Collecting stuffs from our friends on 13th
February, 2014, we headed to Gongabu at 4 pm in a Deluxe bus. They provided us
with water and a newspaper, and a South Indian movie was played. The weather
was chilly; however, we had our deep sleep in the bus.
We reached Mahendranagar the next day at 10 am. On a rainy
Friday morning, we had our food in a restaurant nearby the bus park. Then we headed
from Mahendranagar in tanga to Banbasa in the afternoon, at about 12/1 pm.
Mobile had stopped working as we were heading to another country. We reached to
Banbasa at 2 pm. Had our tea and roamed here and there. We did some shopping
for our friend’s wedding. Then took a bus at 7:30 pm to Haridwar. Driver and
conductor seemed jolly type of people. Hindi songs being played by Anuradha, Lata,
Kishor in the background set the mood for our journey. The songs continued
throughout the night. When I got up in the night at times, I could see the bus
running and hear the songs still being played. The driver seemed untiring and
energetic despite his continuous effort to drive.
We reached Haridwar in the morning, at 5:30. Our friends
collected our things from the bus station and kept in a car, taking us to Dharmashala
with the name of Palan Dham. We had our breakfast in the Dham. The house had
been decorated slightly. Our host seemed to be good people. They must have had
trouble because of us. It seemed we were there to give them problem. Haridwar
seemed a nice place full of religious houses called “Dharmashala.” We went to
Chandi Devi and Mansa Devi in a taxi, after having breakfast. The places are at
the top of the hill but reachable quickly through cable car (udan khotala). We bought few gifts such as bangles for
people back in Nepal and returned in the same taxi. It took us about 2-3 hours
to finish the visit. Later, we came to know that the vehicle had been hired for
INR 600 for the whole day. We regret for not being able to make use of that
amount. Later in the eve, we went to Haridwar bazaar triple loaded in a bike
and stopped right in front of a cosmetic shop. It took us about 15-20 minutes
to reach there. After about an hour, we returned in an auto (similar to vikram
tempo in Nepal).
Haridwar /Indian breakfast usually consisted of tea,
biscuits at about 10/11 am; rice and dal at about 3/4 pm and roti and dal at
about 10/11 pm which is quite different from Nepali eating habits. On Sunday,
we went to Ganga River and had a shower. We returned for breakfast at 12 pm. On
the terrace of Dharmashala, we enjoyed the warm sun and applied mehendi on our
hands. Loud music started to be played next door letting the world know a
ceremony was soon going to take place here. ‘Mehendi ka rasam’ was going to
take place in the hall where the to-be-bride-and-groom sat on cushions and
relatives and friends gathered. It was accompanied by a reception. After that,
it was the turn of the to-be-bride to have mehendi. The bride had mehendi on
her hands and legs-starting from her elbows down her hands and from her knees
down the legs. It took two hours to complete the mehendi pattern on one hand.
It took over 7 hours to complete the mehendi work on her hands and legs. We had
dinner at 11 pm, and, we looked forward to the next big day.
On 17th February, we did not go anywhere in the
morning. We had a shower and pressed our dresses for the evening. We had talks
with the bride of the evening in the terrace of the dharmashala as she was
supposed to remain inside the house, applied nail polish on our hands and legs.
Also watched young girls apply mehendi in their hands. Then three of us went to the parlor carrying
our sarees and accessories with us at about 3/4 pm. The ceremony was to begin
at 8 pm. The lady of the parlor was very cooperative and so were her friends. I
was busy clicking the beautiful lady readying for a bride. Heavy Lehenga and other accessories looked gorgeous on the
gorgeous lady (although she had a hard time balancing herself in it). After she
was nearly readied, we began to ready ourselves. The friends of the parlor lady
helped us wear the sarees and do our makeup. We beautified ourselves as much as
we could and headed back to Dharmashala at about 9:30/10 pm. We reached there
to find out the dinner had already begun as planned at 8 pm. Visitors were
enjoying their food upstairs. We finished our food and came downstairs. Just
outside the main door of the house, we saw fireworks and people dancing,
carrying the groom on their shoulders. The groom was wearing sherwani suit and
pagari on his head. It lasted for nearly 30 minutes. Cameras and video cameras
were capturing those precious moments within them. I captured them too. The mother
of the bride had to do aarati and put red tika on the groom’s forehead and let
him inside the house. Once he was in, people cheered and again carried him over
their shoulders. He was taken to the hall where the mehendi rasam had been
carried out the previous day. The groom stayed on a beautifully decorated
chair. People were cheering and dancing. Bride came out of the room accompanied
by other ladies and sat next to the groom.
This was followed by a lot of photographic sessions. Each
visitor had been clicked with the bride and groom. They received gifts from the
visitors. Later on, they danced with their friends and were taken to a room
along with some visitors for more photographs. After this session, they were
supposed to change dresses and go through a ritual ceremony of the wedding.
They were taken to the house by their friends and were seen later in Nepali
dresses.
They went to the jagge upstairs in another hall where mandap
had been decorated. A pundit began the ritual ceremony lighting the fire and
reciting lines from a Hindu religious book.
The bride and groom followed what he said. Visitors had diminished by
90% by now and it was a quiet function. They moved around the mandap 7 times,
gave each other their jutho food to eat and the ceremony finished with them
taking blessings from their parents. The ritual was quite similar to any Nepali
wedding ritual. At about 2 am, the ceremony ended.
The next day, we went to the house of one of our friends who
lived nearby. We enjoyed their company
and had meal at their place. Then we went to Jain mandir with them followed by
ShantiKunj. Coming back to our place, we had tea. We packed our stuffs and met
the new relatives we had made recently. After bidding them farewell, we headed
to Hariki Pouri. It was a big area and a lot of people gathered there. It
seemed like a tourist area. We had big
Punjabi samosa and observed the market as much as we could. We bought few things
there. Then we went to the station at about 6:30 pm and headed to Banbasa in a bus
at 7:30 pm. The night was chilly.
We reached Banbasa at 5:30/6 am and from there took a tanga
to Mahendranagar at 7 am. We reached Mahendranagar at 8 am. Had our stuffs
loaded in a guest house and had a meal. We roamed through the Mahendranagar
bazaar and had lunch and headed to Kathmandu at 3:30 pm. The very next morning at
8:30 am, we reached Kathmandu.
Traveling to Haridwar was one of my best trips ever.
