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| A Tale of Indian Weddings! |
Last week, we were flooded with news alerts from multiple apps on my mobile phone about a high profile event in India. We are sure it would have been the same for many others who have news apps on their mobile devices. Last week was all about a celebrity event - the wedding of Anushka and Virat. The event ran like a dream sequence from a big budget bollywood film - pre-wedding gossip about the couple tying the knot, the actual marriage itself with the couple wedding in Italy, followed by a honeymoon in Europe and post wedding reception in Delhi and Mumbai et al. The marketing machine was at its best! It was highly opulent with much wealth spent and it appeared that everyone seemed to be talking about it only. Even more interesting was the fact that not only general news like NDTV but also business news such as Economic Times were covering it though we fail to understand how this could be the subject of business news but then we have never been really wise to understand such things.
Sometime back, there was another highly publicised and opulent event of the wedding of Gali Janardhan Reddy's daughter. For those who may not be aware, Janardhan Reddy was a former BJP minister and mining baron in Karnataka and apparently spent Rs.500 crores on the marriage.
It is quite saddening and painful to see such lavish display of wealth by fortunate families on these and other events especially in a poor country like India where every day, millions of our brethren do not have the bare necessities of life like food, clothing, shelter, education and health care. Such stark display of opulence looks obscene. May be in richer nations like America, this may not feel so awkward or blatant but in India it does. Remember how Vijay Mallya paraded his wealth... How wonderful would it be if the rich, famous and powerful were to be more responsible and make a difference positively in our country. We are not saying that they do not have a right to spend their wealth as they wish but it would be nice to see India shift in a more positive direction through social responsibility. This is not to say that there aren't such people. There are many wealthy families who have been circumspect and considerate in the way they conduct their family events in our society.
One such standout was another recent wedding of the daughter of a businessman from Aurangabad district of Maharastra. This gentleman Manoj Munot and his daughter Shreya are something for India to sit up and take notice! These are the stories that should be widely covered by all media! Anyway, this family while performing their daughter's marriage did something that was not normally expected in the culture of the ultra rich - They celebrated the event by gifting 90 houses to the homeless poor (albeit with certain filtration). Manoj's decision was well supported by his daughter Shreya who said she considers her father’s decision the biggest gift for her wedding.
That is something to mull upon for everyone... if our family events could be inexpensive and the wealth saved could be spent on helping people who are far less privileged than us...
What do you people feel about all this. Do let us know in your comments.
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