Happy Easter, by Caprilicious Jewellery

Hello folks, I hope you are in the midst of a wonderful Easter break. The people in new York are celebrating with their annual Easter Parade where they wear outlandish bonnets - in a tradition dating back to the 1870s, New Yorkers dressed up in creative and whimsical Easter finery on Sunday to take part in the annual Easter parade and bonnet festival in Manhattan, with St Patrick’s Cathedral among the best vantage points. Pictures courtesy of The Guardian.
Hubby and I got back from our three week extravaganza in India with colds and coughs and sniffled our way past jet lag, only to find yet another time change this weekend. Fortunately I have a few days off after Easter to get used to the weather and springtime in the UK. 

As you know no doubt, I went to a wedding in Bangalore, India, possibly the last one in my family for now. My brothers son was getting wed and as my brother passed away fourteen years ago, we went in loco parentis. My sister in law was very excited and had many parties and events organised - we were totally exhausted by the end of it all. Here are some pictures for you - these are candid shots taken by members of the wedding party - the official ones are yet to make an appearance. 

These pictures were from a brunch hosted by my sister in law at a restaurant called 'Mirage' which was taken over that afternoon by our family, with about one hundred and fifty guests dining and dancing from lunchtime, into the early evening.  

We stumbled exhaustedly and not a little inebriated into bed that evening, and when we woke up, an army of decorators had put up garlands of marigolds and other flowers all around the house. This is how the facade of the house looked when we woke up in the morning.

This was for the 'Haldi' ceremony - where the bride and groom are smeared with turmeric and sandalwood paste - in ancient times, it was done to keep them healthy. In modern times, it is just another excuse to party. And party we did! There were Indian drums played to welcome the guests, followed by lots of singing and dancing. This party went on till late in the evening - we were so grateful that our room was accessible - we kept going up to have a rest and coming back down to a party that was still going on with a fresh influx of guests and latecomers till late in the evening. 

The arrival of the bride and groom

All the guests who wanted one could have turbans tied and ladies who wanted glass bangles had a man with a cart, waiting on their every whim. The men also had pearl necklaces given to them to make them look more like maharajahs! I persuaded hubby to wear a turban for a couple of hours.

Off with your head!! ??

The brides mother and sister

The couple with their MC - a bit of silliness!

This was only Day 2 and we were already exhausted. After a day's break, we headed out to the place we were staying the night before the wedding. As it was an hour and a half outside Bangalore, the extended family spent the night at the Discovery Eco Lodge, right next to the actual wedding venue - more partying into all hours - OMG, I don't know how they do it, I was exhausted already and hubby was a bit bemused by it all, to say the least, this is his first Indian wedding. 

We thought it would be a great idea to have our cuppa sitting outside the room, as it was so cool in the morning, but a family of monkeys who were going to their own breakfast spot had other ideas, and took a dim view of the intruders. I tried to shoo them away, but they took no notice and stood their ground. 

The wedding venue, Amitarasa was at the foothills of the Nandi Hills, a favourite picnic spot when I was a child. 

Mike was given a fabulous suit to wear which made him look like a maharjah! He was required to take part in some of the initial ceremonies with my nephew, and was tickled pink. I, on the other hand was a bit anxious especially as, being left handed, he attempted to receive flowers and other objects essential to the ceremony with his 'wrong' hand and freaked the priest out - the left hand is considered unclean by Indians for some very outdated faeco-oral reasons.

I'll end here today, and pick up the thread in a further post. Have a wonderful Easter and I'll catch up with you soon.
Until then
​xx