Dr Viyatprajna Acharya
Professor Biochemistry *********
On my way back after picking up my daughter from school after her examination, we got caught in a crowd. A DJ vehicle was moving ahead of us, blasting ear-splitting music and songs. A wedding procession at 1:30 in the afternoon! Seriously! That too in the month of March! With rising concrete jungle, environmental pollution Bhubaneswar is left with one season out of six i.e. Summer, one may subdivide it as mild, moderate and severe though. Now March means it was moderate summer.
On one side, my stomach was rumbling with hunger; on the other, the DJ vehicle had created a traffic jam. If a heart patient happened to be stuck behind that vehicle, he might well get a fast-track ticket to heaven! And the deafening vibrations must certainly feel as though they could rupture the eardrums of a small child.
A procession? Or a farce?
A few women from the groom’s family were walking along with their heads covered with their veils. Apparently, the groom’s friends were not around to dance. Even if they were there, who would want to dance or jump around in the scorching heat at half past one in the afternoon?
Anyway, thankfully I was on my scooter, so I managed to weave my way through and get ahead.
A little further on, there was yet another procession. Since in India, we go by our indigenous calendars, marriages are considered as sacred yajnas and are performed at specific days and time of a day, we call as tithi and it is not a mere celebration and can be celebrated on weekends or at any point of time as per our convenience. And hence you may encounter multiple such processions in a single day and all convention halls booked and beautifully decorated which becomes actually a feast for the eyes.
This time I could see a few young women walking. Every now and then, they seemed to raise their hands and dance a little. But after observing them for some time, I realised that one of the three was actually feeling dizzy. She eventually got into an air-conditioned car.
The DJ continued blasting away in its own way… and ahead of it, another group of musicians was playing the shankha and mahuri, the traditional instruments, and moving along with the procession. We Indians are stuck like Trishanku with an eagerness to adopt newer trends and struggling to save our past traditions. But in lieu of that double sound pollution!
Now for this grand arrangement, where were the people to celebrate! Reasons might be many. The groom might have more virtual friends rather than real ones, who would have responded to e-vites with long wishes on mobile phone. Or if the groom is getting married after 30, which is becoming a constant trend in India nowadays, causes being many, then probably none would have been able to come from their workplaces.
But what has happened to the youth mass that was accompanying physically?
In just 3-4 decades the entire society has become slave to air-conditioning! With all kinds of gadgets, the physical work has almost become redundant. They neither seem to know what exercise is nor walk even a few steps if the situation calls for. As if there’s a mass hatred created for sweat!
The DJ alone must have cost somewhere around ₹20,000–30,000. Who actually listened to it? Who danced to it? Yet the money was spent, purely for display and video recording and social media posting. And the sufferers? Commuters like us who faced traffic jams and incurred some irritation due to the blaring music.
Seeing such a helpless state of our younger generation, I remarked jokingly among my friends:
“Ah! If only someone would start a company where young men and women could be hired to dance behind the DJ during wedding processions. Surely people wouldn’t mind paying them a rental fee as well!”
Before I could say more, a female friend replied:
“What’s left to invent? Such companies that provide dancers on rent have already come up! They come dressed beautifully, dance for the occasion, eat at the wedding feast and leave.”
Hawww…my jaw dropped open.
Earlier, friends and relatives would happily participate in weddings of their own accord. Then came the era of persuasion, pleading and even offering alcohol to get people to participate.
Now, apparently, nobody is willing to do even that!
Everyone is excessively busy with their own lives. Or perhaps, after spending so much time in air-conditioned environments, they have simply lost the habit of stepping outdoors or tolerating the heat.
Bravo! Bravo! The band, baja and baraat!
But seriously, do we really need all this spectacle?
Unless your friends and relatives themselves request to be part of the procession, or unless you are absolutely certain that you have a large number of well-wishers who would genuinely want to celebrate with you, there is little point in wasting money on noisy, sound-polluting DJs.
There is already a beautiful tradition of playing mangal badya, auspicious traditional music, during ceremonies.
Instead, why not respectfully include shankha-mahuri musicians and pay them well for their performance?
When in today’s marriage ceremonies I see friends coming down for the celebration and participate whole-heartedly, I feel those bride and grooms are really fortunate to have them around and definitely in future these kids have a smooth societal relationship and few may prove as leaders too who know how to get up from the couch and come for real help.
Coming back to Band, Baaja and Baraat- let the musical procession begin at the entrance of the wedding venue itself, rather than taking it onto the road. That way, there will be no unnecessary traffic jams and no mechanical noise pollution caused by DJs.
May all be well.
॥ ଶୁଭମସ୍ତୁ ॥