Partytime!

Not for us, mind you...but in India, the months of november and december (and february, I am told) are months of weddings and celebrations! A wedding in India is not something to be taken lightly; astrologers are consulted to determine the perfect day for the wedding, bestowing the maximum amount of happyness, luck and good fortune for the couple - and in february there seems to be a day on which the moon and stars are so perfectly aligned that 40.000 weddings are planned for that day!
The average amount of guests attending an Indian wedding (of wealthy Indians, that is) is app. 1000 -1500 people - elephants are involved, as are white horses, a live band or dj, fireworks and the occasional helicopter. In order to fit so many people in an open space, the so called "Partyhouses" were established, where huge gardens accomodate all those that wish to celebrate the occasion.

So a partyhouse is a house with a big garden where party's can be held....like the one we are living in...or the one our neighbours are living in...needless to say that there are a couple of these -illegal, but that need not be a problem- in our proximity! So at the time we are enduring loud music, fireworks and yes, the occasional helicopter. Sometimes we hear Indian music, which is quite nice, but at other times the dj is playing house-music (of which we only hear the drums) or -even worse- the occasional guest takes to singing a hymn, and unfortunately these seem to be the people that really need to take advantage of the situation as normally no-one would let the near a microphone!

We have taken to sleeping with earplugs but especially the singing seems to be unstoppable. We were explained that in India, in order to be convincing, things have to be exaggerated...loud music, loud colours, loud everything. We are now planning a party of our own and as soon as we have found a band that is willing to play Dutch folksongs (smartlappen), on a day where all stars are misaligned and everyone is resting, at a volume enough to cover the Scala, we'll hold it!