The reason we went to Mumbai in the first place was for our friend Aradhna's wedding to her husband-to-be Tanmay. We stayed in her family's guest house, a few km from where her parents now live, and they treated us with amazing hospitality.

We were not the only guests, of course, and the guest house was also used as a meeting/eating place. They had hired a cook for the occasion, so every meal was cooked fresh. He was much better than our cook, and he even made me corn rotis after he found out I couldn't eat wheat ones. I think it also helped that after one of the first meals I liked his cooking... I think I got extra attention after that.

Two days preceeding the wedding was a ceremony known as the engagement, which involves the exchanging of rings. It was a smaller ceremony than the actual wedding, and women got henna on their arms, and there was music and dancing. One guy, who was a distant cousin on the bride's side was dancing like he was auditioning for a Bollywood movie, with a never-ending sequence of over the top moves, complete with goofy faces.

The next day was on off-day, so we went to Bandra, a posh neighborhood of Bombay, to see it and do some shopping. We went to a bazar and Dolly and Pampi bought some shirts, and Jen got into haggling for scarves. We then went down the road where I bought some shirts, and then headed to a very late lunch. Unfortunately all the places recommended by locals were closed until 7, but fortunately we found a very nice place named Basilico.

Basilico was an middle-eastern/italian/american-ish restaurant, with a large and varied menu. It was the first place I'd been in India that wasn't strictly Indian or Indian/Chinese. They had steaks on the menu, but they were only serving pasta and sandwiches, but they had a beef burger, which I ordered. Jen got gnocci, which she said tasted fresh, as in "made after she ordered it", and the other dishes were very good as well. My burger was about cafeteria grade, dry and probably from the freezer, but it was very satisying and the best burger I've had in months.

The next day was the actual wedding, and started in the traditional fashion, with the groom being slowly led in, preceeded by a band and his dancing family. The ceremony was very long, as is common in India, and instead of sitting at attention, people milled around and socialized, crowding around the platform for the good parts.

The ceremony was followed the reception, for which the bridal parties (and many other people) changed outfits. By the end of the night over 800 people filled the reception hall, and Aradhna and Tanmay left a newly wedded couple!

(We don't have pictures past the morning of the wedding... our camera filled up, and we are waiting for the rest of the pictured to be sent to us)