Ramesh weds Dhanu (Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu)
I had no clue about this place called Tiruchirappalli till Ramesh asked me to come down and cover his wedding there. It was a long way of connecting flights and road trips and more road trips to eventually reach my hotel in Karaikudi, 4 hours of drive from Tiruchirappalli. The ceremony was suppose to take place in another village which was further 2 hours away. I was put up in Karaikudi since there are no hotels in the village. My first glimpse at Ramesh's house literally made my jaw drop, a mansion I must say containing of 56 rooms (yes you heard it right), and a hall area that could accomodate over 300 people. Not to forget it was abosultely stunning, the typical South Indian architecture ofcourse.
The ceremonies were meticulous and so unique and different than anything I have ever witnessed. With hundreds of school girls performing pooja and the elderly aunties decorating the diyas and pooja thalis; it was a festival of sorts. Something very different and eqaully interesting was happening at the bride's place, with her veranda decorated beautifully and everyone trying their best to seek the blessings from the god in the mini temple. The wedding ceremonies were almost out of some very artistic movie set; beautiful and simple. The houses and the gold might make you feel these people are filthy rich and you might not be wrong to guess that, but what I found were rich at heart people; compeltely down to earth, simple, traditional and humble to the core. So many guests wanted me to take their photos just because they have never seen a girl photographer before. They were amazed and at the same time told me how proud they are to see a girl take on a man's profession. I could only humbly accept the compliments and take a picture and say- 'Smile please'.
Special thanks to Ramesh and Dhanu's family for being such a wonderful hosts.