Decked in Gold?

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Ghaziabad: I was doing my normal rounds of jogging (all right I am not a regular) in a nearby park in my locality. While returning, I chanced upon one of the more garrulous uncles’ of my colony, who decided to accompany me on the way back. Well somehow the conversation drifted to marriage (don’t know why, but people have a habit of talking about your marriage as soon as your elder sibling gets married). So here goes uncle, explaining with great gusto about a grand wedding that he was a part of. The groom, a doctor was given a Fortuner while all the baraatis were given silver key rings, the food was majestic and the decorations were mind blowing. This continued for another 10 minutes, the final conclusion being that it was a marriage to remember!


                                         
                                            Photo Courtesy: www.divorceindia.org

Then suddenly, the conversation shifted to the demon called “dowry”, still prevalent in all parts of India. So now we have the same person, talking how evil this business called marriage has become, and he recounts the troubles that he had to go through while getting his daughter married. Then, personifying a consummate politician, he says that he expects nothing less than the greatest marriage arrangement for his son, currently an 18 year old lad.

So I see the same person, fully aware of the evils and demons, having actually experienced it, saying that dowry and the money involved in marriages is such a bad thing, and yet looking forward to a grand wedding, with the greatest pomp and show. I mean it is strangely funny, when you are actually expecting to see the bride decked in gold, a four wheeler waiting outside the marriage hall and the exorbitantly expensive return gifts for all the guests. So what people want is that they want to drive out dowry and still somehow be able to say, “Bhai gajab ka arrangement tha!”
I leave the question to the new age adults, do you really want to drive away this dowry demon from our country, or are you still someone who looks forward to a wedding, with a bride decked in gold?


Think about it… 

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