Wedding Packages That Kill Culture

I just returned from a Tamil wedding dinner the previous night convinced that wedding package operators and ignorant young couples and their obliging parents were willfully killing Indian culture in Malaysia.

Gone were the traditional colour associated with Indian weddings, community cooked feasts and a showcasing of Indian culture.

The tens of thousands spent on the wedding package appeared wasted on styrofoam pillars, plastic flowers and glitzy furniture and tent draping not to mention ill-conceived photo and video shoots.

The dinner held at a multi-purpose hall kicked off with karaoke singers taking the stage followed by the arrival of the bride and groom along a glass layered walkway, ushered in by a group of heavy set dancers gaudily dressed in Gujarati style costumes.

The bride and groom dressed in flowing gown and coat and suit respectively were ushered to the stage for a European style three-layered wedding cake- cutting and champagne-pouring ceremony.

The karaoke singers continued their performance while dinner commenced.

The dance group came on stage and two male dancers opened the group’s show with a shabby imitation of Bharatanatyam.

The dance group then moved on to do semblances of cinema dances.

The day before I attended the couple’s temple wedding also organised by the same wedding package operator.

The wedding package operator’s ill placed decor and the horrendous peacock dancers to usher in the bride and groom was totally out of place at the temple premises.

The auspicious time for the tying of the thali was missed by about an hour and I wonder what form of reasoning the priest gave to appease the couple’s parents.

In the Sanatana Dharma lifestyle aka Hinduism, prevention is the best cure.

Ancient sages (our early scientists) foresaw the many problems that encompass human life and implemented foolproof algorithms to offset every one of these problems.

Chief among these algorithms was the science of astrology which mathematically charts the pathway of a human being from the time of his birth to his death or release from the material body; and ultimately attain moksha or return to one’s orginal status as a pure soul situated in the spiritual realm.

In these scheme of things, an auspicious time is picked to conduct a wedding in ensuring a fruitful and happy life, taking into consideration the horoscope of the couple.

More so than choosing the suitable cosmic alignment to hold the wedding, the astrological algorithm considers the physical and psychological readiness of the couple, determined by their individual horoscopes.

The advent of wedding package operators who are hotly wooing young impressionable couples at the various wedding fairs regularly organised around the country will only see the demise of the rich traditional Indian wedding culture.

Parents should stand their ground and personally organise their children’s weddings in a traditional manner joining hands with family members, relatives, friends and neighbours.

R. Sittamparam
File photograph by Dhakshnamurti Manirajan