanted to go to a cricket match between characters held at Kantaveera Athletics stadium downtown on a recent Sunday night.

Waiting in line. A line. In Bangalore! The worst job related to this gig had to have been keeping the lines in order.Especially as it got darker and closer to the time of the event.
You'll note the fairly wide range of attire and people. The tickets were given out for free (you had to pick them up at local stores), so it probably was the broadest cross section of folks here in any event I have attended.

UB City at night -- Bangalore's homage to the Empire State Building.During the event, there were several times when there were games or some kind of promotion linked to cel phones. Note all the screens lit up above.

Of course, if an emergency would occur, it would be close to impossible to flee quickly, as different sections were cordoned off with the gates. Now I better understand how folks get crushed at soccer games and concerts.