http://members.jacksonville.com/news/premium-news/2013-11-30/story/elephant-dancing-and-hindu-wedding-ponte-vedra?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20JacksonvillecomNews%20%28Jacksonville%20Local%20News%20-%20Jacksonville.com%20and%20The%20Florida%20Times-Union%29 An elephant, dancing and a Hindu wedding in Ponte Vedra
By Dana Treen <http://members.jacksonville.com/authors/dana-treen-0> Sat, Nov 30, 2013 @ 5:40 pm | updated Sun, Dec 1, 2013 @ 7:32 am Back Photo: 1 of 3 Next <http://members.jacksonville.com/news/premium-news/2013-11-30/story/elephant-dancing-and-hindu-wedding-ponte-vedra?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20JacksonvillecomNews%20%28Jacksonville%20Local%20News%20-%20Jacksonville.com%20and%20The%20Florida%20Times-Union%29#1> [image: Deepak Dugar arrives at the TPC clubhouse aboard Tiny the elephant. Dugar's Baraat, the groom's wedding procession, was accompanied by friends and family members dancing along the way. Deepak Dugar married Puja Roy in a traditional Hindu ceremony at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday. BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union]<http://members.jacksonville.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/superphoto/12866168.jpg> BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union Deepak Dugar arrives at the TPC clubhouse aboard Tiny the elephant. Dugar's Baraat, the groom's wedding procession, was accompanied by friends and family members dancing along the way. Deepak Dugar married Puja Roy in a traditional Hindu ceremony at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday. The distance was short but the trip was long, with music, dancing and “I love Puja and Deepak” sunglasses. ------------------------------ *SLIDESHOW: Baraat at TPC Sawgrass <http://members.jacksonville.com/slideshow/2013-11-30/baraat-tpc-sawgrass>* ------------------------------ It took half an hour or more for Tiny — an elephant — to carry Deepak Dugar across a Ponte Vedra Beach parking lot Saturday to meet his bride. In wedding suit and headdress called a pagh, Dugar and Tiny inched along amid a crowd of family and friends waving hands and stepping high in a style of Punjabi dance called bhangra. Sometimes the procession that symbolized travel across India stopped altogether. The music and dancing never ceased. I.H. Surati, a guest at the ceremony, stood to the side in the Tournament Players Club lot and watched. “That’s for the young people,” he said. Tiny, a 31-year-old, 7,000-pound elephant who lives near Orlando, didn’t wear any of the many-colored sunglasses Surati and other participants donned, but Abdul Rahman Hashimie did. A dancer with a University of South Florida group called Bull Bhangra, Hashimie liked the style. “This is so cool,” he said. “I hope we get to keep them.” Arriving at the entrance to the club, Dugar met Puja Roy’s family, where his shoes — pilfered the night before — were returned in what was more tradition. Until the Hindu wedding ceremony that followed, Puja Roy was waiting inside, not to be seen by Dugar. The couple, both 29, began planning the wedding in March 2012, she said Thursday. In a traditional Hindu marriage ceremony, the groom travels from his city to the bride’s in a procession called a Baraat, entourage in tow, often riding a mare. “We were lucky enough to find an elephant,” Roy said. It was Dugar’s first time aboard one. Tiny arrived late Saturday morning, said Cyndi Benzel, the wedding planner. She has used Tiny before, she said. Tiny is no newcomer to Hindu weddings. Though bride and groom were born in the United States, she in Jacksonville, and he in Beaumont, Texas, both sets of parents are from states in northern India, Dugar said Friday. Cultures and traditions in the states of Rajasthan and Bihar are similar, he said, which simplified the wedding planning. About 300 were invited to the ceremony. Both bride and groom have been to India separately but not together. They are planning to make the trip as man and wife next year. They met during undergraduate medical studies at George Washington University and are now at UNC Hospitals at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where Dugar is in residency as an ear, nose and throat specialist. Roy is there on a fellowship. She will be an anesthesiologist. They are planning to move to California to practice medicine. It was all in a day's work for Tiny, back at the Players Club. After Dugar dismounted, owners Tom and Franciszka Liebel led her away, then let her give free rides to anyone in the parking lot who asked, including Benzel and her crew. -- With best wishes S Chander -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
