Weddings lose their sheen

Functions are either being cancelled or scaled down

Guests at the wedding of former minister G. Janardhan Reddy’s daughter at Palace Grounds, in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Bengaluru: On one side of the city, the ‘largest wedding’ conducted in recent years saw a queue of cars and people attempting to enter the extravagant premises. On the other side, Sumitra waits seemingly endlessly in a rather futile attempt to exchange money to arrange a modest wedding.

The ‘bolt from the blue’ has thrown life out of gear for the domestic worker. Just a day before demonetisation was announced, she had taken Rs. 90,000 from a money lender for the wedding of her niece in the first week of December. Now, the money is worthless.

“The family had collected money to buy saris, clothes and gold for the wedding. We had managed to save or borrow nearly Rs. 1.3 lakh. But, we can’t even spend it,” she said.

Without a bank account, and fear over exchanging such the large amount, the family has been scouring sari shops hoping to use the old currency to buy new saris. With a lot of purchases left, the families will now meet to discuss on scaling down the wedding. “We may have only the main wedding while the remaining functions will be conducted later,” she says.

Meanwhile, Rajesh Kumar (name changed) is spending his days shuttling between banks and gold shops in a race against time to raise money by November 20 for his sister’s wedding. “It has become very difficult. Jewellers shops say I can only buy gold worth Rs. 50,000 through card. But this amount is not sufficient. I can’t even borrow money from people close to me because nobody has any cash. We will have to ask the groom’s side to defer some rituals,” says Kumar, who runs a gym.

The effect of cancellations or scaling down is percolating through the wedding industry. Flower vendors, caterers who have seen significantly lower demand, labour to arrange decorations and even hotels are feeling the impact.

Madhukar M. Shetty, Secretary , Karnataka Pradesh Hotel & Restaurants Association, said that as weddings usually see bulk bookings, cancellations have affected hotels and lodges. “Business is down by a quarter. Many hotels now struggle to return the advance for bookings in new currency,” he said.

However, high-end weddings – where much of the arrangements have been made in advance through cash or card – remain unaffected. Wedding organiser Divya Chauhan said cash is used primarily to buy flowers or pay for labour for wedding decorations. “We have asked such people to open bank accounts and are managing through credit,” she says.