Recently, I attended a wedding, where the getaway car was a white Rolls-Royce Ghost. Taken from a car rental firm, the machine made the event suitably grand. A few days later, I happened upon another wedding car that was on hire. An old Esteem modified to resemble a cabriolet, this one clearly occupied the other end of the spectrum. It’s a car meant for those organising their nuptials on a shoe string, but want to make it memorable, nevertheless. Well, rich or poor, everyone wants to drive to their wedding in style. Earlier, they drove decorated horse carriages. Now, they go in cars that are rare and striking.
Over the last decade, in India, wedding cars are marked by greater variety, with the millennial generation (those born after 1980) particularly patronising the latest and extremely luxurious. However, one category of cars is still found in good numbers on the Indian wedding circuit — convertibles. Across brands, they seem to be doing very well in our country. Iliyas Basha owns an Esteem and two Premier Padmini cars that have been modified, to resemble cabriolets, and he still finds regular business with these three machines. There is a drop, but it is not significant.
“Many a time, friends and acquaintances have sought my guidance on where they could find a cabriolet for a wedding. A close friend’s son got married last year in Oman, and they had a vintage Bugatti cabriolet for the Baraat ceremony. Indians continue to be drawn to cabriolets because, traditionally, the Baraat involves a groom perched on a horse. And newly-weds may also travel in an open-horse carriage,” says Manoj Lulla, founder and chairman, Madras Exotic Car Club.
Until a decade or two ago, modified sedans would regularly be pressed into wedding duty. “In the 1960s, a red Chevrolet Impala cabriolet was the ultimate wedding car in India. If that was not to be found, Impala cars with their roofs lopped off and converted into cabriolets would be used. When Impalas became scarce, Heralds with hacked-off roofs took their place. Then converted Premier Padminis were in the spotlight,” says C S Ananth, restorer of vintage and classic cars. Thanks to the red-Impala craze, all the rest of the cars for the next decade or so were painted over in the colour. Jugaad at its best!
- Wedding rings, continuous with no beginning and no end, symbolised eternal love to the Romans and Egyptians who used precious stones as well as silver and gold in their rings.
“There were a few original cabriolets that were celebrated on the wedding circuit too. One of them was a white 1951 Hudson convertible, bearing the registration number MSZ 3232. It was owned by Lena Chettiar, who would not offer this car on hire, but give it to his friends for their weddings. This Hudson figured in many choice weddings,” says Ananth.
And, when it comes to superstition attached to wedding cars, Chechnya races ahead of the pack. Almost always, motorcades in Chechen weddings are involved in a crash or a pile-up. Cars in the bridal motorcade vie with each other to take the spot right behind the bride’s car, because that is believed to bring them good luck. Law enforcement officers often take kindly to this unruly road behaviour, because it has the protective cover of tradition. And, can anyone argue with tradition and superstition? YouTube shows the tradition in all its graphic vigour.
Superstition may defy rational explanation, but once it becomes a part of tradition, it begins to occupy an absolute acceptance. This is particularly true of the tradition of tying shoes and metal cans to the rear of a retreating wedding car. This tradition is traced to the Tudor dynasty of England — back then, shoes were probably tied to horse carriages carrying newly-weds. It was believed to keep evil forces out of the couple’s life.
Many other theories have been put out to explain this practice. Harry Oliver has come up with a few explanations for this practice in his book, Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers: The Origins of Old Wives’ Tales and Superstitions in Our Everyday Lives . According to one of his explanations, this practice could be an offshoot of the older practice of shoe-throwing at a wedding to determine who will tie the knot next. When they are part of wedding rituals, they make the beginning interesting and memorable.
