Superstar India Excerpts - 4

Extravagant weddings are such a collosal waste—why not give the young couple a better start to their lives by giving them money instead of an elaborate mehendi-sangeet reception with a cast of thousands of strangers? Big weddings are a nightmare—people come, people eat and drink, people leave, people criticize and people forget. All that effort, planning, anxiety, insecurity, spread over months, goes straight down the tube. A few years later, something goes ‘phut’ and the marriage is called off. But does that matter any more? Last week I received an elaborate, gold-edged invitation to a beautiful young woman’s third wedding! I was bothastonished and delighted … why not? Here’s a gal who refuses to give up, like Liz Taylor. She obviously loves getting married and wants each wedding to be extra-special, with all possible trimmings in place. This is the new India—nobody blinks when the bride says, ‘I do’ for the third time, surrounded by the very people who’ve attended her previous shaadis. She invites former husbands and countless exes who show up sportingly to wish the newly-weds. This is not a Bollywood script. It is happening… and if some sour-puss aunt does not approve … well, she needn’t join the party!