Marriages may be made in heaven or hell; but there can be little doubt that contemporary Indian marriages have the unabashed blessings of Adam Smith, the 18th century economist who sort of gave birth to capitalism. Money is the real glue that now binds the great Indian wedding together. It can be
money spent on getting a premium listing on one of the matrimonial websites that have catapulted the traditional ritual of finding a life partner straight into the Cyber age. Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com have replaced the neighbourhood uncle and aunt who earlier performed the delicate dance of facilitating legalised mating. Of course, for the more popular newspapers, matrimonial ads are still a huge source of revenue. In fact, the matrimonial ads reveal more about India and Indians than all the other news pages put together. If you come across words like ‘innocent divorcee’ and 'early, decent’ marriage; rest assured that monetary transactions of substantive nature are lurking round the corner. Money is what the parents of the bride often cough up for the “happiness of the daughter.” People simply it dowry; scholars from JNU see no dialectical contradiction in raining fire and brimstone on ‘greedy capitalists’ and receiving a hefty dowry once they win a lottery called the Union Civil Services.
In the garb of ‘maintaining tradition’ and ‘upholding their status in society’, Indian parents throw more money during weddings than a gambler does in a rigged game of teen patti. Wads of cash go to a printer. After all, invitation cards have got to rival a product brochure of Gucci or Kingfisher Airlines. In the good old days, people like you and me used to automatically become volunteers to erect pandals, arrange chairs and tables, hustle the ‘cooks’ and act as an amateur bunch of waiters during the traditional wedding feast. But modernisation has taken its toll and ‘caterers’ have replaced the volunteers; five star hotels have replaced the playground nearby. Obscene amounts of money are spent on flowers; on giving ‘gifts’ to relatives of the groom; return gifts for relatives of the ‘bride’ who turn up for the wedding reception and to assorted pundits and other factotums without whom an Indian wedding would be unthinkable. Then, of course, there is the ceremonial parade of the groom sitting on a tired mare that trots ahead while the rest of his entourage follows. They dance to loud music on their way to the venue.
By the way, there is also a fresh dimension of fat cash added to the Indian wedding: fees for the divorce lawyer!
money spent on getting a premium listing on one of the matrimonial websites that have catapulted the traditional ritual of finding a life partner straight into the Cyber age. Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com have replaced the neighbourhood uncle and aunt who earlier performed the delicate dance of facilitating legalised mating. Of course, for the more popular newspapers, matrimonial ads are still a huge source of revenue. In fact, the matrimonial ads reveal more about India and Indians than all the other news pages put together. If you come across words like ‘innocent divorcee’ and 'early, decent’ marriage; rest assured that monetary transactions of substantive nature are lurking round the corner. Money is what the parents of the bride often cough up for the “happiness of the daughter.” People simply it dowry; scholars from JNU see no dialectical contradiction in raining fire and brimstone on ‘greedy capitalists’ and receiving a hefty dowry once they win a lottery called the Union Civil Services.In the garb of ‘maintaining tradition’ and ‘upholding their status in society’, Indian parents throw more money during weddings than a gambler does in a rigged game of teen patti. Wads of cash go to a printer. After all, invitation cards have got to rival a product brochure of Gucci or Kingfisher Airlines. In the good old days, people like you and me used to automatically become volunteers to erect pandals, arrange chairs and tables, hustle the ‘cooks’ and act as an amateur bunch of waiters during the traditional wedding feast. But modernisation has taken its toll and ‘caterers’ have replaced the volunteers; five star hotels have replaced the playground nearby. Obscene amounts of money are spent on flowers; on giving ‘gifts’ to relatives of the groom; return gifts for relatives of the ‘bride’ who turn up for the wedding reception and to assorted pundits and other factotums without whom an Indian wedding would be unthinkable. Then, of course, there is the ceremonial parade of the groom sitting on a tired mare that trots ahead while the rest of his entourage follows. They dance to loud music on their way to the venue.
By the way, there is also a fresh dimension of fat cash added to the Indian wedding: fees for the divorce lawyer!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
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