As promised: The Indian Wedding

Date: 21st August 2005, SUNDAY
Event: Indian Wedding

Getting there:
Dearie was working till 7pm so I had to make my way down to the wedding on my own. BUT thankfully, our friend Weitang managed to get his dad's Cefiro out so he picked me up.

I had NO IDEA if there was a dress code at all. In fact, not a single one of us ex-classmates knew what to do (at least those I were still in contact with) so I was in a black and white dress. I felt overdressed but my parents said it looked fine for a wedding.

Weitang lost his way along the roads. We had to cut through a small road to hit Serangoon Road. Little did we realise we would be entering a part of Singapore we'd never thought we'd see.

We were surrounded by Indians. As in foreign-worker-Indians. I usually don't mind them at all, but damn.. at this particular road, we were literally surrounded. It was scary, to a certain extent.

They were everywhere. They occupied the roads and sidewalks, the car could only inch its way through. Thankfully, oddly, there was an ambulance that pulled out in front of us from the sidewalk and turned on its siren. It managed to CRAWL (faster than inch) its way through the hoards of Indian nationals, and we tagged closely behind.

Seriously, it was an eye opener. There are so many foreign workers in Singapore... Singaporeans NEED to take up labour jobs sia............

Finally there:
By the time we reached the place, it was 7:15pm. A little late, but we did seem like the only ones there. Dearie reached not long after. He didn't have any problems at all. Heng ah.. otherwise I don't dare to think what he'd do in Indian Land. Probably something along the lines of a massacre.

Wedding gift
We waited a while more and saw Zhenlin and her boyfriend. We discussed how much was the "rate" of ang baos to be given. LUCKILY GOT DISCUSS AH! I nearly gave $100 for me and Dearie. She said she only put $50 for 2 people and bought a gift.
In the end, our ang bao value decreased to $60. Don't spoil market mahz... hor???

The bride
We were waiting to enter the hall for the wedding. No one knew what to expect inside. The reception was crowded, so we hung around then from the road came a wedding car and we just knew at that moment, our Indian ex-classmate Jaya would be stepping out any moment!!!!!!!!! So long no see!!!~

More friends
Then to "spoil" the moment, Pornsak, Beng Kee and Jialun came out from the side of the building and walked towards us. The most surprising thing is that Jialun actually greeted me: "Hi Nili." I WAS STUNNED. Hahaha! He remember my name sia!!! And I don't remember talking to him in class! [Actually I don't remember talking to Dearie in secondary school either.. hmm..]

Anyway, our mini-celeb Pornsak as usual was as enthusiastic as ever. That fella going to all expense paid trip to Hong Kong Disneyland lorz. Biangz.....

Back to the wedding
Too bad no photos. Forgot my camera lahz. We signed in at the reception after the crowd dispersed somehow, and Jaya was getting ready to enter the hall. We quickly went in.


This is the ice-sculpture vase that greeted us at the reception. Nice touch.


The setting
What greeted us was a sight I did not expect. I thought there'd be round tables for us to sit at and wait for food. Instead, was a stage up front of the hall, with many rows of chairs (think of it like it's arranged for you to watch a performance), with an aisle in the centre.
At the 2 sides were people preparing the food. Where we entered from (the back of the hall) were long tables with many chairs.

We grabbed a seat near to all our other classmates. Dearie was really feeling bored and uncomfortable. It didn't help that he was VERY hungry after a long day of work.

The ceremony
The ceremony started. I must have missed something 'cos when I looked up, the bride was on stage, doing some kind of cleansing ritual for 10mins or so - clean face only lahz. Then she disappeared.

Her husband went forward to the parents and from the gestures, seemed like was getting his blessings. Don't ask me who's parents. I am only writing my own interpretation of what happened.

The husband then walked to the very centre of the stage where a guru looking guy was kneeling. Probably the equivalent of a monk or priest. The both knelt there for another very long while.
When he got up, I thought the ritual was over, but nooooooo.. Now is the wifey's turn. She appeared from the side of the stage in a new outfit and make-up all on again. She did the same thing as her husband and we sat through another round of kneeling (and some kind of ritual we could barely see nor hear).

Finally! Both of them get to kneel together. AGAIN, (yep, you guessed it) for another long while. By this time, the indian lady sitting beside me and Dearie had passed us a small amount of yellow rice to set in our palms. We had been holding the rice for many long whiles.

Suddenly we hear a loud cheer and feel like sand hitting us from behind. We realised that it was time to throw the rice. I mean really throw it by dispersing it over the people in front of us. Haha! Simultaneously, everyone was using their hand to run through their hair.

The bride and groom sat in two large chairs on the stage, and that was our cue that the ceremony was over. (Like what Zhenlin said: Awww.. Look at our girl all grown up...! Haha!!!)

[Took these photos when we went up on stage, and waiting for our turn to greet her.]

That's the bride (my ex-classmate Jaya) seated and smiling. Awwwww..... 


