The Wedding

The wedding was held in a hall, with the stage in the middle of one wall and the seating arranged arround it... like an amphitheatre without the tiers. The stage itself is square and has posts at each corner that support a roof, the whole thing made out of wood and decoratively carved. On the stage are cushions at one end for the bride and groom to kneel, with flowers and coconut fronds in vases and other paraphernalia taking up almost every other space. I'm sure there was a hindu idol or two there somewhere. In a corner of the room near the entrance there was a small band playing what I presume were traditional brass and percussive instruments. The melodies and rhythms certainly weren't familiar to my ears, and they were kind of cool.
Oh, but before we sat down, we went upstairs for lunch: the all important taking of food that seems to be the cornerstone of their events. This lunch was particularly traditional, since we did not even use cutlery. (Surely I have mentioned that we eat curry with our hands for breakfast, lunch and dinner?) The tables were laid out with leaves from the banana tree, big enough to serve as a plate. A team of people then come by, each with a different dish to scoop onto your plate, err, leaf. You end up with rice, six or seven different dishes including an amazing sweet called, I think, halva... which would be the third unique sweet that I have encountered with that name. So no, it's nothing like Middle Eastern halva, it's more like a pudding.

(more here later)