India is awesome. Of all 31 countries I’ve been to at this point, India wins the award for my favorite by far. It’s such a crazy place. Rich in culture, in landscape, in people. A land of constant contrast. I had prepared myself for the pain, but not for the breathtaking beauty of this land and its people.

The first night we arrived, Poorna and his uncle met us st the airport… We went back to his house and stayed the night there…

He told us to meet downstairs for breakfas3t at 8. No problem. We took a shower using the bucket of water and pitcher that is usual for bathing here and headed down.

Now, I’m expecting a nice 5 or 6 person table with me, Yukiko, Poorna, mom, dad, and maybe an uncle.

HA. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The minute we reached downstairs, we are immediately being introduced to people. Aunts. Great aunts. Uncles. Great uncles. Grandparents. Cousins. Wow. It was great. But one of those, ‘holy crap there’s no way I’m going to remember who you all are’ moments. They gave us a tour around the house, took some pics, gave us a snack (which I thought eas breakfast, but I found out oater that a true (and very large) Indian breakfast comes around later. Poorna’s grandmother took some time to explain some parts of the Hindu religion and his father took some time to explain the tradition and concept and importance of Poorna and any arranged marriage (will write about later).

Some of Poorna cousins arrived and we all walked to his aunts house. She cookdd everyone a typical south Indian breakfast with iddly and sambar. There we met at least 5 more relatives… Before we left, his aunt presented both Yukiko and I with our own waters! Sweet!

Next, we rode with Rasika and another of Poorna cousins to an old famous place called Mahibalipuram. An old site with some ancient temples built over 1000 years ago. It was really cool… Oh, and it was along the beach, so thats cool.

Here’s my 2 favorite moments of the day that have nothing to do with the temples themselves.

1. As we were walking along, we passed 2 cute littlr girls in yellow dresses. They looked at me with amazed to see a white girl faces, so I smiled and waved. They got SO excited and followed us for a while down the path.. One girl grabbed her dad (who was selling fruit) and then he ran and caught up with us and told ne that his daughter wanted to kiss h cheek. Omg how adorable. How can anyone refuse that? Adorable.

2. At the last3 trmple, there was a group of college aged guys/girls. They were speaking in Tamil, but Rasika told us that they were saying that they had seen us 2 hours ago at another temple and had bee wanting to ask to tqke a photo with us. Ha. After debating in Tamil for a while longer, they asked. It was hilarious. All of a sudden, ee were surrounded by at least 10 people. What’s better yet, another crowd of people s3tartrd cheering and at least 20 others rushed over. NOT a numerically exaggeration. I’m bad about exaggerating numbers, but not this one, I swear. It was SO weird. Afterwards, I literally said aout loud, ‘that might be the eeirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.’

After the temples, we rode back to Chennai and did a little Saree shopping — we got really nice ones for the wedding. After that, we went to Sowmyaa’s house (the bride’s house) and joined for the mehindi… Aka getting henna tattoo on your hands to show youar support of the bride. So fun. What a day.