For most people in India this is the ideal wedding:
More than ten thousand people gather in one of the most fabulous places on the planet to witness the union of two people. The bride and the groom. The bride and groom, who are the most beautiful people on the planet that day, arrive followed by a procession, adorned in the costliest and most beautiful dresses and in front of an admiring audience profess their love. Then they all eat the most ambrosial ( meaning delicious, fancy word for fancy wedding ) food and then they dance and have fun.
But this is the reality:
The one day when people spend the highest amount of money in their life with nothing in return……absolutely nothing in return…..
A day when u meet people whom you have never met before….
A day when thousands of people eat the food that YOU paid for without giving a heck about what’s happening….
That’s the wedding day !
The serious side of that single day:
A panel on India’s Dowry Prevention Act, follows a UN report which identified India as the world’s most dangerous place to be born as a girl. Why ?
Estimated eight million female fetuses were aborted - meaning killed intentionally in India in the last decade ? again why ?
Because of family fears of high wedding costs - sometimes up to ten times their income.
Result : 943 females per 1000 males. Which means 57 men out of a sample 0f 1000 men will have to end up being bachelors for life.
Almost every family in India goes into debt because of a wedding and they spend more than 10 years paying off what they spent on a single day. That is messed up.
Now, that is messed up !
Now, its easy to say things are bad, because its like noticing people openly urinating in public or littering for that matter. Noticing doesn’t do much, other than making you feel nauseated. But the difficult part is stopping that, changing that. Now how do we do that?
" You can change reality by bringing a change in the fantasy "
One of my favourite authors Ayn rand wrote a book called “ The fountain head “. It tells the story of Howard Roark, an architect who loves modern architecture and believes in buildings being simple and serving a purpose rather than looking fancy.
Ayn rand has so captivatingly presented the story that people have fallen in love with the idea of modern architecture to the point that they started craving it. So when you instill an idea such that enough people fall in love with it and start practicing it, it becomes a tradition.
And so I propose the idea of a more realistic….economically feasible…and most importantly sensible version of the Indian wedding.
How does it go ?
The two most important people bride and the groom will be present, but in sensibly dressed clothes. What do I mean ? Let me illustrate :
Instead of buying a 10,000 rupees saree, buy a 2000 rupees saree and invest the 8000 rupees in buying a gym membership and eating healthier diet, because at the end of the day the bridegroom doesn’t care about how costly or how beautiful your saree is….only you do….shocking but true….
And Men I understand its your wedding too…but nobody cares about your looks, not even you…so don’t buy expensive suits…but probably buy a blazer which you can use later too….
Guests :
Everyone in the whole wide world is invited. Yes! But anyone who wants to attend the wedding has to give a prior notice that they are coming and that they are willing to pay for the food that they are going to eat which is fixed by the bride and groom. So the wedding card (which will be an e-card) will also have the menu. It’s the same way you book a table at a restaurant that offers a standard buffet.
So that ensures that the ones attending your wedding will be those who believe you will pay to witness their wedding as well or they really care about you or are too impressed by the menu.
Now what do we do with the saved money? Buy a house or invest in the education of the children.
Now what if you have too much money? Donate it so someone who doesn’t have a house so they can buy one or better still donate it to a rural school so the kids there can have better education ?
Now if you ask me – Can we do this? My answer would be: There is no doubt that we can do this. When we can pull off weddings that cost 10 times our income, can’t we arrange something that costs less than one tenth of that cost? Surely we can
But the question to ask is – Do we want to ?
I know I want to – and when enough people want to – it becomes a reality
So That is my IIM – Ideal Indian Marriage
and you are all invited. Please pay for you food and come prepared for a table topic session where you will talk about the bride and the groom.
Thank you !
No comments:
Post a Comment