Marriage Madness

So if you've never known Indian Hindus or seen a Bollywood films, it's hard to comprehend what a big affair Indian Hindu weddings are. Two great friends of our's got married over the weekend. Not only was the day itself fantastic, the weeks leading up to the event were a blast.  And yes, we're talking weeks, not days.

I'm sure other cultures have similar craziness when it comes to weddings, but I'm not sure anything can be as extended an affair as a Hindu wedding. Now, I'll mention Hindu several times throughout this, because, Indian Muslim weddings are somewhat different. I've only been to one Indian Muslim wedding and it was a rather more reserved affair. Still lots of joy, just like at any wedding, but the cultural attachments found at Hindu weddings don't seem to exist in much of the Indian Muslim wedding.  I may be completely wrong, but that's what I've seen at one wedding. I should really experience a few more Muslim wedding before commenting...

In any case, I've been to quite a few Hindu weddings and I can tell you they're just madness! They're even better when it's close friends or family that are getting married and you're in the wedding party. Of course, there's tons of events, but more importantly, there's tons of bonding with friends and family that you may not have known too well previously. This time, we got to know the wedding families much better, but we also got to know the bride and groom's friends much better. Now, of course, we're all mutual friends, but much of our interaction had been the "night out" kind. That's where you hook up at a noisy venue and spend a few hours talking then head on home not see your friends until next weekend. After this wedding, we've spent a heck of a lot more time together than we would have otherwise.

As one of the group said, it's like college when you spend so much time together you go into withdrawal once it's all done. And that's kinda what it feels like. Getting home and having nothing to do but kick back and watch TV is kind of depressing. Of course, we're filling up this "dead time" with other things and finding ways to hang out with the same friends, so don't cry for me :)
In any case, I just have to say that I haven't gotten to know so many people so well since college and it's pretty cool. I've had good friends here in the Bay Area for a while now, but that group has expanded greatly in the past month.