Voyage to India!

Just got back from India! This picture is from the second out of four (yes, four) nights, called a Sangeet. This is the only night we dressed in traditional Indian attire (called a "Kurta"), the rest of the nights most guys outside of the wedding party wore western suits. To say the wedding was extravagant would be an extreme understatement. In India, parents save up for their kids' wedding like parents might save up for college here. Really, no expense is spared. It was an AMAZING, one-of-a-kind experience. I feel really special to have been a part of it.

In addition to the Kurta, they also had people doing Mehndi. Normally this is only for females, but I'm a little more comfortable bucking traditional gender roles these days, so I got a peacock on my palm. The peacock is the national bird of India, and in addition to that, it opens the door for a lot of "cock on my palm" jokes. Yeah.


So... other than that, travel around India was crazy. I saw the Taj Mahal, which was amazing, of course. In India you are surrounded by people in desperate poverty on a scale you can't even find in the US, which really takes you out of your comfort zone. It's very hard to take problems like your job and your parents that seriously after seeing stuff like that.

The funny thing about India is that you will see men on the street holding hands, and in clubs, men will dance with each other. None of these are signals of homosexuality though; in fact, homosexuality was only decriminalized in India earlier this year, and it is still a very touchy subject. I didn't really get to go around much so I can't really say what the gay scene in India is like, but from what I have heard it is still mostly underground.

Anyway, I'm exhausted! Still have one more wedding to go to this week too!