One of my long-held wishes has been to attend an Indian wedding, mostly inspired by Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice. My wish came true this year, when I had the opportunity to attend the wedding of one of my friends from my MBA cohort. It was everything I had imagined, and much more.
Mehendi Night
We arrived Friday and attended the Mehendi at our friend's parents' condo building. They had prepared a wonderful feast of food and festivities, and had a lady drawing designs on the ladies' hands. Traditionally this is done with henna, which temporarily dyes the skin. The artist was able to free-form different designs on everyone's hands.
The longer you leave the dye on, the darker the staining will appear. As it began to dry and crack, you can flake off the dye. If you prefer a lighter pattern, you can remove it sooner.
Despite my best efforts, I could not stop smudging the design.
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The Mehendi night was a relaxed and fun way to mingle with the guests, who were from every stage of our friend's life. Some were his childhood high school friends, his middle school English teacher attended, and then there were his college friends, coworkers and our MBA cohort. We did a little dancing, ate some lovely vegetarian food, chatted with everyone and enjoyed our first night in Tampa.
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