Ghidul 2 - Magni ceremony

Asa cum am precizat intr-un post precedent, Zahraa prin intermediul bloguletului meu simpatic :), va descoase nunta traditionala indiana in ceremonii (cu exemplu propria ei familie), pentru curiozitatea cititorilor dar mai ales a mea :D Asadar mai jos veti gasi prima ceremonie-Magni.

An idiot’s guide to an Indian wedding

1. Magni Ceremony (formal acceptance for the wedding)

Weeks before the wedding, we had some lovely (and some not- so-lovely) additions to my family. My sisters came back home from America. The first time in five years, my family was under one roof. Along with them we added three maids to our existing collection of two.

Maids are a special tradition in India. Labor is cheap (mainly because there are a billion of us). And to be very honest, Indians are lazy slobs. We’d rather pay someone to do the cooking and cleaning.

Why did we need a battalion of maids in our arsenal? To entertain the zillions of guests we were expecting over the coming weeks. To prepare tea, snacks and everything in between.

Coming to the actual ceremony, Magni is when the bride and the groom will exchange rings. It is like a formal engagement party. Only the immediate families are usually present.

Since the bride’s family hosts it, all we had to do was show up (the perks of being related to the groom!).

The only reason I would even consider getting married in a traditional way is to receive all those presents. Indians really know how to spoil someone.

The bride receives an exorbitant number of presents from her mother-in-law. The opposite is true as well; his mother-in-law spoils the groom too. Not to forget the rest of us, the siblings usually do get a little something too.

During the magni, Haleema received the first set of her presents a saree (Indian traditional dress), a watch, some gold jewelery and a book.

Quick note about how love gold. For every ‘big’ event in my life, such as my birth, high school graduation, I have received gold jewelery. Girls in India own mountains of gold! I think it has to do with the fact that traditionally Indian women were not allowed to own any assets in their name. Whatever little money they had was spent on gold, which they could wear and show off.

Coming back to the Magni, we had a sort of ‘funny’ dinner arrangement. Eight people circle around a passive plate on the floor, and then we’re expected to ‘share’ the plate and eat together. This concept of eating comes from a community called the Bohris. Its quite a weird dinner service, where the dessert is brought in first, and we end with the soup.

This was the calm before the storm. Little did I know my house was going to turn upside down by the time the wedding ended.

Cica sa traim...sanatos

Ma uitam azi dimineata la genialul Mircea Badea (parca asa il cheama) si emisiunea lui in Gura Presei. M-a binedispus omu', ca de fiecare data, dar m-a si pus pe ganduri din cauza unui topic tratat...cica noi sa traim sanatos. Atat mi-as dori sa il citez, dar nu sunt in stare :)) Cum naiba sa traiesti sanatos cand iti cumperi fructe si legume care ajung sa arate asa cum arata, astfel

De fapt subiectul modului sanatos de viata a pornit de la un articol de felul acesta, adica de la iluzia pe care si-o creaza fiecare nenorocit ce crede ca daca mananca fructe sau legume, pac are o viata sanatoasa.
Trebuie sa stiti ca fructele si legumele de magazin nu va vor tine cu nimic mai mult in viata, decat o "vaca moarta"aruncata in ciorba.

Bietul Mirciu s-a luptat cu ecranul vreo 10 minute tratand subiectul "viata sanatoasa", facandu-ma personal sa-mi dau seama ca averi de legume am in gradina :))) Gata cu merele galbene grasane de magazin, gata cu rosiile mai rosii ca scufita rosie si mai mari ca tzatzele siliconate, gata cu patrunjelul fals de la magazinul de la colt. Ma duc la piatza dupa cele mai nenorocite frunze. Si daca vad vreo leguma grasa, ma iau de vanzator, sa-i moara plantele :)))

Dragi prieteni, daca legumele/fructele voastre NU ajung asa in ceva vreme, nu e de bine.
AM ZIS. Oi Oi!

