A Little Charm…City of Lakes and Palaces (Wedding Fun)
My time in India didn’t really start off on the right foot – starting with two majorly huge cities. I’ve heard from other travelers you should never plan your first trip to India for less than three weeks – if you do you may very well leave hating the country. The theory being that if you stay for a bit longer your brain and body are able to overcome some of the ridiculousness and instead embrace the orchestrated chaos and charm. I would have to say that I largely agree with this sentiment as it has certainly taken me a bit of time to actually begin to truly enjoy myself, the country, and my interactions with the Indian culture.
Udaipur was my first stop in a smaller and more instantly charming area of India. Located in Rajasthan and known for its lakes and palaces, the city is really tailored for the tourists. By that I mean there is a lot less staring and it’s pretty easy to get around without being massively hassled. We loved our guesthouse; the Lakeview Guesthouse was centrally located, decently priced, and the room had an awesome balcony overlooking the hills, mountains, and lakes surrounding the city – we ate our breakfast every morning overlooking the Lake Palace at our hotel’s small restaurant.
Our very first night in Udaipur, as we were on the hunt for an internet café (it was successful btw at Masala Restaurant) that would allow us to use our laptops, we were enticed into a small art shop by a local artist, Sanju. Udaipur is famous for its miniature artists and Sanju quickly grabbed my ring finger 
and within a minute of rapid, mini, strokes painted an elephant on my nail. Cousin Helen got a peacock on hers and we were both pretty delighted with the intricate detail in the design.
Sanju invited Cousin Helen and me to a wedding later that evening and we excitedly agreed to go – we gussied 
ourselves up a bit, but on some jewelry and our kurtahs, and jumped onto the back of Sanju motorbike to head to the other side of town. We were instantly a hit the moment we walked through the door. When we first got the invitation I was a little nervous to rock up to someone’s wedding uninvited…but then I forgot that Westerners have celebrity status here. We had a paparazzi style camera shoved into our faces, a huge portable spotlight shined on us, and then preceded to take no fewer than 30 or 40 photos with the groom, the grooms, friends, family, uncles, cousins, sisters, etc – it was great!
The women were spectacularly dressed to the nines – colorful saris and jewelry in on their wrists, faces, in their hair, and on the ankles. The kids were also a highlight – they are such hams! As soon as we pulled out our camera we immediately had their rapt attention. Cousin and I loved the little boy pimping out his black suit – he totally strutted around the place with his back as straight as 
could be and rocked all of his mere four years.
The wedding ended, we headed back to our side of town and Cousin Helen and I were excited to have had the opportunity to experience such a local event – though it was a Muslim wedding and therefore much more subdued than traditionally Indian weddings, it was a lot of fun. Cousin Helen has her own account of some of the more peculiar situations that arose from interactions with Sanju and his buddy Lucky on her blog – I refuse to hit on that here ;)
