the wedding's done with for nearly three weeks now... but these are pictures from before the wedding.. the preparations, especially in the last few weeks leading up to the big day.. the arrivals, the food, the flowers.. the cleaning up and the works....
the arrival of the children started a few weeks earlier... rehna came in three weeks early.. followed by kripa... each time the dogs, especially zebu were at the forefront of the welcoming team!! here is kripa's arrival...
rehna who came in a fortnight earlier is already a 'raithaney' (local) as she watches kripa unpack the goodies...
her treasure trove includes a surprise package for the 'hen night' party!
.. and a bottle of moet..
zebu's turn to welcome ujwal who came in a day before the supari ceremony...
... nearly full house after ujwal's arrival.. only ravi's missing...
...zebu's right there when ravi -- jwain number one--comes in finally...
ravi's also brought with him a load of gifts from his family in baroda..
...including saripha (sitaphal) for baba...
preparing for the wedding meant cleaning up the premises.. and 'organic' disposal of garbage
...cleaning up the garden...
... cleaning up zebu!
.. and then of course drying her up.. (thank god there was power!)
... scrubbing off old paint...
... and applying a fresh coat...
.. in the lead up to the wedding priya kept threatening to wail her head off... she prepared muwa with her impromptu 'whaaaa whaaa' wails to her amusement... here during the purbanga ceremony...
.. and a more realistic one after the supari ceremony!!
.. to everyone's amusement...
.. the karaoke provided quite a bit of entertainment as well... here are ravi and kripa...
...rehna and priya...
... and the whole gang.. including eelum, milap and markus as well...
.. we tried our best....
... laughed our heads off....
... and crooned on and on... click on the play button
... and on....
... priya had been planning for her wedding reception decoration since months earlier.. no stain and flowers for her.. she wanted paper flowers... so in the final weeks anybody who came to baghbazar was given a crash course on making the flowers and told to be part of the wedding preparations...
fold fold fold.. snip snip ...clip clip...
fold fold
.. and then tease out the petals...
everyone was roped in...
... some enjoying the whole 'spectating' aspect of it!
.. the 'decorative' aspect of it...
on purbanga day, a day before the wedding.. the flowers were finally tied , one by one, to a wire mesh...
first the border...
tall guys roped in for obvious reasons...
.. working from behind and front...
... bigger flowers also find their place...
orange magenta and purple
the mesh gets filled in with a whole lot of extra hands...
.. it fills..
and fills...
.. until the mesh sis all covered up...
.. the backdrop is ready for the wedding the next day.. sandaji, with khaja in hand, examines the handiwork of many haats
a perfect backdrop for the beaming bride...
... and next day a backdrop again at the reception hall in hotel shanker...
getting ready for the wedding meant preparing food.. for the various rituals, like supari. but also for the guests... we installed the new cooking range in the kitchen... ganga expresses her delight at the five burners...
... amar packs blanched peas for the freezer...
ganga and gang made a whole lot of khaja...
tulasa and santosh getting ingredients ready for phurandana
... phuranda being mixed. almost looks like samay baji!
.. next turn to make goji... here is the khuwa and masala mix...
...then frying the gojis...
.. some knead the dough.. others roll them.. others fill them and we fry them...
ready to eat...
.. and eat they do!
much of the food is also readied to be sent to avaya on supari day.. here is ujwal helping tape up the cellophane over the goodies...
something for jwain # 2
there's food to be cooked for visitors.. radha making her famous alu tareko
.. and ganga seems happy to cook for a crowd...
.. as happy as we are to eat what she's prepared!
.. and a lot of washing up done by krishna debi.. equally happy!
only the crows the day after the wedding.. wet in the drizzle.. seemed to hang around as if to say.. so you fed everyone.. what about us?
the invitation card was designed and sent over from london by kripa a month earlier... the outside and the inside of the three-fold card...
.. the invitation list, sorted , updated from kripa's wedding 6years ago.. had to be typed, printed.. and cut first of all...
