A Wedding Ceremony

The man standing in this picture is Dr. Kamal Raj Sharma. Dr. Sharma is one of the key team members that helps put on HBB training. Both of his daughters are doctors and he has a son in medical school. And we think we have a smart family! Dr. Kamal invited the American HBB team members to his oldest daughters wedding in Kathmandu the day after we got back from HBB training in Chitwan. This picture shows Dr. Kamal co-conducting the HBB seminar. He does it in Nepali to make sure that the students understand. Even though most of them are proficient in English this still helps for them to hear it in their native tongue.  He has become a good friend.

Dr. Kamal's second daughter is Dr. Anu (Annupama) Sharma. She is very bright and very pretty. She is one of our very best HBB instructors. This picture shows Anu training HBB students.  

This picture shows the beginning of the parts of the ceremony that are done in the presence of fire. In this part of the ceremony the bride and groom make vows to each other. This is done underneath a canopy. The canopy is set up in a large banquet hall.

This is a picture of the bride and groom coming to the ceremony. They have already done the first part of the ceremony where the father gives the bride to the groom. Both the bride and groom are physicians. The groom is starting a residency program at Texas Tech.

This is a picture of the Hindu priest who is officiating at the ceremony. He is a good humored and highly respected man.

Just like in the USA, the Nepali wear their very best clothing to a wedding. This little girl was wearing a daray ramro poshok (very nice dress).

This is Dr. Anu all dressed up and looking very beautiful.  She was the maid of honor and helped her sister in many ways. One of the things that Anu did was act as the repository for small cash gifts that were given to the bride during the ceremony. Friends and relatives would hand the bride envelopes containing small amounts of cash during the ceremony. The bride would then hand the envelope to her sister, Anu. Anu put them in a purse. I would trust Anu with my money also.

This picture shows the bride and groom sitting under the canopy in the presence of the fire. This was an arranged marriage although the bride and groom had met professionally  prior to the arrangement. Arranged marriages seem to work as well or maybe better than what we do in the USA.