Excuse me while I entertain these people

Last Wednesday, after another hard day at the slave pit (just kidding), 10 nationalities were invited to experience Indian hospitality hands on.
Virginia Sharma, marketing manager Software Group India and her husband Sameer opened the doors to their posh Bandra appartment to show us 'Mumbai's other side'.
Virginia, Indian by descent but having lived in the US for the past 11 years, is currently on assignment from our NY office.

As experienced numerous times over the past couple of weeks, they too showed that living together with family, opening your house to friends and even strangers are a very normal part of Indian culture.
They kept thanking us for our presence while we were more than happy being invited to this lovely home with ocean view, getting stuffed with Mumbai delicacies and drinks by the friendliest caterers ever while having a great party.
Music and cricket (India's favourite) in the background.

Fascinated by a picture of two very colourful, brightly decorated people (Virginia and Sameer in wedding disguise), we convinced them to show us all their wedding pictures.
India is the country of arranged marriages and dowries but the so-called "love marriages" are gaining ground.
V&S's marriage falls in the second category.
So we got the complete 101 on Indian weddings: Celebrations filled with rituals and food, festivities that continue for several days (about 4 in their case), bride and groom first having a couple of days of parties in their respective corners, bride being decorated brighter and more elaborate than your average Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas tree, jewels being thrown all around (and at each other of course), groom wearing an impressive bling-adorned turban and arriving majestically on a white horse, between 400 and 1000 invitees at each of the
8 parties, more than 100 (!) dishes being served... quite the event.

Time flew by (that's how it goes when you're having fun) and soon our carriage morphed back into a pumpkin.
In other words: in a rick back to our hotel.