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An Indian dad speculates on the multi-cultural wedding his daughter might have - and derives much fun out of it!
Every time my elder daughter travels to one European nation or another, one of the many things that she tells me is, “Dad, the men here are so good looking, I must marry one of them!” I don’t know when she is joking and when she just might be serious, but then she is self-willed and will do as she pleases.
She has said this about the Romanians in Bucharest, the Austrians in Salzburg, the French in Paris, and the Germans in Munich. Just the other day she called from Copenhagen, “Dad, these Scandinavians are so good looking, there ought to be a law against them. I’m going to marry a Scandinavian!”
I quickly delved into the WWW (the last refuge of the ignoramus) to find out which countries form the Scandinavian region. The WWW told me that in the strictest sense, the monarchies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden are Scandinavia, but Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Islands are also sometimes included. That set me searching online atlases, and I researched on wedding traditions in these countries- the marzipan ring cakes and the gates of honor for the bride in Denmark; the three bands on the wedding finger of the bride in Sweden- one representing the engagement, another representing the wedding and the last one representing motherhood; and finally the accordion music and the round ring with no beginning and no end representing never-ending love in Norway. I haven’t yet ventured into wedding traditions in Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Islands, for the simple reason that all my research might be futile in case she ends up with someone from Romania, Albania, Italy or her own home country of England, or from some other country she might decide to visit!
So engrossed was I in researching the wedding traditions of these far off lands, that I momentarily forgot what my future European son-in-law would look like sitting on a horse (or is it a mare?) in all the glittering finery of a Punjabi wedding, surrounded by delirious dancing relatives of mine, band-baja in tow. What if my Malayalee wife decides there must be a traditional Malayalee wedding where he must wear a mundu (a tricky dhoti like garment worn around the waist)?
My mind boggles at the thought- A Scandinavian wedding followed by a Punjabi wedding followed by a Malayalee wedding; and imagine my grandchildren (though my daughter says she doesn’t want kids)- Scandinavian-Punjabi-Malayalee!!
My thoughts turn serious- no wedding tradition in the countries that I have mentioned talks of dowry; instead I found this touching tradition in Sweden where the parent’s of the bride practice an old wedding custom. Before their daughter leaves for the church to be married, her mother gives her a gold coin to go in her right shoe, and her father hands her a silver coin to be placed in her left shoe. This way they know she will never be wanting for anything.
Sons-in-law are not regarded as incarnations of Lord Vishnu, to be showered with gifts and to be placed on pedestals; I found all wedding traditions in these countries balanced, and not weighing in favor of the bride or the groom or their families- and that is where equality in a relationship begins.
To end, both my daughters enjoy exasperating me (the elder one knows her announcements of intent of marrying someone or the other do exasperate me), mostly to see what they call “the look” on my face, and the last birthday card she sent me said:
I’ve driven you nuts, I’ve turned you grey, I’ve made you proud, I’ve spent your pay.
I’ve stressed you out, I’ve hurt you bad, I’ve made you laugh, I’ve sent you mad.
I’ve given you smiles, I’ve made you sob… …coz I’m your kid, And that’s my job!
I am a former bureaucrat, and have worked a lot on gender issues, disaster management and good governance. I am also the proud father of two lovely daughters. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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