All About Indian Weddings

Reading the Sunday edition of the various newspapers is a real delight because of the sheer variety of the articles that get written. Although its layout (atleast in the online form) may not be great, the New Sunday Express continues to be one of my regular reads.

Indu Balachandran writes about the various customs and practices that dot the traditional Indian wedding and also tries to compare the rituals and ceremonies that are peculiar to the different states and communities.

Today, Karan Johar and Yash Chopra seem to dictate much of how we conduct our weddings — particularly lavish ‘designer’ tamashas — and purists will lament that it is getting increasingly difficult to tell a Madrasi kalyanam from a Punjabi shaadi.

All over India, the ‘arrival of the groom’s party’ is a common cause for great flurry amongst the family of the bride—often the starting point of all rituals. But the journey itself is quite momentous—and very different in the North and South. While the Northern groom arrives on a horse, his Southern counterpart prefers horsepower—usually a borrowed 1942 open Cadillac.