Snehlata spent the better part of Saturday calling up friends and relatives to inform them that her daughter’s wedding has been postponed. The ongoing lockdown has put a damper on their plans.
“We had scheduled the wedding on Akshay Tritiya as the three-day period is considered auspicious... I was hoping against hope that somehow we would be able to go through with it,” said Snehlata, a senior bank official in Delhi.
“My daughter was ready to go ahead with10 guests, as per the government order, but the groom’s side did not agree,” she said, adding that they had booked a banquet hall and paid ₹1 lakh in advance. “Now, the manager is requesting us to reschedule the wedding after the lockdown ends,” she said.
With the Uttar Pradesh government extending the ban on public gatherings till June 30, marriage plans of thousands of families are in the lurch while the big fat wedding industry is bracing up to lose some of its mass.
‘Can’t afford salaries’
Vivek Mohan, a caterer who runs a banquet hall on lease, said the lockdown will cause high unemployment. “Ours is a seasonal industry. What we earn during the season, we spend for the next four-five months. After June, the auspicious dates are in November. I can feed my permanent employees during the lockdown but I will have to take a call on how many I would like to retain once the lockdown ends. I cannot afford to pay salaries for six months without work,” he added.
The farmhouses on NH-9 and Delhi-Meerut Road host lavish weddings during the season.
“They take bookings for minimum 500 people. I do not think even after June, the government will allow such large gatherings. Many of them will have to shut shop or turn into smaller banquet halls. My halls were booked till May 8 but all the events have been cancelled. This will affect caterers, flower providers, bandwallahs, as well as the jewellery and clothing industries,” said Pawan Singhal, who runs one of the biggest banquet halls in Modinagar.
The priests too have not been spared grief. “With temples in residential complexes shut and weddings postponed, the pandits are suffering,” said Surendra Sharma, the head priest of a temple in Ghaziabad’s Raj Nagar Extension, which was sealed after two residents tested positive for COVID-19.
“The RWA president issued a letter that I would be held responsible if people assembled at the temple, but nobody asked me how I will make ends meet during the lockdown or who would clean the temple or perform the daily aarti,” he added.
“I still have some savings, but what about priests in rural areas and small towns who depend on what they get from yajman (host) from day-to-day rituals,” he asked, adding: “Unlike other daily wagers, pandits are not trained to do any other job and their social standing does not allow them to do menial jobs,” the priest added.
