Friday 30th January 2026

It was yet another quite bonkers, but entirely loveable, final day before the wedding. One of the first things that the bridegroom's family had to do today was to go and claim Vinothini, the bride, from her family, which involves all sorts of rituals, and again must be a visit with an odd number of people. This time 13 members of Daya's family went but I wasn't one of them, which was quite a relief as it meant that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn again today!

I made my way to Daya's at a more leisurely pace today, doing some shopping in Norwood town on the way. There was an amazing crowd of people at Daya's, but I wasn't there for very long before I had to come back into town to sort a couple of things out for the wedding, including buying an ironing board, which proved to be a godsend, as there were an incredible number of pieces of clothing that needed to be ironed before the wedding tomorrow, including my own!

There is not enough space here to describe in detail everything that happened today, but it was a wonderful day for me to simply be a part of. I have been so welcomed into Daya's immediate and extended family, and their enormous group of friends, which has left me feeling incredibly humbled by the whole experience. It is obviously the most exciting day for Daya and Vino tomorrow, but I am also pretty excited about the whole thing, as it should be an amazing, wonderful day.

The poor bride gets taken by the groom's family to a room in a guest house, where she remains with very little company until she goes to get ready for the wedding. That room is one of the three rooms at Chef King where I am staying. I left early this evening, as I have to be up at 05:15 tomorrow morning, to leave at 06:00, so I was able to pop in to see Vinothini (who just had one of Daya's relatives keeping her company) to give her a hug and wish her well for the wedding tomorrow!

I would like to say a personal thank you to the many people who have left kind comments on my blog, and to apologies to you for not acknowledging your comments personally, but it is very hard for me to get my blog and diary done each day, and there is no way to also find time to respond to individual comments, although I greatly appreciate receiving them, so please do keep them coming!

Today's photographs show how beautifully decorated the front of Daya's house has been - with shots in the morning and at night. The rest of the photos are snaps taken throughout the day, and I particularly love the one of the elderly aunt sat on the floor in the kitchen.












Comments

  1. CharlesJanuary 31, 2026 at 11:33 PM

    What a privilege for you to be part of such a traditional affair. I particularly like the photo of the three ladies - with one gentleman's legs reflected in the mirror next to them!

    ReplyDelete

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