Double Wedding at Sarab Talla Village

(couple and groom's mother)

This weekend was spectacular! Darab drove us 3 hours, and took Sanjeev, 2 students, and me to Sarab Talla Village for a double wedding!!! We brought our new video camera and recorded everything!

There were over 1000 people there from Sarab and neighboring villages. Sarab Talla has about 250 population. The prior evening, the brides had their ceremonies at their home villages, painting henna on their hands and other activities. This evening was the second day of the ceremonies, where the brides came to the grooms' village to have a giant reception and to meet their new families and neighbors.

We got there around 7:30pm and everyone was waiting for the wedding party to arrive.

(ladies in red, that's a popular color)

(Sanjeev has a lot of experience filming weddings.)

Finally, the wedding party came and the procession began up the steps towards the town center where many people were already seated.

(procession going up the steps)

(to the already crowded town center)
(the brides and grooms are now seated)

Once everyone was seated, the MC announced stuff on his microphone, but of course, I have no idea what he was saying. This lasted for about 30 minutes, and they passed out chai, sweets and cigarettes. The organization was amazing! I was so impressed to learn that the entire wedding was run by the folks of Sarab Talla village, no hired catering or anything. It was basically community pitching in together to host 1000 guests!

(Brides and grooms sitting in their wedding chairs.

That's Sanjeev's father in the black jacket.)

(passing out the chai)

(passing out the food to everyone)

What I think is so interesting is that in every thing that happened, it was all designed for noise. You were allowed to talk in the background, and in fact, everyone was talking all the time. Even in the inside ceremonies, people were talking, or cooking in another room. For the dancing and singing, the villagers collectively could drum and sing louder than the noise of the crowd.

While this ceremony was going on, the kids packed into alcoves and alley ways where the adults were not sitting. There was plenty of time to take pictures.

(These are my pals from Activity Week.)

(Grandpa was so happy to see us. These are the two students who came --

P did some camera work, while N is my co-producer.)

After the bride and groom couples cleared out to the indoor religious ritual, the crowds melded together for dancing! The outdoor dancing lasted until about 1:15am.

(The men dancing.)
(Now the women!)

(There were so many dancers that they formed an outside male ring, and inside female ring)

While people danced, others sat and watched and chatted.

(notice how the kids have taken over the wedding chairs, hee hee!)
(That's Grandpa's other son, bottom 2nd to left)

Next, we visited the food tents, where 200 people were being served at a time. So you were either outside at the dancing, or inside eating. There were three shifts of men eating, and then the women and children had their shifts. Again, notice the amazing organization, and it's all totally villagers pitching in. It was so fun!

(inside the food tent)

Meanwhile, inside...the brides and grooms were sitting in a packed room, with the pundit doing a religious ceremony. The two grooms were the brother and son of another man in the room. This is the first time that these women have even seen all the other women who were sitting behind them. These will be their future friends and supporters.

(religious ceremony)

(one couple)

(the bride is extremely tired after fasting for a whole day and not getting much sleep)

(posing for wedding photos)

We were going to sleep in tents, but Grandpa was so nice and insisted that we sleep indoors. So we slept in the post office, where his son Nagendra works. Darab and P slept first, while Sanjeev, N, and I went to another place where they moved the dancing indoors. We got back around 1:30am. But the drumming and dancing sounded like it continued until 3am.

(Darab ready to go to sleep!)

The next morning, we were invited by Grandpa's family to go inside and chat and have chai. Then, we headed outside to speak to the Pradhan, the elected leader of the village, to seek permission for the documentary. At both Sarab Talla and Khaas Kudoan (where Sanjeev is from), the Pradhan's are women because of the government mandated 33% of females in elected positions. There is a lottery system on which villages get chosen, and then all the villages rotate.

We were able to talk to Shanti, who is from Sarab Talla but now lives near Dehra Dun after getting married. She used to work at SIDH with Sanjeev and Darab (who helped with research). SIDH stands for Society for the Integrated Development of the Himalayas, and is about village education reform, but somehow ended up producing all these local leaders. There are 15 people from Sarab Talla who have worked for SIDH, and many of these people were the organizers and MC's of the wedding. Shanti has strong viewpoints about village life and modernization, and we hope to interview her. Shanti's sister is the Pradhan at Sarab.

(Shanti and her baby)

(group photo)

I still can't get over how the village women can carry heavy loads on their heads. I can't even lift it up with my arms!

(probably like 5 billion pounds, ok, I'm overestimating!)

(sorry animal activitists!)

Finally, we headed to another place to give our gift to the wedding people. The man who was the father and brother of the grooms, accepted for them. Meanwhile, the wedding party was still involved in a ceremony on this third day, and the women were carrying water containers and taking pictures along the way.

(the Woodstock gift)

(the brides carrying water)
(bride)

Finally, here are some pictures with Grandpa's family. They said that I show up so often now, that some people say, "Oh, Nagendra, there's your sister!" And they ask Grandpa, "How do you know her?" And he replies, "Oh, I'm from America!"

(Grandma, Grandpa, and Jeanne)
(Rena and Rita -- grandpa's 2 out of 3 daughters)

(family portrait with Sanjeev in the middle)

CLICK HERE, for the complete Sarab Talla Wedding set of 114 photos. This weekend was just such an awesome experience!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to post more awesome pictures in the weeks that come. We have a 15-student documentary team, and we'll be taking turns regarding who gets to go. Farming season will begin again soon, but in the meantime, here's a picture of the snowball that I made this morning in my front yard. It's been snowing all day!