Wedding Party and Hyderabad in a nutshell. The End.

 Wedding reception day arrives and we got dolled up on our 2nd saree wearing evening. Our dashing date takes us to the party and its back to hrs of photo taking for the happy couple and us mingling to the beats of the seikh army band. A couple of drinks and we are maneuvering are bejeweled costumes w/ less intimidation.
The party ends early and try to continue the party but then again we are flying early to the gateway of the south, Hyderabad

We arrive to  one of the wealthiest ppl in the worlds "home". Still #5 on the money it list it was said that these Nizams use to use diamonds as paper weights. We are taken by horse carriage up to the palace and escorted to the room by our lovely butler shabawa or shabu shabu? Gigi is as sick as I've even seen someone so after our sundowner of melodic" whose got talent "india style evening she goes to bed early.
So by now I haven't mentioned but I got a call from my father that my grandmother (Oma) had passed away :(  he asks me to  try and make it to the funeral but I'm exhausted here on week 3. But family is family and I'm now in planning mode in my head.
The next morning we visit the fort of hyderabad. Poor guide kept blabbing and clapping away through the 360 steps up but I'm just not there. Somewhere between the acoustics and mosaic ed mausoleums I notice a bloody goat leg dripping from a tree branch. Ummm. Excuse me? Am I the only one noticing the drip drip drip bloody drip. "Well" Mr Guide says, " looks like someone got pregnant"........I'm still 'umming' here.
Yeah sooo, there was a termite mound under a tree ( what a concept) and they believe that the sacred cobra lives under it. So they offer it coconuts and pray to the snake for fertility. Looks like the chick got knocked up bc as a thank you note to the cobra they offered him a goat. Drip. Drip.
And now its time for a 5 course, 18 flavors meal. Got goat? No seriously, this meal was insane. I have to say after my kilos of expertise, TAJ hotels have the best Indian food. Lekker!
The minute we get back to the hotel, I figure out my options and get everything settled to leave for Holland. Relief. I take a quick tour through the petite 101 seat dining table room, jade room, billiard room, study room, and the entrance with about 6 mona lisa staring paitings. They seriously follow ur gaze like doting admirers.
We have our last dinner with our Guru Reet :( and make sure we get our 330am wake up call.
India, Thank You.
Reet, Thank You http://www.quovadis.in/
and all the hotels who hosted us...Thank You!!

Trident Hotel-Dehli

Raas Ranvas - Jodhpur

Mihir garh

Chhatra Sagar                 

Devi Ratn- Jaipur

Amanbagh 

Leela Palace- Dehli

TAJ Falaknuma Hyderabad 

Will be back soon, visa expires end on April ;)

Dehli Day 7 & 8 " Good Horn, Good Brakes and Good Luck"

We leave Amanbagh on a supposed 5 hour trip that turned into 8! 3 hours stuck in Dehli sharing the roads with camels, tractors, busses, cars packed with more ppl in their then I can count and the same with 4 passengers plus tv on a motorcycle. No it did not have a side thingy.

We pass the toll roads through Gurgaon which is where the 24hr offices of tech India reside. These offices see 3 shifts a day and never sleep. Oh and they have no running water or electricity. All running on generators. Back to the toll road! So after we finally pass and get closer to South Dehli, the guy handing the change acts really quickly and tells us to hurry off. A bit confused I ask our guru and he says that traffic has gotten so bad that a week prior a man shot the teller bc he took too long to give the change. Now I've been in Dehli for about 3 days and I'm starting to understand the meltdowns.Anyway, after the long drive we settle in to the beautiful Leela Palace and have our first very much needed western meal of salad and pizza. YUM! Note to future travelers. I ordered a G+T and when the bill came it was over $30. Not bc it was NYC but bc they charge 15 for 1mL of alcohol and 15 in tax and luxury tax. Awesome. Big fluffy white crisp bed please. 

Bliss Dehli Day 2
Today I won't bore you but it was a much needed break from yesterdays traffic induced hell. Gym! Then a bit of sun on their new rooftop pool where all I could think of was "Oh perfection of a cloud less but smokey sky as I float through pools of heaven". Followed by sliders, Vogue magazine and a basket full of body misters, oils, menus, and Mexi style lemonade. A bit of retail therapy followed by a glass of wine and I was induced back into white fluffy crispbed from the heavens and I wasn't going anywhere! In bed by 7pm. See you mañana

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Wake up for wedding day. In the morning I have a quick meeting with Natasha the Director of Sales & Marketing for Leela and after talking business I am introduced to a new concoction of Indian bfast. Yes I'm back to Hindi food. 

My fave was Uttapam which is a pancake made of rice flour so its savoury with spice and oh so nice. I have learned that my spice tolerance has highly improved and I'm feeling quite empowered. 

 

After the yum the stress kicks in. We find out that for the wedding reception, we must wear a sari or a long dress. Mayday mayday! I've been traveling w/ 2 knee length dresses(and all accroutements) for no apparent reason. So I call Kanika a local "Dehlien" (thanks H) and we meet at the mall where fashionistas draped in Louis Vuitton and Gucci shop for saris way over my budget starting around a grand. We have 2 hrs before we need to be at the grooms house and we are still looking! Kanika suggests her favorite place called Roop and this wonderful man named Kailesh. He draped us in meters of saris while sipping some chai. It was fun for sure. Time for Henna.  These kids were amazing! After we picked out our designs that they didn't follow they sit us down and get to work. Two guys working on me and 2 w/ Gigi sitting on benches in the middle of the sidewalk. 20 min later we are out and poor Vijay is now holding our purses and digging into our wallets to pay the hennistas. 
No shower. No time. Off to Damens wedding.