After all those rituals on stage, we finally got to go up and see the aftermath up close. Wow. 

The food
A voice over the speakers invited us to get the food from the sides of the hall. Instantaneously, people rushed out of their seats. Dearie, the hungry one, was no exception. A ridiculously long queue developed by the time we got there. Managed to tag on to Pornsak and cut in. Heehee…

As we moved ever so slowly closer to the food, we made a very queer observation – that the first several people to get the food were Chinese. What the hell…

We grabbed a plate eventually and got some food. I’ve never been attracted to Indian food, and the selection that night did not in any way entice me to change that fact. Don’t know why… Just not my type bah. Good thing I ate before dinner. It’s a must do before all weddings I guess – except Malay ones. I didn’t need to do that for my sis’ wedding. Good good.

Wedding gift giving
All of us ex-classmates gathered around and discussed how to give our gifts/ang baos to the couple. Turns out we had to go up on the stage to do so. Wow. In Chinese weddings, the bride and groom walk around from table to table. This one you go look for them. Good idea lehz.

There was a short queue at the stage but it moved much faster than the food one. We went up and gave our blessings to the new couple. Gave them our little ang bao and received a little take home gift ourselves.


This is the little gift for all the people who went on stage to give their blessings to the couple. 


Inside of the little bag are this golden box with the Malay words "Terima Kasih" (translated as THANK YOU). Along with it was a candle in a glass. 


hahaha! Top view with the box opened this time. It's a bunch of sweets and some chocolate. As of now (Thursday), mummy has helped to eat the chocolate. I'm not into sweets so the rest are still waiting to be eaten. 

Going home
The bunch of us gathered outside the wedding hall to chat a while and the majority needed to get home. Most of us were working adults already. One’s a DJ with a 6am shift, another’s a facilitator (something like a lecturer) at Republic Polytechnic, Zhenlin’s with SGH at the cardiac dept, etc…. I’m just an admin girl. That sounds really sad huh? Damn…. Once I get my degree I’ll probably go do something else. I love it here, but unless they can offer me a much higher salary and more dynamic job (allow me to travel with my colleagues?), otherwise it’s only a matter of time before I leave. Till then, got to study so this job is still too perfect to let go.

Ok, I digress a lot.

Someone in our group said that Jaya would be going to France for 2 years with her husband ‘cos he’d been posted there. How cool is that?!?!?!?!

Transport
We made our separate ways home. Zhenlin and Weitang were the only ones who drove so I don’t know how they settled the who-send-who home debate in the end ‘cos I got onto Dearie’s bikey and sped off. Haha! Super cold night that day. Strong winds. Brrrr…
Riding bike very dangerous. There was a YELLOW TAXI (meaning a CITYCAB one) that cut into the lane we were on. HELLO?! Cannot see that we are there ah?! Apparently on the right lane, there was a car that wasn’t going as fast as the taxi. We were on the lane on the left. The car would’ve eventually overtaken us as it was just about a car length’s behind us.. Dearie knows well that I’ll freak if he goes too fast, so he tries to keep it faster than large vehicles but slower than taxis.

Mr Citycab Taxi Driver was probably on his way to get reincarnated and couldn’t afford to be late ‘cos he’d go to hell. He decided to, instead of just staying behind the car and eventually overtaking us, take the left land to overtake the car, and zoom in between the gap of us and the car, then go on his way.

If you have the scenario right, you’d realise that by the time the taxi went onto the left lane, the gap between us and the car would have closed up a little due to our speeds. Mr Citycab Taxi Driver was just that tiny bit close to hitting us. If people cut between cars I’ll shut up but please lahz. If you just so much as touch the bike, you’d have to take responsibility of the live(s) on the bike liaoz lor. It’s just not worth it.

Digressed again. Oops.
I can’t help it.

Future advice for people attending Indian Weddings
You never know when you’ll attend one but in multi-racial Singapore, it just might happen. I didn’t have any inkling what to expect but let me help you unravel that mystery:
1) There is NO dress code. I’d suppose “presentable” would suffice.
2) Go with a friend, or make sure your mobile phone has some nice game inside to meddle with. This is for during the ceremony. I don’t mean any disrespect, but if you’re seated at the back, you’ll DEFINITELY not be able to see anything that happens on the stage.
3) Eat before you leave the house. Have some sort of snack at least.
4) Not necessarily must give ang bao. Present also can.

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Wah. This post damn long eh? Sorry ah. The whole post didn’t turn out as good as I wanted it to be. Maybe it’s the time lapse from Sunday till now.
This is why I used to write my articles in Poly, right after the event.
And why I make sure I finish writing my meeting minutes by the following day.

RobX said erotic blogs make good money. I’m still wondering how. Hmm.. if I’m free-er, I could always try. Although I really should be writing HRM essays instead.

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Tomorrow’s the farewell BBQ for my boss. Hope everything works out well. It'll be a one-woman show tomorrow. Small event compared to what others have to deal with, but this is one of the favourite parts of my job, and I am super determined to make it a good one.