Our Families Meet

May 5

The day before the wedding we meet Subechya's parents at their large house for supari, or the bridal shower. Her father speaks English, and her mother a little less, but they as well as the many other relatives gathered there are all very friendly and welcoming. We are served a buffet of tasty Nepali and Indian dishes. Afterwards eight young women guests and friends of Andrew and Subechya who have flown to Nepal and I are treated to intricate decorative henna designs applied to our hands and forearms by an artist. When my turn comes to receive them I have to laugh when, during this centuries-old tradition, the sari-clad woman's cell phone rings and she puts down her henna tube to answer it!