It has always been chubbier than its western counterpart – but today the fat Indian wedding has taken a turn towards obesity

ONE FINE steaming summer night deemed to be astrologically sound for weddings, an estimated 30,000 weddings took place in Delhi. I took on the Herculean challenge of attending as many as I could. I was going to be the ultimate gatecrasher. In the span of one night, from 7 pm to 3 am, I was able to cover 32 weddings.

I went from Rajouri Garden to Tivoli Garden attending a heady mix of sangeets, cocktail parties, and wedding receptions from across social strata. At all functions I was welcomed with open arms usually by a family member of the bride or the groom, and not once was I asked how I was invited. My goal with my massive gatecrashing effort was to understand how Indian weddings are being celebrated today, and what changes have taken place in India Shining.



My nuptial journey began at home. I spent the day sifting through wedding albums of my own family members – sepia-coloured photos of my parents’ wedding 33 years ago, my father and my ghunghat-clad mother, fuzzy blackand-white photos of my shy, nubile grandmother and stoic grandfather who were meeting for the very first time on their wedding day. I sat down with my mother and aunts and asked them what their weddings were like, and how they were celebrated. I knew that they grew up and lived in decidedly simpler times, but I was struck with the level of transformation between now and then. The traditional Indian wedding that I studied in the photo albums, and was told about by my mother, grandma and aunts, had morphed into a creature of hugely disproportionate, almost unrecognisable dimensions.