The marriage season is back. Few of my relatives are going to tie the knots soon. My project-work’s mentor is getting married and is on a three-week leave :) (which has given me time to write all this). Allu Arjun’s ‘Varudu’ has also been released. Irrespective of how the film is faring at the box office, it has added good amount of buzz about Indian Marriages. So, what else can now be a more interesting topic to blog about!
Right through the ages, Indian marriages have had the aura and the delectation attached with them. It’s not just the making-the-bond-moment that makes it momentous, but it’s the get-together of hundreds of relatives and well-wishers with so much positive energy around that adds charm to the event. If not for the marriages, get-together of so many people in this busy-to-survive-world of today seems impossible.
Now, what can be negative about such a positive thing? It’s the economics involved! Dismally, marriages are being perceived as an expression of esteem and status. This has been having an ill-effect on the lower-class people who tend to show a pseudo-status; and the middle and upper-middle classes who don’t take proper measures to cut down the costs during marriages. What can be said about the upper class people who are spending sumptuously crores of rupees on marriages (excluding the crores and sometimes hundreds of crores as dowries)!
The scenario has turned so bad that people are even taking loans for marriages. Isn’t marriage just the beginning of a new life? Isn’t there still a long life ahead? Nevertheless, spending money for making the once-in-a-lifetime-moment significant wouldn’t be bad unless it is an optimal spending and is done sensibly. On the contrary, a call to stop celebrating the occasion would badly affect the huge number of businesses thriving on the matrimonial industry and also, as said above, it wouldn’t give an opportunity for all the family members to meet.
Incidentally, few days back I came across a newspaper article about a marriage in Mumbai. People attending the marriage were asked not to offer any gifts or bouquets to the couple. Instead, people who wished to give something where requested to draw a cheque in the name of a social service organization whose details had been mentioned in the marriage invitation card. What a thought! Simple and innovative! Blessings from family members are always there but blessings gotten from helping someone in trouble are precious. That would have been a great start to the life for the couple!
With that said, I leave it as a personal choice for you to decide whether to follow the unconventional path for your marriage or not. And if yes, it’s still your personal choice to decide on where to cut-down the costs (lots of suggestions available on the internet, marriage agencies etc.) and where to utilize the saved money (orphanages, old-age homes, NGOs etc) to make your marriage or your children’s marriage simple and special.
