Water, Weddings and Whiskers.

Last weekend we were invited to attend the wedding of a relative of a member of staff here. Possibly our invitation was because of close affiliation with the married couple and their family? (nope), or was it to do with the fact that our parents are the directors of the college where they work? (maybe), or did it have something to do with our white faces? (maybe yes). Going to an Indian wedding- exciting times! (Interestingly this excitement of foreigners to be going to an Indian wedding is not shared by the locals to quite the same extent)

 
Because the actual wedding ceremony had already taken place earlier with a smaller crowd at the local village convent, we headed to the auditorium for the reception:

While we waited for the bride and groom we were "entertained" by local musicians and singers, and the two television screens at the front which alternated between Bollywood-style montages of random couples, to live shots of the actual couple having their photos taken.

The couple arrived (looking dazed by the paparazzi that had been hired to capture every minute), made their entrance, the crowd kept chatting to one another, the first few photos of the couple were taken on stage and then the race was on to get to lunch and then have your picture taken up on stage with the happy couple.

We had a good time: we listened to music without the bride and groom; we ate a meal without the bride and groom; and then finally we got a photo with the bride and groom. If you were bold, you could smile at the camera as well; otherwise the customary blank formal face would do to blend in. Seeing the sights, tasting the dishes and then seeing a stray dog walk through the dining hall- everything you might expect to see at a traditional Indian wedding. It was a bit tainted when we heard that the chef had undercooked the meal and therefore had to flee the wedding to avoid being beaten up by the special couple's families.

I'm glad that our chef didn't ruin the food at our wedding- I hate to think of the thrashing that Karina's sisters would have given him!

The bride and groom

Our college has been out of water for a while so it was time to start drilling. As the African proverb says: "The usefulness of a well is known when it dries up."  So we got together, asking God for safety for the drillers and a bit of H2O.  It took two days of drilling in different locations, but finally, today up came the stuff that life needs! - 850 feet deep (that's like the height of the SkyTower observation platform!).

The team.

The Machinery.

And it's off...

Piles of dust later...

Bingo!

I did a little sociological experiment yesterday. I wanted to know what "a shave" meant for the average barber in India. So I went in to the local Barber's and asked for exactly that- "a shave". Ten minutes later I concluded that the upper lip is not considered as part of the face when it comes to shaving.

Adeesh- my barber- then continued by saying "I want to make your moustache the same as mine" He pointed at his, including his soul patch, and then said "black colour". The end result: I am not only building solidarity as I become inwardly like the locals, but also my external look!

Our proverb for this one: A man without a moustache is like tea without sugar!

"A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship"

Two friends of ours have met us in Bangalore 4 days into our time here. Peter and Elizabeth Brown flew into the not-so-organised chaos yesterday morning.

This is significant to us for many reasons: Jeremy and Peter flatted together for most of three years. “It was generally a good experience... at least until the day we decided to start rooming together.” It was at similar times that they “found” the girls who are now their wives. The two couples got married a month apart. I think that both Peter and Jeremy decided that living with their wife was neither as smelly, nor as demanding (?) as living with each other!

Yesterday we adventured together to the local village where Peter and Jeremy had haircuts and shaves at the village barber's – involving a traditional barber's blade which ended in more than a couple of nicks! We also discovered that by asking for a shave, it doesn't include the removal of hair from the upper lip (the local fashion), so Peter is now sporting a local, colonial, blond caterpillar just below his nose. Karina and Elizabeth got to know the local supermarket and vegetable stall, where a kilo of tomatoes cost NZ$1 and two flat bread pizza bases cost 40 cents. Today we ventured further into Bangalore, braving Indian traffic and the public transport system by bus and then rickshaw - the first one we caught took advantage of our naivety of rickshaw fares... that won't happen again! Besides shopping for some local clothing and jandals (known as chappals), we had our first raw exposure to beggars and a yummy 'thali' experience for lunch.

 

These friendships go much deeper than just a catch up with old mates in a foreign land. We are all here with one heartbeat – to spend some time serving our neighbors and Lord outside of our everyday surroundings. We are convinced that as we spend 2 months here studying, sharing and learning together we will find ourselves being part of a story that is world wide.

A Kurdish proverb (in the title, above) talks about how eating or drinking together obliges you to be their friend. There is a beauty in the simplicity of having a cup of coffee, but also something deeper in the sharing, something else that unites us together as well. We are looking forward to sharing many more coffees with Peter and Elizabeth, and with others here at SAIACS as the study year begins.

Last Saturday also marks six months of marriage for us – another relationship that began with a cup of coffee!

4 where there are meant to be 3: easy by Indian standards!