Asia is a wondrous place for people with ancient beliefs and following culture. One of my old school friends is Indian. I remember a girl entering our classroom with a bindi on her forehead. I always wonder how the roti tastes like whenever I see her packed lunch box. I confessed to her one day about my wish. I remember her broad smile, and we became good friends soon. We always talk about Indian Festivals, the culture, and the spicy foods of the country. I made many Indian friends after that. And I managed to stay in contact with every one of them.
As I have little knowledge about their culture, I wanted to know more about their culture through Indian wedding. Luckily, I got an invitation from my friend to his cousin’s wedding in India earlier this year. I had some savings with me as well. The wedding was taking place in Jaipur.
So heres my experience visiting India – visiting the interesting places, and exploring their culture and food.
Editor note: This trip was last year. Due to COVID-19 i’ve found the time to complete this post.
Festival of Colors in Jaipur
As soon as I came to Jaipur I visited places like Hawa Mahal (Wind Palace), Jal Mahal (Water palace) around. The city is known as the pink city. I got to know the city is expecting Holi – The Festival of colors. The weather was hot. I had to drink lots of water to manage the heat.
The city was full of sweets and decorations within a day. People were throwing colors on each other shared sweets. I got to taste sweets like Laddu, Halwa, and Ghewar. They were delicious. My friend let me wear a white color Kurtha and pant. We went to the busy street on my friend’s bike and started throwing colors with children around the area. I should say, I had lots of fun on the day.
Throughout the day, I got to taste the street foods like Pani Puri, Lassi, and Vada Pav. I cannot handle spicy food. So, I managed to get help from my friend. He made me comfortable by ordering food with less or no spice at all. But, I felt like I will get used to spicy foods slowly if I stay more days in India.
Jodhpur – The Blue city
From Jaipur on Day 4, I took Train to reach Jodhpur. The city is called Blue city. My friend made all the arrangements to make me stay in a resort for three days with a desert safari.
The city is known as a sun city with sunshine throughout the year. The house walls are colored blue to make the city look cool. I should say to contrast with the desert, the blue color of the city made it look cool.
The resort took all the effort to show around the city. I got to see the Mehrangarh fort and Auto ride around Jodhpur on day one. The next day we went to Jaisalmer with forts, folk dance shows of locals, and camel ride.
Udaipur
Udaipur is a city of Lakes and palaces. I visited temples around and was astonished to see the palaces, which are standing strong for more than 500 years besides several attacks and foreign invaders. The city is royal in all means. The Ancient constructs were quite amusing to watch.
Indian Wedding
I returned to my friend’s home, where the wedding arrangements were going on. It was the bride’s home. They have so many rituals planned for 4 days. So many relatives were coming to their home. From childhood, I have seen so many calm and quiet wedding ceremonies. In contrast, Indian weddings have so many colorful rituals, decorations, lights, dance, music, and parties. I was taken aback while knowing about the money spent on the wedding ceremony. I should say, the Bride’s parents have spent half the income of their lifetime earnings for her daughter’s wedding. There were more than thousands of guests present at the wedding. Among them, I guess more than two hundred seems to have a close relationship with the bride’s family. Every single person not just attended the wedding, they pitched in and took part in every ceremony and made contributions in the form of money or work related to the wedding ceremony. I could see their bond and giving importance to their relatives.
I could see the sharing of love, affection, and the importance of the ritual makes them stay on the roots. The culture reflects their faith in God and humanity for sure.
Agra
My final spot of the trip is the World wonder. Yes, I visited the epitome of Love. From the pink city, colorful festival, and grand wedding, here comes the calm and quiet masterpiece of Love. I thought it is just another white building. At the moment I entered the entrance, the thought changed completely. The finicky artwork, the stories about their construction, and the massive construct standing tall for these many centuries is surely a world wonder.
I should thank my friend for the great opportunity of visiting India and all the experience for 15 days. I enjoyed all the colors of the country. From street food to royal stay, from colorful weddings to calm and the white epitome of love, Rides from the auto-rickshaw, train, to jeep, I enjoyed everything. I came to know that the country has different festivals and foods, language, attire varying based on the states. I will soon plan another visit to this country and explore more of it.
