Tukuli's Wedding
I recently attended a wedding reception for a colleague of mine. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the ceremony because it was held in Cuttuck (about a 45 min drive away) and rains had spoiled our plans to attend. The reception was a couple days later and held at the OAB. I really like weddings here. Basically there are no seating charts or even enough seats for all the guests. It is buffet style eating with two buffets of course: veg and non-veg. This wedding even had a Gup Chup booth and a Chaat booth. Mmmmm good eats. Most guests come, present gifts, eat and go. A reception is more like a revolving door of friends and well wishers. I stayed under two hours and got a chance to mingle with friends from work and meet many people who were interested in the foreigner at this affair.
I took this event as the perfect opportunity to buy myself a sari. Auntie, which is what I call my land lady, helped me get dressed.
Veg food on a banana leaf plate. So good!
Presenting gifts to the bride and groom.
A pan of the wedding.
OAB Elections
June 6th was the day that all members of the Orissa Association for the Blind came out to vote for the NGO's top positions. I gladly went into the office on that Sunday to observe how they did it. I even took over some of the responsibilities to give my workmates a break. For a while I crossed off names (which I pronounced horribly!) and helped people into the voting area. It was a real treat to see the proud faces of everyone contributing to this organisation that fights for them. The amazing energy in the building that day was something only to be experienced.
The actual voting was interesting to learn about. All of the voting members were given a specified number of cards which had their identity number on it. After being marked with ink on their hand (to show they had voted) the members went being the curtain where there were various boxes for all the elected positions like general secretary, president and treasurer. The boxes were marked in Braille as well as large print English and Oryia with the names of the candidates. The voting member then would drop their card in the prefered box.
Members getting identity cards and numbers.
Crossing people off the list.
Confirming identity outside of the voting curtains.
Later that evening I received I phone call from my friend Prangya to inform me that the general secretary position (that of my boss) had went to his opponent. The office is closed until June 16th and I am a bit nervous to try and establish a relationship with the new secretary...as he will probably be extremely busy settling into his new role. I guess I will just have to wait and see.
Song from title: The Youth by MGMT
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