Brazen display of wealth

The dandy drone cameras, extended photoshoots at various locations, thousands of prospective guests including who’s who of valley, paying a hefty amount to singers both folk and light catering to all tastes, costliest possible bridal attire that would be equivalent of half lifetime savings of an average Kashmiri – welcome to the big fat Kashmiri weddings. They are happening now and people are brazenly exhibiting their wealth paying no heed to how it may affect the downtrodden sections of the society. What is worse is that every aspect of this massive spending is posted on social media leaving a lot of have-nots in a perpetual state of sadness and alienation.
There are destinations weddings happening, weddings at wedding venues within city which charge hosting charges that range anywhere between ten lakh to fifty lakh rupees, weddings where a bollywood fame beautician comes to doll up the bride and her chums and close relatives – this beautician can charge anywhere between three to ten lakhs excluding the to and fro air tickets. A popular video on social media showed a bride wearing a bridal dress which cost five lakh rupees, another shows a bride wearing a dress double that cost. Social media has played a big role in spawning these big fat weddings. Mainly popular with the populace in neighbouring Punjab, Haryana and Delhi the elie in Kashmir try to imitate the grandeur they see in these weddings and try to create a Kashmiri equivalent of the same.
According to a recent survey about fifty thousand women in Kashmir have passed the age of marriage, many thousands are at the cusp of going past the age of marriage.The main reason are that the parents cannot afford the money required for this kind of pomp and show and at the same time are unwilling to take route of simplicity. The other main reason is that the young men of the valley are without any jobs. The government job advertisements are far and few nowadays and the prospects of launching one’s own business is also diminishing as the days pass. We have men in their late thirties still thinking what to do with their lives, just passing days waiting for a miracle.
Even though many religious and social organisations have come forward to highlight the importance of simple marriages. However, the shamelessly brazen display of wealth at these weddings leave a domino effect which is hard to tide over.