Join my wedding*

Hi there! Long time. How’ you been? I have been fine, thanks for asking. Well, wait! Actually, not so much. I have been avoiding people like plague. I have been frustrated about how things are turning out to be. To the collective us. I have been fighting an early onset of a midlife crisis. Mostly, I have been irritated by things I should ignore. 

I learnt today that there is a start-up that’s like Airbnb for Indian weddings.  For a small commission, this start-up acts as a platform connecting people who want to experience weddings from a different culture (limited to India at the moment) with couples looking to host such people. You pay, meet your hosts virtually,  probably meet them physically, and you can partake in a desi wedding. 

I can't help but wonder, who pays to attend a wedding?  Even in my prime days of gregariousness (let me think.. that one Saturday 4 years back, and one other time),  I would rather not attend a wedding. I mean, weddings are nice and all, but the representative Indian wedding is made up of more than dancing, flavourful food, fashionable gaudy clothes, and fancy celebrations. Most Indian weddings are made up of crippling debts, unwilling protagonists, simmering family feuds, the bawling child who slipped from a chair and hurt her nose,  unsatisfied guests and the mysterious thief who steals half a pair of footwear.

Also, who hosts strangers at their wedding for money? Definitely not people who struggle for money. The hosts are likely to be the sort of people who can afford to put up a grand show for white people seeking "genuine cultural celebration" and "immersive experiences". These are also the sort of people who put up wishlists for wedding gifts. 

Wealth begets wealth. It shouldn’t, and that’s what irritates me the most about the direction the World is heading in.

Source : Some couples in India are selling tourist admissions to their weddings (CNBC)

Image Source : http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/allwoman/I-am-getting-married-for-money--not-love_15699014

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