Traiditional Rajput wedding
The wedding season starts in full swing as the chill weather sets in.
I was invited to attend a wedding of a budding architect Kirti whose office is in the residential building where I am staying. My only interaction has been with this youngster when I moved into the house of couple of months ago. He is related to my landlord and his brothers who are our neighbors when his sister got married into landlord’s extended family.
The marriage was on Friday 27th November. That day seemed to be a good day for marriage as there were a large number of baaraats all over the place as the night set in. Some of the roads I traversed on the way to the marriage hall had several baaraats ( baaraat is the event where the bridegroom is taken in a procession the public along with a band before entering the marriage ) with their bands one behind the other that it reminded me of the contingents in Republic Day parade!
I reached the stretch of road where the marriage hall of Kirti was located but I found there were three marriage halls in close proximity but there was no mention of names of the halls and the names of brides and bridegrooms anywhere in the vicinity. All the three marriage halls were teeming with Rajputs with some of them carrying traditional swords and I managed to find out the right hall where Kirti was getting married.
I saw the baaraat making a slow progress towards the venue at a leisurely pace. The bridegroom in traditional Rajput bridal attire with a sword in a swathe did not look familiar and double checked his identity once again with those around me. I did not want to land up at the wrong venue and partake dinner out of fear that some of those Rajputs with swords might not take kindly to uninvited “wrong” guests enjoying dinner at their pavilion.
Kirti was seated on an elephant. There was fireworks on the road and a bus carrying foreign tourists stopped for the passengers to click photos of the baaraat and the large crowd of women in traditional dresses waiting at the entrance to marriage venue to receive the bridegroom. It was an ocean of bright yellow and red costumed women with an occasional oasis of green attire who received Kirti singing traditional songs. Kirti proceeded to be seated a sofa surrounded by women.
I searched for Kirti’s dad and managed to locate him. He was in a sherwani with a colourful headgear and a traditional sword hanging from his waste. Most of the men were wearing colourful headgear and were clad either in Jodhpuri bandhgala suits or long sherwanis. I looked out of place with a woolen pull over on normal office wear. There were traditional singers on a stage the type one would find in cultural events in Delhi organized by government departments.
As the evening wore on, it was time to put some “spirit” into the proceedings. The “spirit” flowed freely along with snacks. I hung around for sometime and made a dash for food when the buffet was thrown open. The food was of good quality with some innovations like melted ice cream served in glasses to quench thirst.
Some of the guests have served in armed forces and they were wearing the colours and medals won by them on their chests pinned to their traditional sherwani / Jodhpuri suits.
Overall the first ever Rajput wedding I attended was an interesting experience.
I was invited to attend a wedding of a budding architect Kirti whose office is in the residential building where I am staying. My only interaction has been with this youngster when I moved into the house of couple of months ago. He is related to my landlord and his brothers who are our neighbors when his sister got married into landlord’s extended family.
The marriage was on Friday 27th November. That day seemed to be a good day for marriage as there were a large number of baaraats all over the place as the night set in. Some of the roads I traversed on the way to the marriage hall had several baaraats ( baaraat is the event where the bridegroom is taken in a procession the public along with a band before entering the marriage ) with their bands one behind the other that it reminded me of the contingents in Republic Day parade!
I reached the stretch of road where the marriage hall of Kirti was located but I found there were three marriage halls in close proximity but there was no mention of names of the halls and the names of brides and bridegrooms anywhere in the vicinity. All the three marriage halls were teeming with Rajputs with some of them carrying traditional swords and I managed to find out the right hall where Kirti was getting married.
I saw the baaraat making a slow progress towards the venue at a leisurely pace. The bridegroom in traditional Rajput bridal attire with a sword in a swathe did not look familiar and double checked his identity once again with those around me. I did not want to land up at the wrong venue and partake dinner out of fear that some of those Rajputs with swords might not take kindly to uninvited “wrong” guests enjoying dinner at their pavilion.
Kirti was seated on an elephant. There was fireworks on the road and a bus carrying foreign tourists stopped for the passengers to click photos of the baaraat and the large crowd of women in traditional dresses waiting at the entrance to marriage venue to receive the bridegroom. It was an ocean of bright yellow and red costumed women with an occasional oasis of green attire who received Kirti singing traditional songs. Kirti proceeded to be seated a sofa surrounded by women.
I searched for Kirti’s dad and managed to locate him. He was in a sherwani with a colourful headgear and a traditional sword hanging from his waste. Most of the men were wearing colourful headgear and were clad either in Jodhpuri bandhgala suits or long sherwanis. I looked out of place with a woolen pull over on normal office wear. There were traditional singers on a stage the type one would find in cultural events in Delhi organized by government departments.
As the evening wore on, it was time to put some “spirit” into the proceedings. The “spirit” flowed freely along with snacks. I hung around for sometime and made a dash for food when the buffet was thrown open. The food was of good quality with some innovations like melted ice cream served in glasses to quench thirst.
Some of the guests have served in armed forces and they were wearing the colours and medals won by them on their chests pinned to their traditional sherwani / Jodhpuri suits.
Overall the first ever Rajput wedding I attended was an interesting experience.
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