Graffiti art nearby

Thanksgiving in the Maldives

Well, this is a first...blech all around

Chef AKP at local birthday party

To the opposite end of the country...Sikkim

Continued from the post below...visiting Gangtok, Sikkim for a short weekend. 

Looking down on Gangtok from Ganesh Tok I believe. Gorgeous view.  

Mt. Kangchenjunga peeking out from under the clouds at sunrise from hotel patio.

A visit to the monastery

the 'mall', a pedestrian only street full of shops, in Gangtok

This is the shopkeeper and his store at Ganesh Tok. Note us in the mirror behind him taking the picture while AKP bought some ice cream

There was a movie shoot going on at one of the sites. 

Hanuman's Tok

AKP in front of our groovy heritage hotel, Netuk House

To the opposite end of the country...Sikkim

After a trip to the southern beachs with JP, AKP accompanied me to Sikkim in the northeast. It's tucked between Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet and just a month ago opened the first airport in the state. Getting there was an adventure as we were re-routed the night before to an airport that's a 5 hour drive away...so, we spent the first night in Darjeeling ('hill station' in the north of West Bengal state) then drove the next day to Sikkim. Below is Darjeeling and our drive. All roads are 1.5 lanes, clinging to the hillsides, and full of constant switchbacks...great fun!

View of world's 3rd tallest mountain from road in Darjeeling...it looked like clouds hovering above the sky. Mr. Kangchenjunga

Our welcome tea (and scarf) at the Mayfair Hotel...lovely

Adorable hotel...there's AKP down there sitting on the banister

Having left Darjeeling, we're on the road...

Along the drive between darjeeling and sikkim. not long after we crossed this river and climbed back up again. 

width of the road for the full 4 hour drive...

As seen through the front windshield. colorful set of storefronts

Happy Diwali

Today is Diwali, the festival of lights, and the most significant Hindu holiday of the year I think. It's a bit like Christmas, where everyone puts lights up, and they also set of fireworks (although more subdued this year due to a Supreme Court partial ban, thanks to pollution)

Here's our office celebration. Rangolis are the designs on the floor that are part of the festivities along with lighting candles (diyas are the traditional ones, not in these pictures)

Lobby of my office building

Kovalum, Kerala

a Southern Indian wedding

A work colleague of mine invited us to her son's wedding. We graciously accepted and were in for a treat. I probably have more pictures of his wedding than of my own! The colors were incredible and the events fun to observe. We went with another work colleague and her two kids who you'll see throughout our pictures. She's easily recognizable as the other American.

A few observations:
-color, color, color
-its a bit like synagogue services where people come and go the whole time. the ceremony takes place up on the stage, and people in the audience are watching, talking, mingling, and its also ok to get up and get some food from the other side of the hall (although there is an official dinner part of the agenda as well)
-dinner was essentially an intermission of the ceremony. part 1 was a series of rituals and blessings. part 2 seemed to be more celebratory where they throw flower petals (you'll see below) and other fun rituals and traditions bringing the couple together
-next morning was a pooja (prayer) in their home
-following evening was a reception, fairly subdued (everyone says 'you have to go to a North Indian wedding!') but lovely outdoor dinner and a chance to bestow your blessings on the new couple.

The wedding

Outside the wedding hall on your way in

wedding stage

much of the ceremony is with the bride and groom (first each separately, then later together), seated on the floor and led by the local priest (left)...and yes this is a guy flying a drone while I was trying to take a picture! Presumably he was a photographer??

will you look at all the flowers??!!!!

Just before the official marriage, a cloth is put between them so they can't see each other

Putting a special paste on each other's heads is the seal of the marriage and is done right at the official wedding time (I believe it was 8:27PM), an auspiciously determined time (and incidentally the time on the invitations, which in fact has nothing to do with the start time of the wedding...much earlier)Ω

I don't have a great shot of all the pretty clothing so this is a glimpse of how gorgeous all the women were dressed. 

Everybody walks across the stage and blesses the couple by putting rice on their heads. 

the bride

the band

 

one of a series of about 40 shots of crazy faces...what happens when the girls get bored and you give them a camera. 

 

the bride's hair

AKP right in the thick of things...part 2 of the wedding.

dare I say she's having fun?

we were seated in the front row :-) Green saree is the mother of the groom