Helen's birthday was December 6th so she got pampering all day and that night we went to the rooftop of the Jagat Niwas hotel for dinner (FYI: all hotels in Udaipur have rooftop restaurants). We sat in a romantic little nook where we could see the sun setting over the whole lake. After dinner we went to the Udaivillas Hotel for a nightcap. Well friends, walking into the Udaivillas is like tumbling down the rabbit hole. The entrance is a courtyard of which the walls and floors are a geometric progression of trapeziods that is like trying to walk through an MC Escher painting. There was this phantom lady talking on her cell phone as we walked through the maze – she was always 50 yards ahead of us, then she disappeared. The reception area, or second game level as I called it, was a huge over-ornate room that was entirely created from mosiac. Floors, ceiling, walls, desk, and couch were almost indistinguishable from each other. Sitting at the almost invisable desk were two men...in a room the size of a football field there were only two men and one small table...creepy, huh? They asked us in a whisper, as if not to disturb the ghosts, if they could help us. We told them we were there for drinks and dessert. They made 5 or 6 calls before telling us they couldn't accomodate us, that they were full. In other words: we were being REFUSED ENTRY! Well, I could feel the George Bush rising in me and I was fixin' to get all Texas on them when I realized that sitting in the over garnished bar with a bunch of cigar-chomping German tax fugitives wouldn't be half as odd as being turned away, thus keeping the illusion of possibly meeting the White Rabbit or the Queen of Hearts. Luckily, or logically, our tuck-tuck driver insisted on waiting for us. So, having failed to get past even the most elementary level of this real life video game, we left to find another place to tipple and recount our odd night.

Evidently the next day was a very auspicious wedding day. Each arranged couple's stars are meticulously carefully plotted out by an astrologer to make sure the marriage is compatable. It is also the astrologer's responsibility to set the wedding date and time so the blissful husband and wife have the support of the entire universe behind them as set off into the sunset and get to know each other. Before the wedding, the bride to be's father sets off on a husband hunt. He'll tell friends, read matrimonials, call his relatives and evidently they get very creative about spreading the word. First of all, caste is the most important issue, then will be his birthday, income, education, then the boy's entire family will go through the same scrutiny. In most marriages the bride moves into the husband's house and is almost an indentured servant for the often beastly mother-in-law. If the family has a boy and a girl they'll try to have the weddings on the same day so the mother isn't inconvenienced by the shift in workload. So, back to the auspicious wedding day. There is usually only one or two days a month that Hindu weddings will occur and it's safe to say...stay at home those days. I saw eight weddings in one day. In Delhi, on the same day, they had 30,000 weddings. The Hindustan Times stated that the only thing that was able to move through the trafffic were the galloping horses that traversed from wedding to wedding to present the grooms. The wedding procession that we took pictures of was a pretty typical Rajput (warrior caste) ceremony. An aluminum foil covered coach filled with a band blasting klezmer sounding arrangements through blown out speakers was how it started. Next were the groom's friends dancing hysterically and screaming words of encouragement. Then there was just a crowd of people walking ominously as if they were all dragging their heels on the way to a public hanging – we thought this was his family. Then comes the groom, dressed to the nines and riding a studly horse, a metaphor I presume, except it was clear that our poor chap had never been on a horse. It was as if he kept looking for the off switch. After the groom passed, the whole shebang was followed by a generator on wheels for there are people holding electrifred chandelliers walking the entire length on both sides of the prosession. So it goes like this: Screaming loud frenzied band with a man singing like he was on Mexican radio, hordes of screeching dancing boys, people walking like extras from Dawn-of-the-Dead, the terrified groom on a terrified horse, then the billowing smoke from an old 2-stroke generator – man, I love India – never a dull moment! The parade makes its way into the auspicious grounds and the bride enters surrounded by a gauntlet of saris that move through the crowd like the Chicago Bears' front line. When the bride and groom sit down they really don't have a lot to say, as prior to the big night they've only met for about 15 minutes. From the look of these two I figure he was thinking "I don't quite understand what Uncle Kumar told me to do tonight" and she's thinking "I don't remember the double chin in the interview." Yeah, I poke fun, but I really do wish them all the luck in the world. We'll be guests at a Brahmin wedding (high caste) in Pushkar in mid-April so there will be much more in depth coverage on the whole 5 day ceremony. Yes, it will be 5 full daze!!!

We like Udaipur so much that we're staying until mid-April. Our decision was spurred on by finding our Udaipur dream house. Havali on the Lake is owned and run by a lovely couple: Babu and Carol. They also have Alfie, a chihuahua that's trapped in the strapping body of a 100 lb. hunting dog. In the morning we fling open our bedroom doors and see the lake and the palace (and very often Alfie flying through the air landing on our bed). At night we dine on the best food we've had in India, then sit by a burning fire. Here are just a few pics of why we're here.