At the end just a wedding album

Poonamjot Kaur Sidhu

MY wedding was everything that I ever dreamed about, courtesy my father. He did not say no to any of my demands; never has. Now being a qualified, financial independent and working mother, I am mortified at having made those demands. I ask myself if I really needed a seven-figure wedding. It just produced a wedding album that I rarely look at.

As per unofficial reports, a typical upper class Punjabi wedding has a budget of Rs 1 crore. Even the middle and lower classes, willingly or unwillingly, spend between Rs 10-30 lakh on a wedding. Is it really called for? 

Currently Punjab is embroiled in several predicaments, ranging from drug addiction, unemployment to suicide by farmers. Among other factors, somewhere our existing flamboyant culture is also responsible for these problems. We waste food, litter environment, cause noise pollution and squander money on lavish weddings to please people who, in turn, have to organise similar extravaganza to live up to a certain “standard”.

As per the 2013 NSSO report, an astounding 53.2 per cent households in Punjab had an average loan of Rs 1,19,500, which, according to current surveys, has escalated. Debt income ratio in Punjab was determined at an alarming 96.77 per cent by CRRID.

A survey carried by three universities of Punjab for 2014-15, funded by the Indian Council for Social Sciences and Research, Chandigarh, has assessed the total farmer debt in Punjab at Rs 69,355 crore and an average debt per household at Rs 5,52,064. It ascertained weddings as one of the avenues in credit utilisation of this debt.   

There exists a societal implication to weddings, wherein people try to keep up their pseudo representation in society. Borrowing from agriculture limit for weddings is a common practice in Punjab. Weddings should not be used as a yardstick to measure one’s financial abilities. The same finances should instead be used to build the future of those getting married, in the form of a house or future security. 

We can take a cue from our immediate neighbour — Punjab province of Pakistan — which has passed a law banning public display of dowry, restricting the number of dishes served and a restraint on fireworks at such events. We make this society, and if we try, we can redefine these norms for a better future for all.