Marriages are made in heaven ….

...And confusions in marriages.

Off late I’ve attended 3 marriages and all of them have been inter caste. While I don’t usually like to use the term intercaste cause I believe the whole concept of caste is a little beyond me. Nevertheless, I would continue with the same for the lack of a better description. While marriages are big events in Indian society, they also display the complicated combinations of ceremonial rituals and social practices.

So this time around when I went for the Punju weddings – guess what! there was no Joote do paise lo, and yeah the bidai didn’t happen at 4 in the morning. While Suraj Barjatiya would surely be disappointed by the falling interests in extended wedding rituals, he is not alone. There is a Beeji who cribs that the baraat and seherabandi concluded in a hurry without completing all rites and a Paati who feels that the delay in baraat led to the shubh muhurat being lost out for her darling grand daughters wedding.

In the midst of this not so pleased elders and confused set of guests who do not know what to expect in the wedding, poor parents try to ensure that all goes well, the pandit is not pissed off for any reason and the ceremony concludes without any obstacle. But I sympathize the most with the bride and the groom who frankly speaking have no freaking idea of what’s happening in their wedding. In the entire mumbo jumbo of rituals they don’t know what comes next ! Welcome to the ceremony which can be best described as a patch work of “common to both practices” and a “must performs” for either party.

So after attending 3 such mix and match ceremonies I am totally convinced that soon we wouldn’t know how it is supposed to be. And maybe someday amidst this confusion will emerge a common wedding custom across India. Will the bride walk down the aisle in a white gown? Will the groom wear a sehera? Will they say Qubool Hai ? Will it be a 5am muhurat category or 4 am bidai category… I certainly am as clueless. But I am most certain will happen.

P.S – Don’t catch me if it doesn’t. After all they also predicted that the End is Near!

Alarming

http://www.bhopal.net/bhopalinthenews/archives/2008/04/air_water_earth.html