The sound of Nadaswaram still echoes…the taste of traditional banana leaf meals still titillate the tongue…the fragrance of jasmine flowers linger…the sanskrit mantras still reverberate in the mind…the fading mehendi is a reminder of the grandest South Indian wedding I attended in recent times!

This was the wedding everyone in the family had been waiting for, since the engagement took place earlier this year. And finally the D-Day did arrive!

We all trudged in dressed in the finest of silk saris and all the locked up jewellery happily on display. For two whole days…I found myself changing attires at the rate of a Bollywood film heroine. Competing with the bride herself, I thought!

From the elegantly decorated wedding hall, to the dreamy stage decor for the wedding reception to the smartly dressed hostesses in the dining area...I had much to gawk at for most of the two days!

To be honest I wanted to write a nasty post about wastage and extravagance in our weddings. It’s incredible how much food people waste. It seriously moves me to tears. But then while this DP brewed in my head and waited to be keyed in I sort of changed my mind. So I’m not here to talk about the extravagance or the grandeur of the affair. What really amazed me is the number of people involved in making this event a resounding success. Gone are the days when the bride's parents used to run around looking frazzled. Now they stand around twiddling their thumbs, looking relaxed and talking to guests like they too are merely guests at the wedding. And truly so! If you are willing to pay...everything is taken care of.

It's incredible how many wheels within the wheels there are! I discovered that a wedding is an amazing industry. It gives employment to so many people. More so now, than ever before...

• The head priest and his team of mobile-phone-chatting, pony-tailed, diamond-ear-studs-gleaming, buddies.

  
  




• The rangoli lady - who is required to come and put elaborate ‘kolams’ (as we call it in Tamil) at various points in the wedding hall.

  
  




• The background décor for the reception. The guy actually does a to-scale design of the stage and gives background options – from tacky to sizzling to modest to classy. You can choose and customize. It's akin to major events that we help organise for clients as an ad agency!

  
  




• The supplier of reception chairs. I’m not joking. There are actually options for this. You don’t have to go for the ugly red and white Jeetendra type chairs anymore! There a zillion other options to choose from. The classier your choice - the more premium it is. But then...is anyone really worrying about the price these days? The bride decides that the chair needs to match her grand reception attire...and lo behold - it does!

  
  




• The flower decorator. He will decorate the mandap and all other spots that the bride and groom are expected to grace. (like we have a jhoola ceremony – you should have seen how beautifully the giant, traditional wooden swing had been decorated. My jaws are still open from all the gawking I did!)

  
  




• The musicians who sit in a corner and scratch various body parts awaiting a signal from the priests and then they suddenly swing into action and go "pi pi pi dum dum dum" like there's no tomorrow! Incredible!

  
  




• The music troupe (either Carnatic or filmy) who sing at the wedding receptions (and yeah sadly, no one hears them). But they are there and happily add to the general din and festive mood.

  
  




• The caterer – who in turn has his grocery, fruits and vegetables suppliers. This guy not only takes care of all meals, but also handles the many little food-related things that a our weddings require. For eg. the banana and milk mix that is needed for the jhoola(oonjal in Tamil) ceremony, the paruppu thenga (lentils and coconout) cones that are kept at the mandap. The puffed rice (pori) that the bride’s brother needs to throw into the fire…and so on. It’s all taken care of.

  
  




• Also making hay while the sun shines are the make-up artists, the mehendi artists, the hairstylists and not to forget the sari tying specialists (yeah no jokes). At some weddings, I'm told, the nail artists too have a major role to play.

  
  




• Then of course there are the cleaning ladies, the watchman, the security persons and so on who ensure that you do not get robbed on the eve of your d-day!

  
  




• And let’s not forget the silk sari shops, the tailor who stitches designer sari blouses, the Raymonds or Louis Phillipe or Belmonte showroom guys who manage to make that annual sale of suits thanks to desperate grooms (who insist on torturing themselves in this sizzling Chennai weather!!) and of course the jewelery stores…