Hindu Wedding Customs in India : Interesting indeed!

I have attended countless weddings back in India, I don't even remember how many. Here in Singapore, I don't see people inviting very distant relatives for marriages.. So at the age of 20 a person might not have attended more than a few weddings. That's not the case in India. People invite far distant relatives and friends for marriages. For me, attending every single marriage was a new experience.

I have some observations of my own, about Indian marriages, specifically about South Indian marriages as I am from South India. In the last few years marriages in India had many changes in its rituals and customs. When I was a kid, I remember that most of the marriages were happening in temples or in the bride's home. A now-a-days wedding happens only in Auditoriums of various sizes. The reason is the tremendous increase in number of invitations for every marriage. Sometimes I feel that it is very unnecessary to invite such distant relatives and end up with 5000++ people for a single wedding!! In old days, there were only few people invited for every wedding, mostly less than 100-200 people. The positive side of this is that marriages are mega events for families to meet and get to know about each other.

Another interesting thing is the “Arranged Marriage” system. More than 80% of Indian weddings are arranged by parents. These days, things are changing at least in Metros and Cities, but majority of Indians are living in villages. In the place where I was born, “Love Marriage” was seen as a bad thing. Only recently things have changed a bit. Some people start accepting “Love Marriages”, but only if the boy and girl are from same cast, and family background. Interesting isn't it?? “Dating” is a thing that is not accepted by most of the Indian Societies. 

Do you know that many young people were murdered just because they love someone??? Many movies were made related to this subject. When a Hindu boy love a Muslim girl, the Muslim girl's parents murder the Hindu boy, and in return the Hindu boy's parents murder the Muslim girl's parents or siblings. Don't get excited or exaggerated. I am telling things that happened many times in real life even recently. Even many riots originated because of these kinds of events. When I think about it, I am always frightened. I always pray to the GOD, “Oh GOD, Please, Please ask them to stop these cruelties.. Please make them consider everyone as human beings.. Please let people love each other without any race barriers..” . Well seems like I ended somewhere far from the topic I started! That's all for today, I will continue on Hindu wedding customs in my next posts. 

Signing off, Sarika