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SHAADI MUBARAK: One Year Of Just Perspective Special

   SHAADI MUBARAK

                                                                                 
The Hindu culture is the epitome of vibrancy. While festivals like Holi and Diwali are observed religiously there is one ritual that is celebrated with as much if not more  fervour , Weddings! The girl and boy’s family meet. The boy’s family brags about his 
many achievements and the girl is supposed to sit there amazed and in awe of the boy while secretly she is probably thinking “ what did I ever do to deserve this!” After two or three more meetings the wedding is fixed.  Now comes the mammoth task of preparing the guest list and of course your chacha’s friend’s daughter’s third cousin whom you would not be caught dead exchanging pleasantries with, will have to be 
called.  Because ..you want everyone in the whole wide world to know how lavishly you are sending off your daughter and of course they will come because ... free food and drinks. After going over the list 50 times and adding 100 more names each time you are finally satisfied with it.  It is now time to go to the local ‘mithai wala’ and buy sweets to send across with the wedding invitation. It has been a while since anyone in the family has seen the tempting face of a big fat ladoo because the elders have sugar and the youngsters have been dieting. But for the sake of the wedding and only the wedding  the whole family gulps down the whole stock of laddoos at Bikaner because they want the best for their “Raja Beta”. After traumatising the poor halwai the ladoos are bought. The wedding cards are sent out and congratulatory phone calls and RSVP’s start pouring  in.  You decide to hire a wedding planner and then all hell breaks loose. She wants lilies you want roses she wants silver tablecloths you want gold, she wants a wedding and even God does not know what you want! Roka, Sagan, mehendi, Chura, haldi.. god! hasn’t the wedding happened yet!? Let’s take things slowly, let’s start with the bride’s clothes. “So you said she wants a red lehenga which should not be too red and should lean a bit towards the pink side but not a tacky pink, a royal sophisticated looking pink but the sophisticated pink should not make it come across as she is trying to look sophisticated and should just look natural and beautiful and glamorous and stunning and gorgeous?” Yes that’s exactly what I said the girl’s mother replies to the store manager with her hand on her head. “We have just the perfect piece for you” says the store manager having rehearsed this line thousands of times before. To the horror of the girl and her mother and the amusement of the rest of the brides to be in attendance the manager brings out  a lehenga with the tackiest shade of pink. Labelling the man a lunatic the girl pulls her mother out of the air conditioned shop back to the streets of the crowded Lajpat Nagar market. After visiting possibly every shop there the girl settles on a dark red fishtail lehenga. While the girl will now go home, the mother has to join the girl’s father ( who had no interest in helping his daughter in the hunt for the perfect lehenga) at the car dealer’s because her demanding “damaad ji” desperately wants a silver grey Volvo. Confused with all the colours, the poor woman orders a red Volvo which should not be too red and should lean a bit towards the pink side but not a tacky pink, a royal sophisticated looking pink but the sophisticated pink should not make it come across as it is trying to look sophisticated and should just look natural and beautiful and glamorous and stunning and gorgeous. The bride’s parents exit the 
shop leaving behind an utterly bewildered sales man and head straight to the parlour. Now it is  time for the Sagan. While the bride and groom’s parents are worried about whether the red roses will fall from the top on time, the guests of the wedding have their own problems to deal with. “ Pammi only gave Sheela 36000 in her daughter’s wedding what is Sheela trying to show by giving Pammi 51000?” Guddu is only the third cousin if he is giving 21000 then as the maama I have to at least give 36000” 
The venue is ready,  the boy is waiting , all eyes are set on the door which has just 
opened. Out comes the beautiful bride, Din Shagna Da plays. Her eyes lock with the boy’s, and all the worries of the perfect dress and the trillion guests seem futile. The bride looks at her parents, teary eyed but with a smile on their faces and then back at her groom, his eye sparkling with tenderness and in that moment she knows that she is the luckiest girl in the world!

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