They say that marriages are made in heaven! The cliché may ring true for couples who took the nuptial vows, but definitely not for the guests who braved to visit packed marriage and function halls in the city on Sunday.
All the marriage halls and ‘gardens’ in the capital were brimming with marriage crowd and so were the streets and main roads with vehicles. The terrible road conditions in the city because of the rains further made life hard for everyone.
With no other ‘auspicious’ dates available for marriage till October due to ‘Adhika Bhadrapad Masa’, Sunday was the last day to get married this season. Monday, August 13 is also an auspicious day. But because of the notoriety of number 13, a majority decided to schedule marriages today itself.
The day turned out to be rather traumatic for families and general commuters. Thanks to the slew of marriages, Sunday also witnessed heavy VIP movements, as Ministers and MLAs criss-crossed the city to attend them. With traffic police clamping down restrictions during VIP movement, several pockets witnessed traffic gridlocks.
A majority of function halls, contrary to tall claims, do not have enough space for vehicle parking. With little space left, vehicles simply were parked along side the main roads and interior colony roads.
This triggered massive confusion, as vehicles struggled to exit and enter the parking lots, resulting long lines of waiting vehicles along main roads near the marriage venues.
“It took me 30 minutes to get out of this mess. There is no parking space inside the function halls and they simply parked the cars along the main road. There is no free space for general commuters like us. It is a holiday and we hoped to catch a movie,” complained Rakshita, a regular commuter at Tivoli-Lamba theatre stretch.
Similar was the situation at other places where marriage halls are highly concentrated. Some of the areas where families suffered most include Champapet, Karmanghat, Dilsukhnagar, Sikh village, Secunderabad, Bowenpally, Tadbund, Nanalnagar ring road among others.
