Thursday, March 5, 2009

HOLY MATRIMONY!!!!!

अरे !!!!! बारात आ गयी..............

Finally after 2 hours of delay the groom's side has arrived........

Everyone dressed in amazing bright clothes is running here and there, everyone wants to see the groom................

An inane band with the same instruments that you will see in a march-past are playing different irrelevant songs (even patriotic songs at times), a group of people in the starting full of excitement dancing their hearts out and just going nuts, some people walking at the back and sides watching these people making a fool out of themselves feeling embarrassed wanting to disown them.

On the other side all the eyes from the girl's side just looking on thinking about what they got into.........

This is the common Indian marriage......... but hold on, hold on. How did it come to be??? lets go back a little............

The guy has completed his studies and got a job now, the parents need to start looking for a girl for him. The marriage bureaus and the matrimonial sites are contacted. Ads are given in the matrimonial columns of various newspapers by the parents. Their product is now ready to be found and sold.

The girl turn 21 (the age limit before anyone can get married in India), Its time now that the parents start searching for a guy as soon as possible for the girl is getting old. The matrimonial columns of the newspapers are searched, marriage bureaus are contacted, the search is on. Alas!!! A guy is found. The photographs and the bio data with the family tree of the groom to be and the bride to be are exchanged.

The guy with his parents comes to see the girl and now begins the real fun, only for the spectators though the parties involved are very serious. The girl waits behind the curtains for her parents to call her. Finally the call comes and she picks up the tray with some snacks and tea and walks out. Now there will be a session of technical and HR interview and you thought getting a job was tough.

Finally the guy likes the girl. Now the demands from the guys side need to be fulfilled and ya dowry is banned in India so we will not use that word. Finally after the settlement is made and the deal is final we can go along and get ready for the marriage....


And now coming back....

Finally, after all the dancing and waiting everyone is inside and everyone is ready to get married....

Who said marriage is next step to love...........

And they lived happily ever after.................. or so we can hope............


The marriage is over and when you look back at it, it was one hell of a party. It was fun, it was colorful, there was not even a single point where you would get bored and most of all it was full of joy. Indian marriages might be the only one where each and every girl's dream comes true- their knight (the groom) in shinning armour actually comes on a horse and at times even carries a sword.

In every way a traditional Indian marriage looks and feels like a celebration of holy matrimony.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

quite a true picture depicted here. but you seem to be quite into bollywood movies...how many times have you actually seen a girl coming in front of the groom's side carrying a tray having snacks? believe me its not always like that.cheers

Anonymous said...

The age after which a girl can get married legally is 18 and not 21. The men can be married only after 21.

Chicky said...

LOL @ "even patriotic songs at times'!

Another LOL (even bigger one!) @ "wanting to disown them"!

And an ROTFL @ "dowry is banned in India so we will not use that word"! =))

@ the first Anonymous above: I have done that twice... carrying a tray of tea/snacks. :-) Cheers!

rae said...

Hi Mukund,
I'm always interested in learning about cultures and I do find Indian wedding very colourful (Generally I love colours, but somewhat I am always wearing black and white these days LOL )
I especially like the traditional costumes. I do find them very beautiful.

10 years ago, I was invited to an Indian wedding but today I am not sure if it is an Indian or Punjabi wedding. It was in a temple in Amritsar and I cannot recall seeing bride and groom walking around the fire ritual or being tied to each other (tied probably is the wrong word)Please excuse my ignorance but it would be great when you can explain a bit what those string and walking around the fire means....

Anyway, can you also explain a bit about the modern terms of the dowry thing? What are the common arrangement these days?

Mukund said...

Kaddu: You know at every wedding I hear the song "Yeh desh hai veer jawanon ka", for some weird reason they play this song...
I too have seen girls carrying "chai ki tray"...

rae: You must have gone to a Punjabi wedding. They have some different ceremonies.
As for dowry well we now call them "gifts"... and now that you have asked this, I have decided to dedicate a full post to it...

N said...

i dread the whole chai ka tray routine. thank god for coffee shops! :P
love your blog :)