A Big Fat Indian Wedding

Most people have heard of how extravagant Indian weddings can be. Well, I experienced something about x239843204803248329 of a normal BIG Indian wedding.

I heard bits and bobs from both Kenny (friend from Chicago) and Shweta (lives in Dubai) and AFTER going to 2/6 of their wedding events, I now realize WHY it took a YEAR long to plan. They had 6 days worth of events for their wedding in India, THEN had a reception in Dubai (at the Atlantis) THEN are also having a reception in Chicago (which my parents are going too). The wedding invite came to my parents and even that was spectacular, they made these fancy princess-like cards in a decorated box, almost like a fairy tale  and .... needless to say, my parents were showing 1/2 of Chicago the invitation they were so impressed by it. That was just a spec of what was to come. So as I am obviously 'close" to New Delhi, India, I went to that wedding and unfortunately had to miss the Dubai wedding because I was out of town. Granted, I have like .2 days of vacation left, so was ONLY able to go to 2/6 of the week's worth of events. Yes, you read that correctly, there were 6 days worth of wedding-related events.

The wedding was at this big o farm in Delhi, which they converted to a venue for this crazzeee awesome wedding. How else are you going to fit 10,000+ people? So at the ashram itself, they had kinda a mini "groom's side" celebration, some ceremonial stuff, but it was just the beginning of the party:

Then we experienced TOTALLY CHAOTIC typical traffic in India, not only were we in this big o bus with dysfunctional drivers that were using a 2-way street as a 1-way (opposite the direction we were going), but we always had to maneuver through cows, cyclists, rickshaws, etc. It was pretty amusing... some of the wedding party actually got out and themselves got in cars to move them and were directing traffic. Hi-larious:

But alas, we made it... to a GRAND entrance with LIGHTS LIGHTS LIGHTS to welcome the wedding guests:

THEN started the party.... elephants, horses, bands, fireworks, etc. Basically, Kenny was led into the area (which was almost Italian fortress-like) in on an elephant with a loud band and THOUSANDS of people dancing and partying! It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo crazy! A truly HAPPY and WILD grand entrance! 

Hmm.... oops. Was one of the very few that didn't have an Indian sari. Uh oh!

The "Master" and his beautiful almost regal wife :-) 

Kenny with  his grand entrance on an elephant

A glimpse of Kenny. He wears this traditional head covering that is supposed to cover his eyes (it kinda does?) and then when he is sees  her, he unveils himself.

Then came Shweta's entrance, NOT as grand as Kenny, she was carried in on a throne practically. She had soo much gold on her, she could hardly lift up her head. She was STUNNING, and really, like a princess!

And..... now MARRIED! Let the party begin!!

No joke, they BUILT that facade for the wedding! Check out the fireworks!!

Like a king and queen!!!

MUSIC!

COSTUMES and entertainment!!

PARTY!

10,000+ people celebrating!!

DANCING!!

Me COLD in New Delhi... by the carriage Kenny and Shweta would leave on...

4:30am.... Party finishes as Kenny and Shweta do a round through the crowds to wave bye to everyone.

Then comes the RECEPTION, aka. IllumiNite... they requested everyone wear BRIGHT and colorful clothing. THIS time, I borrowed a sari as NOT to be one of the only ones without a traditional outfit....

Soo.. the reception party was at this same massive farm, and I don't know if this area was a separate area that we were in the night before, or they performed some magic and converted that large open space to this reception area. Either way, it was FAB-U-LOUS!!! Cool chick decor with glow in the dark stuff and a really neat ambiance for..... even more partying!!!

But alas, I had to leave early to catch a flight to the next leg of my journey and had to leave "early," aka. midnight. So I get BACK to the ashram and.... after a few minutes Kenny and Shweta and family leave TO GO TO the party! hahahahah! And, as they are somewhat well known, as usual, there were hundreds of people just waiting around to see them leave. Amazing.

All and all, a truly MAGICAL and ENORMOUS wedding. NOT only that, but there would be ANOTHER reception a few days later at the Atlantis in Dubai (MEGA $$) and THEN ANOTHER RECEPTION at the Hilton in Chicago. Phew! I don't even want to know what went into these preparations! It was an awesome experience though!

Soo... as I alluded to earlier, I had to leave early to get to my next leg....

To Be Continued on my next blog.....