De prin lume... (Ghidul-1)

"The world is awesome" spun filmuletele promo a celor de la Discovery Channel, iar eu :D, ca un adevarat cautator de comori globale, asemeni celor de la Discovery, m-am gandit sa va pun la dispozitie franturi din minunatele culturi ale lumii, cu care am si eu tangenta desigur, sa ne bucuram de ele impreuna (pentru ca am invatat ca "sharing is caring")
De la aceasta idee va lua nastere urmatorul tag baban de pe blogul papillonesc...care nu va spun cum se cheama, il veti gasi la locul special marcat pentru taguri de pe blog.
Si ca sa n-o mai lungim prea mult, de aici am sa va las cu draga mea prietena indianca Zahraa si una dintre povestile ei "de vis " din Incredible India :)

An idiot’s guide to an Indian wedding

The following is a documentation of a typical Indian wedding for the purpose of educating my non-Indian friends. Hopefully, this will scare you enough to:

a. Never to get married, especially in India or

b. Never get married to an Indian

Unlike their western counterparts, Indian weddings aren’t a one day affair. Actual ceremonies last anywhere between 7-10 days, while the preparations begin months in advance.

Although, this is a documentation of an Indian Muslim weddings, most people irrespective of religion pretty much have the same ceremonies, albeit they might call it by different names.

So who the hell am I? I’m Zahraa (pronounced the same way as the store ‘Zara’), a twenty year old living in Bombay, India (google it- it’s a million times bigger than Timisoara). Last year, I visited Timisoara and positively fell in love with it. I loved that I could ride a bike without drivers wanting to kill me. Over those two months that I spent there, I became friends with Oana. Its strange, she wants to live in India, and I want to live in Romania!I come from a big family, we are four sisters and a brother. Four years ago, my eldest sister got married to an American, now its my brother’s turn.

A little background information about him. He wasted four years of his life to get a degree in Computer Science. Went along to work at EMI Virgin (which was excellent for me, as I got numerous free music CD’s). Finally, he got an MBA and now works at an advertising firm.

My to-be sister-in-law is equally strange. An Indian born in Kuwait (a tiny speck of a country in the Middle East). She went along to study in America, and stuck there for another couple of years, before she realized that Bombay is where she was meant to be. Now, she works as a stylist with one of India’s leading fashion designers. Sadly, this does not mean free clothes for me. However, it includes front row tickets at every fashion week in Bombay.

Numbered below are the ceremonies we will have during the wedding. They are 8 in all, spanning 13 days.

· Mangni (formal acceptance of the wedding)

· Bridal Shower

· Bride’s Mehendi (henna party)

· Groom’s Mehendi

· Sangeet (music/dance night)

· Haldi (literally meaning ‘turmeric’)

· Nikah (actual wedding)

· Reception (same evening as the nikah)

In India, most people either have an ‘arranged’ marriage or a ‘love’ one.

An ‘arranged’ marriage is a situation where your parents find you a boy, and boom you get married to him. Earlier, there were problems where the girl would have no say in the matter, but now this has changed to a great extent. Also, this sort of marriage is usually prevalent in rural India. What’s shocking about arranged marriages is that the divorce rate is so low 1.1% (the lowest in the world). In any case, hardly any Indians get divorced. I just know one divorced couple in my 20 years of living!

A love marriage, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. You find the boy yourself, and get married. No parental involvement in the selection process.

In the age of the internet, my parents still insist on personally delivering the wedding invitation. Indian weddings turn out to be a little circus, anywhere between 2000-3000 people being invited. This invitation business was exhausting. Since I was on vacation, my mum would drag me everywhere with her. Every house we visited, they would offer us tea and cookies. Bah, I ate so many cookies in 4 weeks. So much for my diet.

In the next few weeks, I will attempt to de-mystify an Indian wedding for you. I would like to say that it’s not stressful, but who I am kidding? Oh, and I don’t claim to be an authority on Indian culture. I cannot even speak Hindi coherently! These situations are written from personal experiences. Hope you like them.