Even though majority of people have heard and read about lavish Indian marriages through reports and pictures on page 3 of newspapers and articles in lifestyle magazines, Sakshi Salve’s “The Big Indian Wedding” (Rupa publication) gives a first-hand account of what actually happens behind the scenes and on the street among the crème de la crème. The marriage processions or baraats are getting longer with booze flowing freely. The procession is not only followed by mobile DJ but also mobile toilets.
Having attended such larger-than-life weddings and been in-charge of entertainment on eight occasions, entailing writing script to emceeing to ensuring entertainment of guests, egged her on to pen down all her experiences and observations. “The objective was to take my readers on a journey and give them a glimpse of what goes on amongst this 0.1 per cent of the population that I am talking about. It’s the evolution of the Indian wedding conveyed with lots of humour and a strong message in each chapter,” explains Sakshi.
The basic statistics and facts in the book are an eye-opener for the reader. For instance, the Indian wedding industry is estimated at 38 billion US dollars and growing at 25 to 30 per cent every year with the average middle class budget for an Indian wedding estimated to be 34,000 dollars and that of upper-middle and rich go above one million dollars.
Sakshi’s narrative encapsulates all the functions associated with pre-wedding to the actual wedding, including bachelor’s, the bachelorette and the youngsters’ party to ceremonies like haldi, tika, sangeet and mehendi among others. Written in an easy and simple style it is a fun read. Laced with humour, she makes some pertinent observations in the book like: “I am perplexed by the approach that values surnames more than personality, a bank balance more than credibility, and clothes more than character.”
Comments the writer, “Marriage and love are not what they used to be. Weddings are not what they are meant to be. Materialism and a sense of superiority have replaced genuine heart felt emotions. The sanctity of the union of two people has been replaced by the need to flaunt one’s wealth, position and power.”
Weddings and funerals have since time immemorial proved back-breaking for the common man (depicted often in yesteryear Hindi films). “Sadly, in this country there is a lot of pressure on the girl’s family to have a big fancy wedding and foot the bill for all the groom’s side demands. I think that is the main reason why weddings in all strata of society have taken this leap towards a super ostentatious celebration,” Sakshi remarks.
Were those depicted offended by her book? Sakshi replies, “No, thankfully no one (that I know of) has taken offence. Whatever I wrote about my sister was approved by her before I sent off the book for printing. The stories are of course a bit exaggerated to make them more fun and interesting.”
