It is clearly the mating marriage season right now. Everyone and their cousin is getting married; including some of India's top celebs. Deepika Padukone married Ranveer Singh quickly followed by the Priyanka Chopra- Nick Jonas nuptials. On the heels of these two celebrity weddings came yet another wedding announcement: that of badminton ace Saina Nehwal. Here is why I think Saina Nehwal's wedding is the most inspiring among them all:
They are both badminton players and have been involved since 2007. For Saina, now is the right time to get married. Two simple cards were shared on social media by a Saina Nehwal fan page which announced a reception on the 16th of December at a hotel in Hyderabad.
The date was chosen because it was the only one that both busy players had free on their schedule. There was no time for a big lavish event, and the two will tie the knot on 14th in a registered marriage.
Actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh recently got married; a desitanion wedding at a beautiful spot in Italy amidst high security. There were days of celebrations and two different wedding ceremonies as well as two separate wedding receptions in Mumbai and in Bangalore.
In yet another high profile celebrity wedding, we had Priyanka Chopra marry American pop star Nick Jonas at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. Here again we had days of celebrations, with two different wedding ceremonies and reception as well.
Both the DeepVeer wedding as well as NickYanka weddings made it a point to have two religious wedding ceremonies each. All the signs of the marriage Indian woman – the sindoor, the choodas and even the ghoonghat were very much in evidence in the wedding photos.
The hyphenated pairings - DeepVeer and NickYanka were both high profile and high publicised. There was clearly a lot of money spent on the days of festivities at destinations that were clearly obscenely expensive. All the outfits were designed to be stunning and clearly no expense was spared. That was clearly the big fat Indian wedding in action for all to see and be envious of and feel inadequate about.
Marriage is a joyous occasion and everyone has the right to celebrate it in any way they want. But to my mind, the simplicity and straightforward nature of Saina Nehwal wedding with her longtime beau is inspiring. It sets a great example. In a country like India; obsessed with marriage celebrations and making an over the top show; this was a good message to send out. The DeepVeer and NickYanka weddings were of a piece with so many other Indian weddings that try to outdo the other in terms of opulence, amount of money spent, number of guests invited and number of days of celebrations.
Sure everyone has a good time, but that is a lot of money to spend on what is essentially a great big party. In India, where so many incur crushing debt just to keep up appearances at weddings, avoiding huge celebrations would be a welcome social change. Also in a country currently so divided along religious lines, overt shows of religiosity are always better avoided. Hopefully more Indians – like me – will find Saina-Kashyap more inspiring that DeepVeer and NickYanka?
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