Hyderabad: There has been persistent demand from the Muslim reformists that the community should shun ostentatious celebration of weddings but hardly anybody paid attention to their call. But the sudden onslaught of coronavirus has forced even the elite, upper and middle classes to hold what they are unabashedly calling “simple” events related to marriage.
Since the arrival of the dreaded virus some three months ago, first it was a period of lockdown where organizing events was no, no. Even when the government has relaxed timings, the shine on weddings has not returned.
According to knowledgeable sources it would at least take six months for people to hold functions at scales as they had desired, wished or hoped for.
Leave alone wedding parents are not able to organise small birthday parties for their little ones because “parents of their friends and classmates are declining the invite to join the celebration.”
Some people in Hyderabad believe that the season of ‘Band, Baja and Baraat’ in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Telangana is over. All affected parties say that the government lockdown guidelines do not allow hosts to invite more than 50 guests. So where is the fun related to weddings and related events. “The life has become fun-less,” thanks to COVID.
People also rue that multiple functions like maanjhe, haldi, sanchak and Nikah which is followed by in the next few days chauthi, walima followed by five jumagees which are held on five Fridays.
These events, except a simple Nikah ceremony, have become ‘past glory or past celebratory events.’
Wedding have been postponed
Given the situation, many families have put off indefinitely wedding of their wards.
Sadr Qazi Mohammed Yousuf Uddin, Qila Golconda and Muhammad Nagar said, “About 80 pc of weddings in the city have been postponed. The remaining weddings are taking place among both the poor and rich sections of the society.”
This he believes is a blessing in disguise for the less fortunate sections of the society. “The wedding events which were a burden for them earlier have now become largely affordable,” he opined.
Meanwhile, Sadr Qazi Khadar Ali, of Shah Ali Banda area believed that of the 20 pc weddings that taking place five pc belong to middle and and the remaining five pc to the rich class.
Those who have been badly are the Gulf NRIs. For them there are two reasons. One that in the countries where they are working lockdown has put a halt to journey outside the country. And two, they do not wish to organise events that cannot be properly celebrated.
Weddings on mini scale
The city has more than 2000 big and small function halls where wedding are organized. Most of these function halls have been closed down due to the epidemic. With almost no business, the owners of these function halls are almost crying.
The major wedding dress malls like Kashish and Zooni, among a host others, are wearing a deserted look. Many of these shop owners said, “Every year the wedding season which begins following Ramazan Eid would draw thousands of buyers to our shops. But now during the entire week we are witnessing only a couple of dozen buyers. The trend is to buy less expensive dresses.”