A friend of mine posted some pictures of a Delhi wedding he had gone to. And he like most of us is perturbed by the vulgar display of wealth in these weddings. It is not mrely too much but it is over the top and garish. It is indeed a vulgar show of wealth.
He writes a very amusing analysis and says this is Punjabi capitalism. He goes on to say" In 1993 when one went to Kerala the Malayalees were cribbing about the tyranny of the "punjabi suit" ! In Saharanpur an ex-Naxal said that we can defeat American imperialism but we have no answer for homegrown punjabi imperialism - circa 1989 ! Globalisation and Punjabisation have gone hand in hand - and crass post-partition Delhi rootless punjabisation is the new "centre" , mixed with UP/Bihari upper caste arrogance and Haryanvi Jat blustering attitude, with a dash of Tamil/Andhra brahmin intellectual teflon-coating. I meet all of these on a regular basis . The really rich Marwaris keep a low profile , as they are the old rich and now global players. This last elite is being threatened by a new emergence of the regional business/Private Equity/Media/ OBC and Dalit politician funded property and business groups. Delhi is the city of eternal power struggle."
Not that I fully agree as I see weddings being expensive everywhere - in every culture and religion, whether it is of Kate or of Prince William or of our own home grown punjabi Indian. Weddings are about joy and celebrations and it is ones own prerogative to celebrate it the way one wants to....
And a typical Delhi wedding is not a typical punjabi wedding anymore as Punjabis are now less than 10% of Delhi's population , UP/Bihar is the new majority. NCR would have a population of almost 30 million now. MCD with 18 million is now the biggest municipal corporation in the world beating Tokyo.
But off late lot of people root for a simple wedding a lot but I would prefer to wait and watch to see how they would celebrate their own or their children's wedding...
Some of the most interesting must have in a typical north Indian posh wedding as are as below:
Sanskrit mantra chanting young pandits
Foreigners dresses as Indians - whites are passe, blacks are in
Film style Camera
The traditional drum beaters wearing very bright brocade clothes
regional cuisines like kashmiri tea
women bartenders and kitsch bars in the party
women photographers
local tea man
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