Unseen images of 2012, part 3: The morning of Sujitha's wedding day

True, I did post the wedding of Sujitha and Manoj, but in the morning before the wedding began, I did some casual shots of Suji and her guests. When I made my post, for the sake of time, I skipped this material entirely. As her wedding and my trip to India was a definite highlight of 2012 for me, I thought I would include a few shots from that morning in my "unseen images" review. So here Suji is, having beauty added to her natural beauty for a pre-wedding function as family members look on - they all adore her.

Pune, Maharashtra, India.

After the makeup is applied, Suji gets a warm bear hug from cousin Aishu as cousins Deeps and Kruthika laugh. In the way of their culture, the cousins are also sisters to each other.

Suji and niece.

Suji and family members.

Suji with more family members.

Suji's brother, Ganesh, her Uncle Sridhar and her grandpa Nataranja.

Suji and Uncle Paddu.

Suji and sister cousins Aishu, Deeps and Kru.

Suji with mother Bhanu. If Bhanu looks a little sad, it is because by tradition her daughter will now belong to the Biradar family and she fears she will seldom see her again. Suji and Manu both promised her this would not be the case. Suji and Manu are both living in London now, working against tough economic conditions to build a future for themselves but do plan to return to India.

Over the internet, they communicate face to face with Bhanu and family regularly.

Suji and daddy Ravi.

All those pictured in the images previous to this one are my in-laws from Bangalore, thanks to the wedding of my sister Mary Ann's daughter Khena to the son of Murthy and Vasanthi, Vivek, Sujitha's first cousin. They are Brahmins from Bangalore, 500 miles to the south of Pune. English may be a second, third, or fourth language to them but all are fluent English speakers and writers and in the five-and-half years since I first met them we have gotten to know each other.

When Suji married Manu, she became, like him, Lingayat - which is not a caste in the same sense that Brahmin is, but a sect of Hinduism organized in the 12th century.

The gentlemen in this picture and the people in most of those that follow are all guests either from the groom's side of the family or friends and associates connected to them. As Murthy, Vasanthi and I left to go touring in northwest India immediately after the main ceremony, I did not really get a chance to get to meet or know any of them. Someday, I would like to.

They dress very differently than the people in South India and their language and customs are different. Most spoke little or no English, but, as different as we all were, we understood each other in a basic human sort of way.

Right after I took the picture before this one, this gentleman rushed up and sat down in the foreground. I do not know who he is or what he does, but without speaking a word of English to me he made it very clear to me that he was not to be left out of the photo. The other men all agreed - he must be in the photo.

So here he is. I hope to do him proper honor.

Lingayat woman - a member of Suji's new family.

Lingayat man - a member of Suji's new family.

Wedding guest.

Wedding guest who said "hello" to me in both word and guesture.

I am going to give myself an assignment: to go back to this place and learn more about these people whom I photographed yet know so little about I can't write much of anything about them. I have many unfulfilled assignments. I won't promise I will ever complete this one, but the assignment is now before me. Maybe it will happen.

This blog is, after all, one photographer's search for community, home and family. As unlikely as such a thing might ever have seemed just a few short years ago, these gentleman are, in a very real way, a part of my community, home and family...

...Thanks to this man - Manoj Biradar, who had the very good taste, sense judgment and most of all, love, to pursue, court, and marry my niece, Sujitha. My post of their wedding ceremony can be found here - a wedding which, a generation ago, would likely have not been allowed. Coverage of the wedding of Sujitha's sister, our beloved late Soundarya Anil Kumar, can be found on my earlier blog, in several segments. Here is the segment in which they tied the knot - literally.

And by the way, this site has raised a little over $400 to help Suji get to Kenya. She has raised more money herself and says $400 is enough. 

But I know she could use more.

Comments

[juicyfruityy]

Hello Mr Hess:
Thanks, for sharing your beautiful pictures, family and friends with us. You do good work and I enjoy visiting your site.

Happy New Year's to you and your family

[Suji]

Nostalgic! Hope we could meet again...maybe this time it will be Southern India to Manu's village where you can find lots of those people...
also the guy who made it clear that he wants to be photographed is a Local Doctor in his village and he is very famous!!!