This story first appeared in News18
Weddings are a celebration of love, companionship and happiness and fucntions like mehendi, haldi and sangeet aid this philosophy
It’s the wedding season, and functions like mehendi, haldi and Sangeet are fast becoming a part of all cultures. Whether it’s a Parsi wedding or a Bengali wedding, these happy congregations of jolly people to celebrate the bride and groom are special and are fast becoming popular with all.
Meet Anoushka Ghosh and Rituraj Sarkar, who opted for the entire shaadi paraphernalia. Their family members rehearsed and performed on stage for the first time.
Speaking to News18 Anoushka Ghosh says, “Everyone had a great time, from young people to our grandparents. Since, this was family gathering we wanted to make it enjoyable for everyone involved.”
Rituraj Sarkar, feels such marriages become more cinematic. “We have grown in a cosmopolitan culture so these functions become a platform to showcase our upbringing, our social circle and ideologies. A wedding means celebration and amalgamation of different cultures is important.”
Suparna Ganguly, one of the attendees at the wedding, says, “We have never performed like this. Usually it is the Aiburobhath (It is simply the Bengali’s bachelor’s party where the groom and bride dress up and get to eat a whole lot of items.) one day before the marriage, but we did things differently. We performed and really enjoyed.”
Sarkar and Ganguly are not the only ones, many Bengali families are resorting to having dance performances, mehendi night before the wedding.
Mehendi ceremony started 4 years back in Bengali weddings. And now, no wedding is complete without a mehendi function. Interestingly, Gae Halud (Haldi touch), a Bengali ritual has also been replaced by just ‘Haldi’ ceremony.
Anindya Saha, wedding planner, says, “The culture shift is visible. Almost 50 to 60 percent of Bengali clients now want Mehendi, Sangeet and Haldi, and all Bengali rituals too. Clients want phoolon Ki holi just like in movies. Instead of Rajnigandha garland they have started preferring orchids. Obviously, it’s a non-Bengali cultural addition but most of them do it for enjoyment.”
Weddings are a celebration of love, companionship and happiness and fucntions like mehendi, haldi and sangeet aid this philosophy. Bengali weddings too are seeing this cultural shift and these functions are here to stay.