Since we've been here there have been five or so weddings outside our hotel. I was just returning to the hotel with a much needed glass of freshly squeezed orange juice as I noticed another function. There was the normal melee of honking horns, people standing in the street, shouting, arm waving, taxis, rickshaws and trucks. But this wedding was a little different - the men all had red and gold headgear and looked decidedly well heeled. I asked a couple of young guys (trying to look super-cool in their wraparound sunglasses which clashed somewhat with the traditional headgear) about the wedding. "It is of a high caste," they explained. "The groom will go to the wedding in the carriage to meet the bride who is awaiting him at the Taj Mahal Hotel. We will follow him, dancing along the street." This I had to see. The groom, looking a little pasty and nervous, was soon in the carriage. Suddenly a mad cacophony of music started - manic drumming, trumpeting, clarinets and other wind instruments playing counterpoint, jazz-style. Only this wasn't jazz. Man, was it LOUD. I was sure they could hear it in Darjeeling. The Hindi Band led the little parade with the men next, the gorgeously sari-ed women next and last the carriage. The band's role seemed to be to whip the men up into a frenzy of excited cavorting, while the women looked on with patient, resigned gazes as if to say, "Achah, Meena, you know what these boys are like at a wedding..." The party moved on about 18 inches while the groom looked as though he'd rather be with the rest of his mates dancing and not stuck in the carriage with all the wedding gear on. The band moved on another 18 inches. At this rate they'd take hours to get to the hotel and the bride would have given up and gone home for a nice cup of Ovaltine to drown her sorrows. I followed the proceedings for a while and could see both the groom and some of the older men (the bride's Dad perhaps, anxious to actually get to the hotel before next week) signalling to the band members to get a move on. They moved another 18 inches. Having been deafened and seen enough I headed back to the hotel leaving the wives to look on at the antics of the men which were getting up to fever pitch. I bet the wedding itself was fun. If they actually got there.