December 3, 2003

Wow, I cant believe that its going to be 2004 so soon!

            Last night was more fun and games at the Bhasin estate. All the women except for the bride and her close family gathered at Nehas house for henna designs to be applied on their hands, an artwork called mendhi. The same three artists who had been at the cocktail party were present and painted exquisite designs on hands and arms and feet for well over 12 hours. They kept going until well past midnight, and I cant imagine how tired they must have been after hunching over and carefully applying henna for so long. Guests traditionally get at least their palms and tops of their hands done, and some even get their feet and arms. The bride, Im told, has a complete set of feet, arms, and hands in a far more intricate design than any of the guests. That I find difficult to believe given the amazing artwork that I saw bein! g done on the women last night. After the henna is applied over an oil base rubbed into the skin, a mixture of lemon juice and sugar is dabbed periodically over the artwork to make it darker and to make the tattoo last longer. After a long period of drying- well over two hours and preferably over night- the henna is flaked off to reveal skin dyed in a variety of tones ranging from bright orange to dark brown, depending on the melanin in your skin. An alternate method that is supposed to turn the mendhi nearly black is to apply Vicks Vapo-rub to the design after it has dried and/or flaked off. I tried this method and my designs ended up a rusty orangey brown, but maybe it is because I am pale skinned compared to most Indians. I missed the boat on having the best mendhi-walla apply my design, so opted to wait for another day rather than wait until the wee hours for my hands to dry. Earlier in the evening, however, I tried doing my own design on my foot and ended up getti! ng assistance from one of the aunts whose hobby it is to do mendhi. My designs were crude in comparison with what the professionals did, which makes sense or else everyone would do it on their own.

            As with any important function at this wedding, there was food and singing in addition to the henna artwork. Like last time, the more musical of the women gathered around on the carpeted floor, played rhythms on a drum and sang funny songs about the wedding. I had one verse translated for me and it went something like this: I dont know why you think that you are so smart /I am higher than you/ You didnt go to school/ And I graduated from university. Everyone seems to have a great time doing this and occasionally the men join in on the singing, drum playing, and banging out a beat with a metal spoon onto the body of the drum.

            At several points in the evening, I sneaked off from the party and hung out with the kitchen help. One was slicing the strangest carrots Ive ever seen They were long and had bright red exteriors and white interiors. After I got confirmation from Nehas mother, I discovered that these were normal carrots for India and that my idea of orange carrots is strange for them. Despite not being able to communicate very well with words, I learned how to cook poppadum over the stove on an iron pan. I mimicked what the cook did and did my best at turning, patting frantically with a towel, and rolling the savory peppery crackers into tubes to be served. I suppose very few people hang around the kitchen because they seemed very excited to have me there and insisted on me trying everything- small potato pancakes filled with curr! ied peas, something they called Italian food which were small deep fried balls of some kind of starch served with peppers and onions, and squares of deep fried paneer, fresh cheese, with spicy green chutney and ketchup.