Weddings and Henna

In India, weddings are very elaborate. I'm hoping to crash one sometime while I am on assignment. One day, Jayanti and I were out shopping when we heard a band - we went down the street to find a horse drawn chariot covered in silver carrying the groom. In front of the chariot were musicians playing instruments to let the procession begin. It is common for women to have their hands henna'ed for celebrations. On my first visit to Pune in October 2005, I saw a young lady at a shop who had her hand henna'ed and asked to take a picture of her hand. Her friend nearby asked if I wanted to have it done - and I said "you bet!" - so 10 minutes later I had her friend drawing on my hand with henna. It looked and felt like black frosting. I let it dry on my hand and when I crumpled my hand, the 'frosting' fell off and left a beautiful brown color. It had a really nice 'spicey' smell. It was my souvenier to come back to the states. It lasted for 3 weeks.