Article – Great Indian Wedding Tamasha
Indian marriages are all about ‘fun’ and ‘frolic’ , because it not just involves two individuals, but two families too, and with the families comes the whole baggage of relatives, of all kinds.
When relatives are busy feasting and enjoying, the parents of the Bride and the Groom are busy monitoring the arrangements for the guests. The people in question, that is, the ‘dulha’ (Groom) and the dulhan (bride) are no where in discussion.
From setting up the dance floor to lavish spread of buffet, it is all done keeping in mind the taste and preference of the guests.
But, the million dollar question is, will our guests, still be pleased?? Well it is definitely the responsibility of the parties concerned, but do relatives in Indian marriages have only one role to play!! and that is to complain and frown about the arrangements not up to mark.
Well if I go by the chronological sequence of events involved in our Indian marriages, especially the North Indian ones, I may end up writing up a book, but to keep the things ‘crisp and short’ I follow the random path, and I am writing what ever funny comes to my mind, while witnessing such events and celebrations.
Recently attending a family wedding, up close and personal, I picked up few points, which as a guest I would not have.
An Indian wedding is all about ‘Feasting and Fasting’, it is a feast for the guests and fast for the parents of the Groom and the Bride, as till the completion of the ceremonies, these two poor parties, who should be in celebration mode, are instead looking for the arrangements for the guests.
The guests not only come in all shapes and sizes, but also with their tantrum baggage. The whole responsibility lies on the shoulders of the parents, some decent relatives lend you their helping hands, but the ones who throw their weight around and keep complaining are constantly play a spoil-sport , as true trouble-makers. But, I guess, to achieve a smooth sailing or landing , few speed-breakers or turbulence ( trouble-makers) is a must.
Moving on, from the pesky guests, it is time for the ‘Hero’ of the ceremony, no-no it is not the Groom, but our very own Panditji (Priest), who solemnizes the marriage, well nothing can go right or wrong without his permission, or for that matter, not even right or left. He keeps us glued to our seats with his chantings, only to move our hands for taking out ‘dakshina’ (Offering in terms of money) from our wallets, which is rather, frequent in number. He truly holds the celeb status on these occasions.
For ladies it is absolutely the time of their lives , to show-off their fashionista skills, after months of preparations. They do, occasionally throw few compliments here and there , to other ladies but ‘hearts of hearts’ they know or may be assume so, that their attire and jewellery is the best.
On the other side, there can be seen, a beehive like formation, but the only difference is, that, this beehive instead of containing honey has the ‘liquid-gold’, around which our men folk are buzzing like the bees.
As more booze flows in, the dance-floor gets flooded and becomes the hot-spot, as the numbers start swelling up, with young to old, from uncles to aunties all exhibit their dancing moves, even if you are with two ‘left-feet’, but it is an occasion to celebrate and make merry, so they make most of it, even if it is by squeezing the weaker lot of dancers or by stepping on others toes.
The beauty-parlours play a major role for the ladies in question, they are the indispensable part of such ceremonies, to an extent that, I have seen one auntyji missing the major part of her daughter’s ceremony , because of her parlour visit. The guests arrived only to realize that , the mother of the bride was missing, as she was busy getting ready in the parlour exceeding her time-limit.
On the other side we have the photo shoots going on, ranging from selfies to groupies, the bling, glitter, dresses and endless posing can put any Bollywood celebrity to shame.
By the time saat-pheras (seven vows) starts, half the guests have already dispersed to their bedrooms and remaining sleepy ones try their level best to stay awake to witness the mid-night ceremony by indulging in coffee/tea, only to realize in the morning the aftermath of these beverages, which gives them gastric troubles now.
The remaining lucky ones who dozed off in their bedrooms , only show up at the time of the breakfast.
Apart from all this, there are other sub-plots taking place, such as the groom/bride hunting for the singletons, the sessions of joining hands or charanvandanas/ paripona (touching of feet) or mild flirting by the youngsters.
The ceremonies such as ribbon-cutting, Tilak, nose-pulling of the groom, envelopes of shagun and stealing of grooms shoes adds on to the fun element of the ceremony.
Indian wedding are all about meeting with forlorn relatives of all kinds but the major attraction of the ceremony remains the ‘food-factor’ and of course the hordes of relatives who throng the stage with bride and groom, at times almost sitting on their laps, in urge of getting themselves clicked.
The louder the band plays, more enthusiastic the uncles in the Baraat become, aunties in their stilettos are no less as they equally participate. No matter how elaborate the arrangements are, few frowning faces are always visible.
Yes there are frills attached to Indian weddings, they are so grand in magnitude that even the wedding planners cannot handle.
But it is important to realize, that by the end of the day it is coming together of two families for a life -long commitment, and for that , petty issues can take a backseat. So enjoy and ignore a few.
As the Grand Indian Wedding Tamasha (drama) unfolds, it only adds on to our entertainment quotient and memories to cherish in the long run.
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