... and then pasted...
.. and sorted...
.. and checked...
...and reconfirmed over phone...
.. and list inputted on excel by rehna for easy calculation...
manod and binita (and little teesa) who dropped into help. ended up helping us fold the invitations that were fresh off the press!
the day before the wedding was the time to put up the jaggay... amar and santosh chop wood (samidha) for the hom
kripa and rehna add coloured cotton to the laba ko mala
jyoti and rehna work on the string of leaves and flowers for the jaggay
tulasa purifies the jaggay area with rato mato
sitaram joins in to help put up the bamboo and plants for the mandap
... he puts them in the pots...
later in the evening rajan works hard to tether the plants so that they don't topple the next day...
.. amar joins in...
.. next to go up is the red frills...
.. and then the string of leaves...
.. then the turn of the laba ko mala (garland of puffed paddy)
.. there is also the special laba mala from battisputali
.. again a lot of helping hands...
finishing touches were the garland around the bamboo and banana trunks.. and the final decoration with powdered rice and vermilion powder the next morning by rajan...
.. the jaggay on the morning after...when it started to drizzle...
getting ready for the wedding meant trying out nail polish..
.. and checking out what kind of make up the bride should have for the various functions... below the professional hands of shakeel gurung at work...
.. trying out the eyes...
.. and hair...
.. desperate measures at a beauty parlour, when the power went out and facial was done with the beautician holding a torch in her mouth!
... bags full of dried fruits / spices (masala) all ready top be packed to give to the janti on the day of the wedding...
we set up an assembly line for the packaging on the day of the supari... each one adding to a plastic pouch that went from hand to hand.. 
.. we had quite an assembly line going...
and samdhiji at the end of the line to put the readied packs in the daalo
.. at the end we gave away a pack each for 'santa's lil helpers' !!
of course when we heard there were more people expected for janti.. we had a second round of packing too...
baba's unearths a colour printer that helps immensely... whether to print the 'to do' list or invitation list
.. the dogs probably were the ones that least enjoyed the wedding.. cooped up in a room upstairs...
.. wedding preparations also meant readying the clothes and other stuff for the bride to take to her new home...
ensuring that there is enough water for the house... a tanker full of water is delivered...
... calculating the budget...
.. or just plain relaxing...
the bride to be readies the shirphool to wear for the reception...
and her amused didi looks on...
dakshina readied too...
swayambar nimta (invitation) ready to be dispatched
... here uncovered...
sagun, plus groom's embroidered topi...
the tika and garlands
and the invitation...
ujwal tries to convince ravi that a tie is not a bad idea...
.. of course, he might think differently...
sisters in law ready to take the nimta to avaya's house...
jwain# 1 volunteers to chauffeur everyone there...
..brothers in law at avaya's place...
smiling groom to be...
the entourage from the bride's side...
tika-ed
.. and topi-ed and garlanded...
ujwal helps with the mala
... back in bagh bazar, getting prepared for any possible rain..
.. and putting up the platform for the swayambar ceremony...
.. getting the kalash ready...
the bhar all sequined...
the puja kotha (worship room) also decked up modestly
rajan does his duty on the day of purbanga, a day before the wedding
.. the stage all set in the terrace...
making sel...
.. and shanta taking it out...
milan and jyoti make kasar (with roasted rice flour and molasses)
rehna joins in to help..
ganesh all readied...
.. rajan sounds the sait time...
.. as the bride does a jig...
kripa and rehna wonder what to do with the chokhi maati and biskun
...and rajan explains...
purbanga can be a lot of fun...
baba, renudijjuand muwa watch on...
then baba initiates the puja...
.. and we all pitch in to pray... a successful initiation and completion of the wedding...
.. so that was the behind the scenes glimpses of priya and avaya's wedding...
1 comment:
This can't be the 'end'- It's just the beginning of another episode in the Joshi 'parivar' maha saga !
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