The Big Fat Indian weddings have been famous and notorious
all over the world for being beautiful and mind-bogglingly expensive. They are
pompous, extravagant, have lots of unnecessary trappings and are, as mentioned
before (bordering on the obscene) expensive. But it is all in the name of
tradition. One can put the blame on the endless line of predecessors who
thought fit to celebrate their union by throwing insane parties that lasted
anywhere between three days and a week. Inviting people from all corners of the
empire/country to gape in awe at the kick-ass way they could afford to feed a
host by blowing up all their life savings in one huge bash.
But weddings are seldom recognized to be what they may or
may not have originally meant to be, that is a gathering of the community,
meeting and reminiscing about what has happened and the opportunity to meet new
people and develop contacts with possibly related or similar minded people over
long distances. After all, that was a time when the word communication meant
travelling vast distances and meeting up with relatives only a few times in
many years.
But today, though there may not seem to be a difference in
Indian weddings, I feel there are subtle changes taking place within the
mindsets of people. There are several factors contributing to the change in the
wedding scenario in today’s world, I've tried to bring up a few here.
First of all, is the factor of cost. With democracy and
taxes and inflation, the expense incurred in marriages have risen up
exponentially which means that the more people one invites, the more their bank
balance dwindles. Everything, ranging from taxi rent, hotel bookings, the
pundit/priest, the halls and food have prices shooting through the roof. Then there
is also the cost the bride’s father has to pay to get his daughter married. Arranging
a wedding, decorating a girl in gold, bestowing lavish gifts upon the groom and
feeding an army can certainly be a tad expensive.
The second factor is that of communication. In today’s world,
in contrast to yesterday’s, is the benefit of greater communication ability. One
can talk and meet people with anytime with those once magical instruments
called the “flying chariot” and “akaashvani.”
It is unnecessary and also virtually impossible to invite all the people
you know because due to technology today, one may have contacts with millions
of people around the world. So unless one is the sheikh of someplace or owns
maybe a dozen oilfields, so many people cannot be invited.
The third and last factor affecting the Indian wedding is
the change in generation and hence the evolution of thinking and freedom from
age old traditions that bound the older ones. The Indian society is subtly
changing, independent thought processes are getting bolder and are gaining
impetus largely due to the social media and interaction with people in other
parts of the world. The present Indian youth seems to be distancing themselves
from their culture, not in a way that is defiant but in a way that promotes
rational thinking and gives rise to the freedom of thought independent of their
parents and grandparents. Marriage has no longer retained its traditional
meaning today. Anybody can and possibly will marry anyone they want. They might
also feel it was a mistake and marry again. Orthodox thinking today is making
way for the future in which everyone is a master of one’s own fate and is
hardly if ever controlled by others. Now if you’re going to marry more than
once, can you afford that bash again? Because your parents sure can’t.
Note: This is the author’s personal view and has been
written with statistics in his own head. He has merely written what he has
observed in his surroundings. If one holds a different view, the comment box is
begging for your thoughts.
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