Return of the Greats - 2013 ATP Dubai Open

As you may remember, last year in late February, my company was the "medical help" of the ATP Dubai Tennis Open. I have to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed and star struck to be in the same vicinity as world famous tennis players and was more about the stalking of the tennis players than taking the work more seriously.

So this year, we weren't certain we would be the medical help until a couple of weeks before, and alas, we were in!!! This year, and I don't know if this sounds spoiled, but I was more comfortable seeing and being in the same room as great tennis players like Novak Djokovic and Federer and actually was more excited about learning some techniques from the ATP physios. ATP has 10 physios that rotate, and last year we had this really great guy Chris, and this year we had 2, Hugo (Hugo Boss, they call him) and Timo - both were aaaaaamazing. It was fascinating watching them work and my colleague in between (or during) their work with the players, were teaching us what they could. They are the main  physios and we are more or less the back up. Last year I admit we were both a bit un-confident and uncertain about what to do... many of the players rightfully so, are particular with their treatment and ONLY want to see the ATP physios. Others didn't care, so it was a good mix. This year we were all much more at ease and the players recognized us, which was cool. The best part of being in the physio room is that it is small and I got to be there for "locker room talk," pretty much them B.S.'ing and chatting amongst themselves (and me obviously eavesdropping). I didn't realize the politics involved in the ATP tennis, but I guess it doesn't surprise me. A part of me sees how spoiled they are, and even the physios were saying how they live in a little bubble and still want more (but what else is new in professional sports) and the other part sees how much work it is travel so much and to play top tennis.

Here are some pics that I saw in matches I randomly popped in as well as having the closed-off practice area open to us, hehe:

A funny moment happened when I had a loooooooooooooooong day of clinic work and my colleague was at Tennis. I was tired and called him asking him if I should bother coming and he said it was somewhat busy and to stop by. I hardly had the energy to go, but once again, just having VIP access to everything is a treat enough in itself and I'm not sure if that would happen again. So I go walk in the treatment room... and there is Novak on the table getting treated, his brother and his trainer right next to him. Whoa! Last year I didn't see Novak AT ALL, so this was quite a surprise! OMG! I was all professional and pretended to be busy and look serious. Well, the air condition wasn't working and then they went to me (I obviously wasn't busy because I wasn't working) and asked about it... then I replied in Serbian that we couldn't find the remote. They all were like "whhoooooaaaa! You know Serbian?" THEN we ALL had this conversation about languages! Novak was in/out of the conversation (he was in fact getting treated), but the brother and the trainer was all impressed how "well" I knew Serbian considering that I grew up in the States. Hahahh! Then he said that Novak knew German, and one of the physios tested him and... well, he really didn't know that much. Hahah! It was sooo soooo cool! It was a regular conversation but with the WORLD'S NUMBER ONE TENNIS PLAYER!!!! Afterwards I was sooo giggly and "OMG! I can't believe I JUST HAD A CONVERSATION WITH NOVAK and his people" that my crankiness vanished. hahahahahhahahahah! Novak is very goofy and friendly. Federer popped in a few times through the week, but he wasn't too social. Del Potro... I don't know if he doesn't know English too well, but he was also fairly quiet. I was going to whip out my Spanish on him (his trainer seemed pretty nice), but then he seemed kind of anti-social and a bit unfriendly.

Anyway, I invited myself using my VIP access card to the "players dinner," which I have to say, it was hard to get close to these Greats! Here are some pics from that...

UNFORTUNATELY, unlike last time where I have a PICTURE with Novak, I couldn't get any pictures WITH the players, booooo. It sucks to be in a professional setting and I would typically see them right before the match and felt uncomfortable crossing professional boundaries, obviously so. Sigh. BUT I have fond memories of seeing GREAT tennis players pretty much 1/2 naked and that is good enough for me, but darn it, I have no "proof" of how close I was to these professionals! Oh well...

Other than that, I learned some new techniques and got to work on plenty of players. It is still so amazing because it is SUCH a different experience than regular clinic setting. It is a bit nerve-racking because if you make them sore or something, they will NOT be happy, so it was a fine line between working on them and not being too aggressive.

I also spectated some of the women's WTP, and.... well, no offence to the woman, but it is like 1/12928304239 as exciting as the men's. Sorry WTP!!!!! Here are a few snaps I took:

BUT, one small perk was seeing Diego Maradona, who was present and hanging over the woman players but MIA during the men's, ha ha:

I don't know what will happen next year, whether I'm involved or just a spectator, but I definitely hope to be there!!!