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The big splurge
 A big mandapam it was, jazzy stickers and banners all around. People walking here and there, pretending to do non-existent work. Children laughing and talking, and at the same time playing 'Antakshari'. Cars were there aplenty. And, yes, everybody had a mobile phone, from driver to doctor, from sweaty tea-givers to svelte tea-drinkers, and they were all talking.
Sorry if I missed out on what they were all there for: to witness two souls unite.
"Marriage is no longer a sacred ceremony in which the nuptial knots are tied, where two souls are united. It has become an event to display one's financial prowess which leaves the bride's side financially strained, "Murli Manohar Joshi said while advocating a model code of conduct for marriage.
One couldn't but agree totally with what Joshi said. Weddings have become that new fashioned thing where the whole concept is totally ignored; the guy and the girl are made to sit in traditional-yet-supposedly-cool chairs in costumes that they themselves would have not dared to even dream about, and shake hands with everyone alive on earth! Then, there's the 'kutcheri' by a famous singer, who's come there tired and dazed, and sings beautifully with not one in the crowd listening. Again, an event to display the financial prowess.
 People may argue that marriage is a turning point in the couple's life and that the ceremony holds a special place in their hearts. So why not bare a bit of your wealth on those occasions?
But just for a moment think of the poor woman with a kid trying to sell you earbuds at busy traffic signals in Chennai, and then you'll conclude that all this is simply squandering money.
Where do the souls unite? They have long vanished in the midst of suits worth 10k.
Where are the hearts joining? The hearts would have supposedly melted with the Rs 25 cup vanilla ice cream kept in the reception dinner.
Marriage - a joining of hearts? Marriage - a pre-determined merging of souls? No and no are the answers... It is just a big show of money power.
These big ceremonies do one good thing: they make people meet from various walks of life, they join old, forgotten relatives and friends, they bring back alive old nostalgic memories. Humorous enquiries like, "Remember, you used to come to our house running, clad in just a 'jetty'," from old neighbours; these are just some of the amazing things about the modern wedding concept.
It looks as if the modern wedding concept has its quota of plusses and minusses, but the negatives rule.
It's simplicity that's difficult to achieve.
Srinivasa
Ramanujam
Published on 4th Feb, 2004
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