Look at the happiness in the bride's face. Probably a million dollar smile that would have lit up an entire town, a la happy-dent! Poor Father of the Bride, his bank balance would have been a zero single after the wedding. Gold mines are aplenty in India, especially in the God's Own Country. God has probably blessed his own country more than the others with gold mines! Being the world's largest gold consuming nation, we are certainly proud...We gobble up an average 500 tonnes of gold a year. It is gold for all occasions starting from New Year- a chain for New Year, a necklace for Birthday, a gold coin for Akshaya Trithya, a bangle for Diwali, a ring for Christmas- we never miss an occasion.
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| A Muslim bride- God's Own Country! |
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| A Hindu bride in all glory- Keral...ahhhhhh! |
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| A Christian Bride in the Church, again West Coast! |
Gold is something we love to boast and our families love to gloat. Our weddings are not a place to wish the couple well, we size up how much the bride is wearing. Some seniors can give any bank jewel appraiser a run for money. They can simply look at a jewel and say its exact weight and touch. I am sad, yet to master the art. Our big fat weddings are an opportunity for our women folk to display the latest purchases. The glint and gleam of their eyes on seeing the rivals' jewellery can outbeat any mental cat fight! We can hear whispers that say- "Something like this....look at that pearl set, oh...what a diamond necklace"...our peers swoon at the sight of extra-ordinary jewellery. I pity the menfolk, who try to give a tough fight to the women, displaying four rows of short chains, rings in all the ten fingers and a 3-inch thick bracelet. Poor men, they stand to lose as usual! There is no winning against our women folk...
Probably the Fathers of the Brides end up bankrupt immediately after the wedding, but the pride and ego inflation helps cushion the fall. Religion is not a hindrance here, Hindus, Muslims, Christians all try to out beat the other in this race for ego and pride. Flaunting wealth is not new to us, we as Indians are well-known in such show-off. We have the cake and would like to eat it too. Ladies, attending a wedding? Good luck then...A visit to Alukkas or Lalitha will do hell of a lot to boost your ego!
All pictures above- Courtesy Google Image search
Keralite brides are certainly heavy weight :p But seriously all that gold looks obscene, why can't the bride put her foot down!
ReplyDeleteNot all. Some idiots are. (Well....I'm from Kerala and there is no way I'm gonna wear that much gold for my wedding.) =)
DeleteDear Purba, it indeed is obscene, but putting the foot down needs lot of courage in the most literate state, as women still cling onto age-old customs and traditions and family pride!
ReplyDeletehi nive, first of all it is a common scenario in all kerela weddings. i was told that the gold used is not 22 ct.a pure gold is 24 ct. but we have to add copper in certain propotion to make ornaments from gold.the percentage of copper mix in gold is the important factor to be noted.a lay man like u and me cannot find out the percentage of mixture. wastage or 'setharam' is calculated based on this percentage of copper.
ReplyDeletei think 'kooli ellai and setharam ellai' is a false propoganda to dupe customers since there are chances that copper percentage may be more in these ornaments.but still the father of the bride is to be pitied b cos even if it is not pure gold his purse will still become empty. do u know that sex ratio for 1000 men in kerela is 1030 women. so it is quite natural that when 'supply' is less 'demand' will increase.
Thanks for your comment Ramnath. A typical economist trying to look into the problem- The Demand Supply factor! Hahaha!
ReplyDeletewhat a bl**dy waste of effort and money. What are the IT guys doing when the wealth is flaunted so unashamedly. No wonder corruption runs so deep in my country.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your first comment on my blog Mayank. I do share the same thoughts as you...IT guys are probably working overtime after the Rajas, they don't have the time to look at the Mini Rajas;)
ReplyDeletehaha nivedita i am blogging to YOU, haha.
ReplyDeleteOh Wow!!! Welcome to blogging dear Camelia:)Wish you success here too!!!
ReplyDeletehahah well written.. The plight of Kerala!!
ReplyDeleteI have written a post on the same subject...wud love ur feeds
Dear Red handed..thanks a lot for your comment. Read your post on the same subject. Very interesting;)
ReplyDeleteGolden bride :P Weighty issues.
ReplyDeleteDat much gold.....she must be weighing few tons i suppose.....will evn shame an elephant!!! Gosh luckily in kerala atleast the brothers of the bride don't have to lift her up (like in bengal) else we would have required a crane for that job!!!
ReplyDeleteSaptadeep...hahaha! Your crane comment had me in splits...too funny!!! Btw, how do you Bengalis carry XL brides???:P
ReplyDeleteomg..!
ReplyDeleteI always wonder if the bride's neck survived after her wedding :D
ReplyDeleteOn a serious note, so much gold is simply a waste of the already limited natural resource..maybe these people should pool in the yellow metal to knock off some zeroes in our country's debts....
LOL!!! Poor girls of God's Own Country:)
DeleteWonder where all the gold is after the wedding ? .... I mean common you cannot wear that 24/7/365 ?! ..Can you ?!!! ...
ReplyDeletehmm my wild guess - certainly it must me invested in chai shops all around the world :P