R. Venkatanathan’s cousin got married to a local American early June. He and his family were present for the wedding celebrations which coincided with the T20 Cricket World Cup in the US and an India-Pakistan match. Here is his story
A cousin who lives in New Jersey was getting married in early June this year to a local American. The programme had a full-blown church wedding, sangeet, a traditional Hindu wedding at the Akshardham Temple in New Jersey, and a few other social functions. It looked promising, especially being held in New Jersey… so off went me and my family.
We decided to spend a few days in New York City before heading to New Jersey for the wedding. After a long 19-hour non-stop flight from Singapore, we checked into a hotel in the Times Square area in midtown Manhattan in the morning. In order to avoid jetlag, we stepped out rightaway, determined to stay outside the whole day. While booking the hotel, I was aware there was Bryant Park nearby, and so there we went. It turned out to be an absolute gem. I had been to NY City several times over the years, most often staying in the midtown area, but somehow had never heard of this place. It was a green oasis about 200 yards square, with two walking pathways all around.

World Cup announcements.
The usual bunch of coffee shops and bars and restaurants around the periphery drew crowds throughout the day, especially that it was early summer weather. There was table tennis with racquets and balls provided (free), a reading area that had a few shelves filled with an assortment of books you could pick up and read, seated in the chairs provided. Board games such as chess, a knitting area, an open space for petanque, ice-skating in winter and music performances were some of the other quirky features of the park.
Times Square was its customary bustling self. What caught my eye on the huge neon billboards was the regular announcement of the World T20 cricket tournament – I had not expected to see a cricket billboard in NY City. Arrangements were also being made to screen the matches live in Times Square. We walked around the area quite a bit, even at night after watching Hamilton in one of the Broadway theatres. During my first trip in the early 1990s, my colleagues in NY had warned me against going near 42nd Street which was deemed unsafe. But now, things had changed for the better. We spent a lot of time walking around in Central Park, always enjoyable in fine weather. Walking back along Fifth Avenue, we found many tourists taking a picture of one of the buildings – it turned out to be the Trump Tower.

The church wedding was at a small seaside suburb called Spring Lake in New Jersey. With a population of less than 3000, it is supposed to be one of the prettiest towns in New Jersey, with a long boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also called the Irish Riviera due to the high percentage of Irish Americans who live there. In addition to the boardwalk along the Atlantic, the town has a few small lakes, which makes it a walker’s paradise. With only close family members present on both sides, the church ceremony was quite intimate, and the atmosphere serene. It was held on a balmy Saturday afternoon which made it possible for the wedding party to spend more than an hour outside the church after the wedding to take photographs.
The same evening was the more boisterous sangeet (an evening of dancing and music with family and friends), with enthusiastic participation from everyone backed by Bollywood and bhangra songs. Between the various wedding-related activities, I had to take sneak peeks at the India-Pakistan match, as did most other desis (Indians) on the groom’s side. The result of the match added to the festive atmosphere.

The Hindu wedding the next day was at the Akshardam Temple. The temple complex is humongous in size, about 175 acres, and is the largest mandir in the US (and the largest outside Asia), the carpark being a good 10-15-minute walk from the main entrance. The baraat (groom’s procession) made its way through the carpark before entering the temple. Inside, the marble in the temple structures looked awesome and stood out. The temple has become quite a tourist attraction with visitors of all races being present in numbers. The ceremony was held in the traditional Hindu way, with the priest also translating in English for the benefit of the bride’s family. Luckily, there was no India match that day. A pure vegetarian Gujarathi lunch rounded off the wedding in style.

We then went to Boston for a few days and had a weird experience on the train back to New Jersey. We had booked the ticket from Boston to Newark Station as our friend we were staying with lived close to Newark. When we alighted at Newark Station, however, there were no exits from the station platform to flag a cab or Uber. After several attempts to locate an exit, one of the station staff told us we had to go through the Newark airport in order to exit. There were quite a few passengers like us who were caught napping. And so, we took the airport train and got off at one of the airport terminals and eventually found our way out in the open.
(The writer works for an international bank in Singapore and enjoys travelling.)