Village Visit- Feb. 20

On Feb. 20th we finished the final day of the marriage activities, a visit to Abhinav's family's village. We went there to visit some long-time family temples and give some offerings there. Once we were at the village, the entire process took about 10 minutes or less. Our plan was that we would all (Abhi's mom, dad, sister, me and him) take a car out to the village in the morning around 9am, visit the temples and come back before lunch. After some miscommunication with the car driver, we decided to change the time to 11am. 11am came and went, then noon and then 1pm...still no driver. Finally we decided that Abhinav and I would go there there on his motorcycle, which normally wouldn't be so bad, but I had never ridden a motorcycle while wearing a saree...which meant I had to ride on the back sideways (like side-saddle on a horse; both legs on one side, rather than straddling with one leg on each side). The first time I ever saw a woman riding sideways on a bike, I was completely amazed that it could even be done and also at the bravery of Indian women for riding a motorcycle this way. Overall, it isn't very difficult to ride sideways, just make sure you hold on tight!

I didn't get any pictures while we were out in the village, but there were lots of fields growing different crops, lots of sugarcane, rice, and tea (at least I think it was tea). Here are some pictures of me in the saree that was given to me by Abhinav's mama and mami (uncle and aunt in hindi).

 Abhi's mom, me, Abhi's sis.

Abhinav, me, Abhi's sis. :)