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Big Event

A young lady in my parents' neighborhood is getting married and its the biggest celebration in their para after Durga Puja and Diwali. I know for a fact that my parents like S a lot. She is a very pleasant, easy to get along with, happy to spend time with the elderly, and is an amazing vocalist. S is only a few years older than J so that is another reason for their affinity for her. I would have expected my mother to be excited for her wedding given her closeness to the family. But she only complained about how out of hand celebrations of all kinds has grown - people just need and excuse for a shindig even while everything around them is falling apart. The ranks of the unemployed and underemployed keeps growing, the elderly are on their own without any safety net, the infrastructure is stressed beyond help and yet people are looking for every excuse to have fun. 

She thinks the world around her has gone crazy. S's wedding party has turned into a week of non-stop entertainment for all. There is a lot of food and music involved at every turn. Somewhere in the middle of all that a young woman is getting married and starting on a journey that should ideally last for life. That does not seem to be on anyone's mind - all this pomp and circumstance for the big event but none whatsoever for the wedded life. The noise and bustle of the wedding party which is on track to overshadow Durga Puja is the main story - it is how everyone will remember it in time to come. My mother says she can only be there for the key milestones that define a traditional Bengali wedding and even then not for the whole time - the level of song, dance and food involved is making her disoriented. 

She says she wishes S the very best but cannot participate in the insanity as she describes it. Next time I speak to her, I have to ask her if she is aware of anyone who is trying to make at least a partial break with tradition and going a different direction with the Bengali wedding instead of turning it into something like a Bollywood production. 

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