Aug 31, 2003

Worl notes

International Marrying east and west Desi weddings with a videshi touch have spawned a mini-industry in Canada By V. Radhika/Toronto

The atmosphere was businesslike. Invitations had been sent out well in advance and everyone arrived in time for the important meeting. Peering at the sheaf of papers in front of her, second generation Indo-Canadian engineer and MBA student Smita Vakil expla-ined the programme in detail to those present. She then assigned tasks to the 15 members, all of them her cousins. Using a six-page note, she instructed them on their responsibilities, allowing no room for confusion. After all, it was her wedding and Smita wanted to ensure a smooth run.

The best of both worlds: A couple being transported
in a horse carriage

Though born and raised in Canada, Smita and the groom Sumeet, an Indo-American, wanted all the trappings of an Indian wedding. So, Sumeet would ride a horse with the baraatis swinging to Bollywood music and Smita would have a mehendi ceremony and women's sangeet. That she is a Maharashtrian and mehendi and sangeet are quintessentially north Indian customs does not matter. The fusion is not limited to this. The couple will also incorporate western elements such as a wedding cake, speeches, brides-maids, flower girls, a toast (fruit juice substituted for alcohol in deference to Sumeet's parents' wishes) and a dance floor.

Welcome to the world of desi weddings with a videshi flavour. With youngsters gradually taking over the planning of their own wedding and the ceremony metamorphosing from a simple 'community centre' affair to a melange of elaborate rituals and fused tradi-tions, and budgets ranging from $15,000 to $60,000, desi weddings have spawned a mini-industry. Wedding planning is the new business mantra and wedding planners are the rising stars on the horizon.

Though mainstream wedding planning has been in vogue for some time now, it is only in the last three years that south Asians have started hiring professional services for a wedding. And the 20-something wedding planners, who claim to have a pulse on the current trends, are being sought out either to plan the entire wedding or to organise parts of it.

Says Riya Sharma of shaadi.ca, which claims to be the first wedding coordinating company exclusively for south Asians in Ontario province: "It reflects the changing attitudes of a generation. The second and third-generation Indo-Canadians want a traditional wedding but incorporate modern practices too. Being in Canada, where the dominant popu-lation is Christian, the concept of having a grand entrance with 12 bridesmaids, a flower girl and a first slow dance is a cultural thing."

The couples may not have the time to take the whole thing in their hands. "That is where wedding planners come in," says Riya. "Going to a wedding planner saves the couple time, money and stress."

Weddings have become a melange of elaborate rituals and fused traditions.
(Pic, a decorated mandap.)

Natasha Soircar, who is planning to get married this November, says she found it too taxing as well as expensive to do things on her own. "I am totally relaxed now that Riya is handling everything within our budget," she says. Having a south Asian wedding planner who is 'in tune with your culture' is important, says Natasha, who had approached a few main-stream agencies but found them too expensive and rigid.

Riya set up shaadi.ca three years ago and the idea came from the experience of organising her own wedding. "Being the only child I had to take care of everything and I felt that if such a service was available for Canadians why not have one for us too," she says. The company has brought out a wedding planning directory which has a list of vendors, hotels and banquet halls and a section on the things to do and how to do them.

A recent entrant in this market is Wedding Guru. "Our generation," says its CEO Payal Mirchandani, "wants to know what tradition means and make informed decisions." Though the wedding planning industry for south Asians across the world has picked up considerably, it is still nascent in Canada. "But the potential is considerable," says Payal.

Marriage sequences from Bollywood have only added to the colour as many brides want the ambience to be exactly as in films, complete with floor mattresses and bolsters. Wedding Guru's planner Anupama Sharma Goswami says she receives requests to arrange garba dance from non-Gujarati brides. A Fijian Hindu bride who is marrying a Gujarati boy has asked Anupama for mehendi, sangeet and bhangra.

It is not song and dance all the way for planners though. There are occasions, says Anupama, when a wedding planner has to mediate between the conflicting wishes of parents and children.

Or at times even pretend to be a "friend who is helping out". When the elders are reluctant to pay for such services the children are happily walking down the fashionable fusion aisle.

Worl notes LAOS Asia is facing a huge shortage of "billions" of condoms, which could lead to the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to the World Health Organisation. It warned that at least 30 million people could be infected in India and China by 2010. IRAQ A huge fire raged for days on a section of Iraq's main oil export pipeline into Turkey even as Iraqi engineers and US soldiers struggled to repair it. It is believed to have been set ablaze by saboteurs. LIBERIA The warring factions in Liberia signed an agreement to set up an interim government. The negotiations are designed to help form a transitional government that will take over in October and lead the country to democratic elections in two years. UNITED STATES Even as a joint US-Canadian investigation is underway on the blackout, which left 50 million people without electricity for nearly 30 hours from August 14, the focus is on how to prevent a recurrence. The long-term cost is expected to run into billions of dollars, which customers will have to pay. UGANDA Idi Amin, 78, the former dictator of Uganda, died on August 16 after lying for weeks in a coma in King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Amin was overthrown in 1979 after a bloody seven-year reign. AFGHANISTAN Suspected Taliban militants killed three Afghan soldiers in the south-east on August 18. This attack followed close on the heels of a gun battle in Birmal district, near Kabul, in which 22 people died, including 6 soldiers. The others killed are suspected of having links to the Taliban. SRI LANKA With increasing reports of indiscriminate killings and abductions of the Muslim community by the LTTE, Muslim youth are planning their own anti-LTTE suicide squads. The squads are believed to be functioning already in Batticaloa. NEPAL Mohmad Masud, a Pakistan embassy clerk in Nepal, was allegedly caught with fake Indian currency amounting to Rs 45,000. Masud was handed over to the Kathmandu district police office, but a senior Pakistani later got him released by invoking diplomatic immunity.

 

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