By Venkatesh Raghavan
When tying knot became a dull affair
Mumbai city was forced to retreat and turn into a silence zone with marriages that permit playing of instrumental music and drums on the open streets leading to the Hall or Pandal being cancelled or indefinitely postponed. This owing to the crisis precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the case typically, with a few exceptions like in the case of Sushant Dang and Keerti Narang who made their guests including film celebrities participate in their online wedding. The couple tied their knot over the web with all their cousins and kin dancing and taking part in the celebrations that got live streamed. While the online thing may not get very popular anytime soon, there is also recall of the Ambani family’s Akash-Shloka wedding which hosted a special festive celebration for India’s armed forces and the local constabulary in the city. There was also the feat where helicopters were used to mark a special wedding moment in the Wankhede stadium that runs nearly three decades back. The memory lane trip also does recall the Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal wedding in which guests were invited to a private function at their Worli Sea Face residence.
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Nearly three months after the lockdown was announced the government marginally relaxed rules, stating marriages will be permitted subject to the condition that there are no more than 50 persons attending the function. This however, was a no-goer as most Mumbaikar weddings among the business community prefer to adhere to lavish taste and display of status with a huge guest list.
Says Agrim Shah who was slated to attend his friend’s wedding that was scheduled to be held at a wedding hall, on the eastern part of Mumbai on June 15th: “The wedding date was fixed soon after the engagement that took place in December second week of 2019. As the lockdown period continually got extended there was a lot of tension in the air. Finally, in the month of May, both the families of the bride and the groom decided to call it off.”
If this was a cause of concern for families intending to tie the knots, there were also a host of people, living in residences adjoining the marriage hall who expressed a feeling of relief. Paresh, living near Nappoo Hall in Central Mumbai said, “We got welcome relief from the noisy wedding ceremonies with loud music bursting out on the streets. Even vehicular traffic congestion that used to result from the massive crowd presence on the streets have become a thing of the past. The marriage season might pick up only after the state government relaxes all restrictive norms owing to the pandemic situation.”
Apart from the discomfort arising due to the bar on tying the knots, the marriage halls too were faced with a crunch situation. Their revenues had dropped to nil and they were forced to maintain and regularly pay for the upkeep of their premises, hoping for their rainy days to come to and end. Says a hall owner near the city’s sea front “The maintenance and upkeep of such a huge premise is no easy task. For nearly two months after the lockdown was announced, the cleaning staff including sweepers could not turn up because of stringent curb on travel guidelines. We are still facing problems due to the government diktat that the wedding or reception that gets hosted should not extend beyond 50 attendees. It’s a very irrational restriction given the lavish and elaborate culture being observed in Indian weddings.”
People from the neighbouring satellite town of Navi Mumbai too, complained about the lack of venues and catering facilities that had resulted from the pandemic. “There were instances where the locals from our area used to hold their weddings in suburban Mumbai marriage halls due to their spacious premise and adequate availability of social infrastructure. For the past seven months, with no signs of let up either here or in Mumbai city, all match making activity has ground to a halt,” said Suresh Nair, a resident of Sanpada in Navi Mumbai.
In suburban Mumbai too, extending from Bandra to Borivali or Sion to Mulund, all match-making activity had ground to a halt. Middle-aged Anil Chandnani living in Ghatkopar said in jest, “I have no idea about how people who have fixed their marriage dates in consultation with their astrologers react to the situation precipitated by the pandemic. Maybe there will be a push for quality astrologers who are able to foresee and accurately predict such emergency situations.”
However, it’s not as though no marriage took place in the interim period from March 24 till middle October. There were a few instances of love-marriages taking place in temples with bare minimum attendees. For the couples who underwent such marriages, it was more about putting a seal on their long courtship period and blissfully entering into matrimony.
With empty marriage halls and impending gloom of severe restrictions on number of attendees in the near future, Mumbaikars who are used to celebrations and music in the midst of their busy city life are looking forward to restoration of normalcy.
