A Madison County couple made the trek to Mumbai, India last month to take part in their daughter’s wedding to a native of that country.
Greg and Rebecca Bleakley, of Hull, say they’ll never forget the experience of seeing a country and sampling a culture that was so fascinating and vastly different from our own.
And to top it off, they were struck with the reality of the recent terrorist attacks in that city just this past November.
“It really brought it home to actually see some of the sites — like the Taj hotel in Mumbai,” Greg said. They also stayed at the coast just prior to the wedding where their host pointed out the place where the rubber rafts carrying some of the terrorists had landed and then climbed a wall (it was right across the street).
“It was eerie to think if we’d been there just six weeks prior,” he said.
But the Bleakeys say there weren’t unnerved by the previous attacks, comparing it to visiting New York City following 9/11. “We figured it was probably safer than it’d ever been,” Greg said.
Their daughter, Elizabeth (Liz) had gone over earlier to be with her fiancé, Nachiket Kumar, and that left the Bleakleys, their son Joe and three of their daughter’s high school girlfriends, Andrea Bond, Ashley Sobhani and Leah Hardman, (all 2002 Madison County High School graduates) to make the trip just prior to the wedding day.
Though they found the plane ride exhausting, particularly Hardman, who came from her current home in Hawaii, the adventure itself was great.
“We all just loved it,” Rebecca said. “All the people were great to us and the food was marvelous.”
The Bleakleys also marveled at all the sites they saw – from magnificent opulence to dire poverty.
“But what struck us most was the traffic,” Greg said chuckling. “There was so much of it and there were no stop signs at all.” In addition to cars, buses, motorcycles, etc. all cramming into the same roadway, there were also cows, goats and other animals to contend with. “And the cows are sacred, so you couldn’t make them move and you definitely couldn’t hit one,” he said. But despite all that, they saw no bad accidents and marveled at how everyone seemed to tolerate the traffic jams without malice. They say they never observed a case of “road rage,” no matter how hectic it might get.
“There was just an attitude of cooperation there – it was chaotic to us – but people there don’t seem to be angered by it, I guess they’re just accustomed to it,” Greg said.
After landing in Mumbai, they took an overnight train trip the coastal area of Goa, where the wedding was to take place.
“We were on the beach one day and a cow just walked right by us,” Rebecca said. Liz, hearing it was good luck to feed the cows, followed it and gave it some food.
They were also startled by the “mass of humanity,” everywhere, all the time.
“We went out at 11 p.m. one night and the streets were still packed with people who seemed to be shopping and eating,” Rebecca said. Another thing that struck them about the city of Mumbai was the pollution, the lack of sanitation and the trash that littered the streets and byways. “We think we have pollution and trash problems here, but we don’t compared to there,” Greg said.
The train they took from Mumbai to Goa was “straight out of Casa Blanca” Rebecca noted. “It was an interesting trip in a sleeping car,” she said. “Especially the toilets.” Luckily for them the train was equipped with “western” toilets as well as the traditional “Indian” toilets, which were basically a hole in the train’s floor to the railroad tracks below.
Though it was 85 degrees those January days, the humidity was low and pleasant, allowing for a gorgeous wedding on the resort beach.
“Goa is a destination like Cancun is for us,” Greg said.
The wedding ceremony was traditionally Indian, performed by a Hindu priest, though there were some nods to a western wedding – such as Greg walking his daughter to the wedding platform. There the couple exchanged leis, which signified the “moment” they were married, though it was followed by an exchange of rings. Rebecca pointed out that an Indian wedding is typically the first time the bride and groom meet, since the marriage is likely to be an arranged one, though that custom is changing in today’s modern society.
The wedding itself was a three-day event (crammed into two days because of their schedule) with lots of eating drinking and partying, with events such as something called a “sangeet” held the night before the ceremony to honor the bride and groom with toasts and skits.
“It was all very well organized and went like clockwork,” Rebecca said.
The Bleakleys say their daughter and son-in-law met while both were on a study abroad trip for biology students in Iceland four years ago. Liz was there from UGA, while Nachiket was there from a college he was attending in Minnesota.
“We thought, it’s a long distance relationship and they’re from different cultures, it probably won’t last,” Rebecca remembers. “But we’re sure glad it did – he’s a great guy.”
“He really is a great guy – everything we as parents would want for our daughter,” Greg said.
Luckily, the couple now live and work in Atlanta, so the Bleakleys don’t have far to travel to see them.
