Wedding Crasher

An abundance of good quality coffee at the resort created a reliable start to the day and a sense of comfort to proceed with site seeing. Rajagopal and I checked out a variety of sites in Cochin, Kerala including a couple palaces and the harbor. Before leaving we were suddenly in a huge rush to find banana chips for him to take back as gifts. I’m not sure what he was looking for but there seemed to a great availability of what appeared to be banana chips in every shop we went into. We shuffled from place to place, and he repeated numerous times “Quality is very important, very important.” This became a quotable phrase throughout the trip. We reached our bus with no time to spare, banana chips in hand, and we were off. Or at least we thought we were, this was the same bus that delayed us four hours on our voyage to Kerala. Before we left town the bus broke down, and we soon found ourselves outside amidst conversations on the intricacies of buses and service contracts. One friendly guy went off on how much he likes the Volvo buses, whereupon he gave me all the details on the engine. Another guy listened with a smile and a T-shirt that read “Baseball All-Star” with the image of quarterback taking the hike. The other men calmly and closely surrounded the wrenches.

We got going, and the Easter traffic leaving Kerala provided the scariest bus experience of my life. On a two lane highway the bus would pass blindly many times sharing the road with multiple oncoming vehicles. Within a hour we saw the remnants of where it appeared a vehicle had run down a pedestrian, and soon after that we just missed a head on conclusion between a dump truck and a bus. What remained made the rest of the 12 hour journey a tad stressful. Right before getting to our destination, Rajagopal informed me that my morning plans had changed. We rolled in at 7am and the plan was to be picked up late morning to go to the school. He said you’ll be at your hotel by 7:30, be ready to be picked up by 7:50 for a wedding. “Who is picking me up?” “The driver.”

These kind of surprises are welcomed, and I was curious to see a wedding. My cell phone was dead, and I wasn’t sure how I’d navigate my way back from the wedding. I was confident that it was all worked out. Luckily I wasn’t going alone, Devika and a student arrived at the hotel at 8:15, and off to the wedding we went. From the very entrance it was obvious that this was an impressive and welcoming occasion. There was ceremonial music playing, and everyone seemed to be scattered about joyously conversing. Before even entering the hall I was welcomed with open arms by family members, and it was so inspiring to meet people that were so willing and eager to share such an important occasion with a stranger. The bride and groom were under a beautiful gold structure adorned with flowers. Surrounding them was a variety of relatives, friends, and family members. One of the bride’s uncles grabbed me and started introducing me to the people around him. He then insisted that I sit in the front row in the first seat. After a short stay in top spot, we kept moving and chatting. The ceremony was going on the whole time, but people are free to partake how they wish. The lack of rigidity in the religious practices here is really, really cool. Oh I forgot to mention that before we went up to the hall they fed us a great breakfast. No matter where you are you will be fed.

Devika explained much of what was happening and we compared notes and thoughts on marriage. Both Devika and her administration have gone out of their way to give me the most rich and fulfilling India experience possible. It is evident that there has been hard work put into this whole experience, and at the least they’ll have in return is an ambassador for PSBB, Chennai, and India back in Albuquerque. After the wedding commenced we went back to the school. After the bus trip I wasn’t fresh, but the day was too exciting to care. On the way to checkout a presentation by 1st graders in the primary block, Devika saw me eying the boys playing cricket. This led to me taking about a 5 minute turn as a batter, quite fun. I can see why people dig this game, I think it is similar to baseball but faster. We then made our way over to watch more adorable and sharp little kids show their stuff.

I’m moving through this recap fast, because I’m wanting to get this blog and the previous 3 up. After seeing the little guys, I was a special guest for a Model UN summit put on especially for me. Again, these kids are high flyers. Their performances and arguments closely mirrored what we see in Santa Fe for the NM Model UN. This being a reflection of just one school is outstanding, and the fact that they did such and exhaustive run through as basically a practice session makes me again realize that we need to step it up. I talked with a 10th grader before hand and I questioned her on the importance put on Model UN and other programs of the like. She said it was quite important, and prestigious. Here again is where I think they have their priorities right. Model UN is an example of an activity that makes better citizens and will give some serious chops in their professional life. I’m shutting this one down short so I can review the lesson I’m going to co-teach tomorrow.