Weddings and more

Weddings galore - the one that always catches my interest and never fails to amuse and amaze me is the traditional Hindu wedding. I have attended quite a few - from uncomplicated, sophisticated ones to the obscenely extravagant ones. Its the second category that has proved to be the irritant and inspired this post.

Man, weddings have evolved and how! Evolved would not be the right word, it has rather mutated itself - from simple amoebic proportions to a monstrous high maintenance beast. The way it stands today; it is an arena for blatant, brassy show of wealth. Read somewhere about choppers being used to shower flowers and fragrance on the wedding crowd! Reminded me of all the drought stricken farmers who would have been sky watching waiting for baby food and water to be dropped. The saddening irony is that the impoverished Indian farmer is gullible enough to consider it as a Godly miracle.

The bride and her trousseau is surely an eye-catcher; thanks to the garish get up. The day is not far when one may have to wade through gold and gold and more gold to reach the bride. She stands there, saddled with the heavily brocaded Saree and tons of yellow metal in all sizes and shapes - thanks to its malleability and ductility. It is true its not the bride, rather the shine and amount of the metal on her, that gets noticed. My personal view is the bride should deck herself up just enough to look the prettiest, so that the ornament becomes a jewel; so that the bride becomes a jewel (not a jewellery store). In the southern most tip of India, south Kerala, strangely majority of the population is schooled enough to know the repercussions of dowry and its trade. They make sure the bride is covered up in gold and try to legitimize it under the 'wedding-ornament' banner. Smart! The more, the merrier. At the end of one such wedding, one feels the need to resort to Ostrich like behavior-- Ostriches stick their head into sand -- as the realization dawns about the demoralized, hypocritical social strata. I have seen the sparkle in the eyes of many a groom's family as they speak of the tonnage of the bride. The sparkle of triumph; the sparkle of lust; the sparkle which says ''yippe- hoo, my boy has brought home more than yours".

This is the Indian middle class who are yet to draw the line between classy and tacky behavior. For them, wealth has started trickling in. The inherent muddle of complexes forces them into such buffoonery. Not to fret, hope - the phoenix - is still alive. In the midst of this menagerie, there are people who are not prey to such 'all and sundry' behavior. They either have been rich through generations (and are too used to luxury so do not feel the need to flaunt) or are plain believers of "the simple living and high thinking" philosophy. Not sure whether you have noticed, it’s this category of people who always make a difference, who are the trend setters, who define the extent of modern outlook of India. It is through these people we all want to project our country to the rest of the world. My dear Fashionistas, as we know (you sure do if you live in a metro), its sexy to be metrosexual and make a difference. Who doesn’t want to be sexy? ;) Join in.