The card may be a small matter but its size will perhaps determine the scale of the wedding. If a card fits through your main door, then rest assured it is going to be a normal wedding.

Delhi weddings make the Olympics look like kindergarten stuff. The food counters can feed all of Africa; there is more liquor served than Vijay Mallya can produce and a thousand fragrances fill the air. Suhel Seth warms up to the coming season

This is now going to be the standard greeting for all of Delhi as we approach the wedding season. Actually, it is more the ‘weeding’ season; bachelors and young, engaging girls are weeded out for the ultimate event where they will be paraded, feted and made to put up a show which normally collapses within about three months of the event taking place. Divorce is what I am referring to silly!

There is a certain charm about the Delhi wedding. It is a spectacle that would dim the extravagance of the Pushkar Fair. It is not about a couple getting married. That, to my mind, is the most bothersome part, since you have to be nice, at least to them. What is fun is the manner in which the whole event is planned. It begins with finding the right match. That in itself involves all of society and if it is a really powerful wedding, then it may well involve re-writing the Congress Party’s manifesto, or perhaps even ensure the active participation of the prime minister. It may well lead to new political alliances being formed, but more of that later.

It is important in Delhi to have a wedding that is more heard of than possibly attended. The noise factor becomes critical and people in Delhi have mastered the art of ensuring that it is kept alive. Investigations are launched into what could be the family’s earning potential, which cars will be gifted to the newly-weds and how many items of jewellery will exchange vaults. Gone are the days when people were happy if the groom got a Maruti. Today, even before the horoscopes are seen, you can see families pouring over auto magazines and brochures to stipulate whether they want an automatic car with beige leather or manual transmission with black rexine. Depending on where you live, you will, I believe, make the appropriate choice.

Then comes the invitation. The card may be a small matter but its size will perhaps determine the scale of the wedding. If a card fits through your main door, then rest assured it is going to be a normal wedding. Anything smaller can easily be ignored. There are specialist card-designers and if you are really chic you will go to Vicky Sahni; if you are plebeian you will go to Chopra and Sons. But then this call has to be made pretty early in the day since, during the wedding season, there are almost four to five weddings per evening. Which means, in addition to the card, you also need a GPS (Global Positioning System) to navigate the journey that evening for you, as you head off to be at every wedding that you have been invited to, lest your host feels bad or you don’t get to see someone airing their jewellery. Which is what happens at every Delhi wedding.

Suhel Seth is the CEO of Equus Advertising. He is also a social commentator and writes on current affairs for several publications. He has acted in over 145 plays, done films for Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Mahesh Bhatt and is a regular on the public speaking circuit.

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