Every cloud has a silver lining. While curfew threw life out of gear in the old city, it also turned out to be a blessing in disguise for some. Several families had to postpone the marriage plans of their sons and daughters because of the disturbances. But quite a few chose to go ahead with the ‘shaadi' – curfew or no curfew. In fact, a Hindu couple obtained curfew pass to visit the temple and tie the knot on the scheduled time.
Others were not so daring, but nevertheless bided their time. The moment the day curfew was relaxed for a few hours, they hurriedly went through the marriage. Evenings are the ideal time for marriages in Hyderabad. But in contravention of the established tradition, many families chose to hold the marriage in the day – just to beat the curfew blues. And they ended up saving a lot by way of expenditure. Function halls were cheaper since they were free with bookings cancelled. “Also there was good saving on power bills since not many lights were required in the day time”, said Ibrahim of Aghai function hall at Etebar Chowk.
The old city witnessed scores of marriages in the day for the first time. This being the marriage season, many saw no point in postponing the weddings arranged months in advance. According to one estimate, on a single day of curfew relaxation close to 400 marriages took place. Function halls at Moghalpura, Shahlibanda, Falaknuma, Yakutpura and Charminar were in good demand. “Only they had to finish off their programmes by 5 p.m, an hour before curfew was re-clamped”, said the manager of a function palace at Talab Katta. Interestingly, many who attended the marriages in the curfew relaxation period had no complaints. In fact they found it convenient to take part in the function and get away early.
ADVERTISEMENT