The wedding is tomorrow.  In about 30 minutes the henna application starts for the women guests, most especially the bride who will have designs applied on both hands up to her elbows, and both feet. I am SO excited!  And later today we will all be transported by taxi to a large enough place to accommodate us all for an evening of music performed by the groom, his friends and hired hands.

Thanksgiving Day offered up a slow, steady arrival of wedding guests.   Tantalizing, beautiful and bountiful celebrants who lovingly welcomed me into their embrace.  There will be somewhere between 120 and 150 guests, a quarter of the size of a traditional Indian wedding celebration.  It is all fun and games in the days leading up to the ceremony, which will be more somber and serious. The groom’s father will conduct the ceremony and he is a natural teacher who likes to explain everything.  Yesterday he took time to break down Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and the Vedas for me.  When I still didn’t get my answer about why Shiva gets the most press, his wife, Sushmaa, explained to me that Shiva has the most interesting stories.  Still later, their daughter and my friend, Richa, explained the three gods as the CEO (Shiva), CFO (Vishnu) and COO (Brahma).

Yesterday the groom introduced some culture blending at a bar called Phoebe’s on the beach.  Tables were rigged to simulate what many know as beer pong in the states, but he learned as beer die (dice) when attending college in Vermont 10 years ago.  He hadn’t seen many of his college friends since until a few days ago when they arrived for the wedding.  Added to his college pals were friends from his theater work in Mumbai.  I spent the evening with a number of them on the eve of Thanksgiving seated at a long table lit by candles, one of scores of similar establishments lit up by strings of festive bulbs of light along the strand that is Palolem Beach.  The sea crashing on one side,  met by chill out music coming from the restaurant on the opposing side.  I could only make out pieces of the conversations that happened in between in this most intoxicating blend.  We had to move the table up by about 10 or so feet when the sea lapped at our ankles catching us off guard.

The groom’s brother lives in Bahrain and at least 20 of his friends traveled to attend the wedding and also enjoy the vortex offered up by this beach in Goa that drains you of any concept of doing.  They all come from India but have lived for swaths of their lives in Bahrain, and they bring a party with them wherever they go.  When the day had climaxed to a complete cornucopia, it was Thanksgiving after all, a few of the Bahrain party contingent took turns playing DJ on the sound system at Dreamcatcher. They played Punjabi music loudly.  No one, save the elders, was permitted the option of staying seated for long.  Dancing in the sand to Punjabi music on Thanksgiving is a custom I would gladly embrace as a new tradition any time.

At one point there was a promise of heading out to another bar along the beach where Silent Noise parties take place.  Because the noise is supposed to shut down early, a few enterprising folks came up with the idea to set up DJs who play to 3 or 4 channels.  You tune into the channel of your choosing with your very own set of headphones and dance on the beach like no one is watching.  I, however, had hit a wall and was happy to take my 3rd or 4th shower of the day instead before retiring in the safe cocoon of my mosquito-netted bed. After coaxing the 3 frogs that had taken up residence off the toilet seat and away from the shower hose, of course.

Yesterday was a lazy day spent with the groom’s side of the family, including my soul sister Richa who opened this amazing door for me when she invited me to attend her baby brother’s wedding.  It was a gorgeous way to spend black Friday.  Punctuated by meals, fresh juice (watermelon and pineapple), coffee, tea and conversation I got to see the world she comes from and understand more about the source of the abundance she exudes.

It’s 11:30 and I am henna-bound.