In a clear night, the full moon in a starry sky found itself competing for attention with events taking place on the ground. The slow beat of the drum gathered quickly in pace, as a gaggle of around a hundred people formed a procession that would pick up speed. A combination of young and old, children and a few stray dogs made up the ‘barat’, which in Hindu weddings forms the short journey of delivering the groom to the house of the bride for the elongated marriage ceremony.
Supporting the family and friends were what can best be described as an army of revellers, musicians playing voracious drums, saxophone players, flutes, kept in a line by men holding long umbrellas dressed in fragrant jasmine to provide scented aromas in the clear night. At the front there was a vehicle packed with speakers, blazing the latest Bollywood hits, releasing fireworks and confetti into the open sky. The procession picked up speed, the drums beat harder, the music louder, small bottles of spirits were shared and the dancing became frenetic, more so than perhaps anything you may have seen elsewhere in the world. Arguably, if you have not been part of a Barat, you have not lived and the drummers below played a beat so hard and intense that it was impossible to stay still.
There are of course a number of similarities today, as there was in the first Indian wedding I can recall nearly forty years ago. The ceremony still starts with Mendhi, with several artists plying their artistic talents on the palms and forehands of the ladies, who then wait for hours for it to dry, as they enjoy a catch up and gossip. But there was of course a major difference too, in the weddings of my childhood, the star attraction was always the ice cream stand, which served slabs of Neapolitan (vanilla, strawberry and chocolate), with hordes of badly behaved children pushing against one another to get served. In fact, it is memorable that in the 1980’s and 90’s, up to half of the attendees were under 16, with younger adults making another 40% and very few elderly. This reflected the youthful demographic make up of the country back then. It also illustrated the lack of electrification in large parts of India, whereby like an unfaithful girlfriend, it was possible to have electricity today, but not tomorrow, making the running of a freezer at home and thereby ice cream an impossibility. Weddings of the day were accompanied by a massive diesel fueled and very noisy generator.
So much has changed since then. In the present day middle-class weddings, there is a stark difference – with very few children, almost all of them sans siblings, attached closely to their parents and of course phones, whilst bearing very serious expressions. In their place there is a massive bulge of attendees in the 20-45 age group and this time it was the bar serving whisky that was the star of the show and the ice cream stand stood lonely in the corner. In many countries, this is called the demographic dividend, where there is a huge working population and relatively small numbers of young and old dependents. Key here is that the economy runs on consumption and the more people working, the more they consume, the faster the economy grows. India boasts being the fastest growing major economy today and is likely to be so for the forthcoming decades. A growing portion of this spending is driven by weddings, with around ten million expected each year, it’s a dream for the domestic economy, all over the country.
The next fundamental change from 40 years ago, was the dance floor and in particular, who was on it. India recovering from a thousand of years of colonization had maintained a patriarchal system, whereby the role of women remained limited. From my perspective and rather strangely, the best way to think about this is to compare it with Spain and in particular during two distinct periods of their history. The first being in 1492, following the fall of the 700 year Islamic rule, the country began to forge its own identity (somewhat brutally) and the second in the 1970’s, following the death of the oppressive dictator Franco, when Spanish women were able to do the same. India is doing both at the same time, after close to a millenia of foreign control, things are changing very quickly.
To understand the structural form of oppression, a look at the architecture of ancient Indian homes, such as my grandfather’s, display a curious layout, whereby women are allowed to roam freely in the inner courtyard, but not the outside. The two being separated by an imaginary purdah (the Hindi word for curtain), which has thankfully been removed. Alice Evans the Stanford academic explores this beautifully in her article: https://substack.com/home/post/p-151563705
From memories of early weddings, the mother of the groom and female relatives would not attend the ceremony, never mind dancing in the Barat, whilst taking vodka shots with their male cousins. On the dance floor above, as the beats of Honey Yo Yo Singh (famed Indian rapper), blasted out, few men (myself included), could compete with the speed and dexterity of gyrating sari clad ladies enjoying themselves – about time too!
The guest list, which of course includes extended family can amount to several hundred and astoundingly they typically create just as many jobs, from those constructing the stage, serving staff, cooks and of course musicians, over a three day period extravaganza. This is a vital source of employment and is critical to the economy across the country, with our particular venue holding around 130 events per year and if it was possible they could have done more, but the auspicious wedding season is concentrated in the winter and summer months only. The ladies below managed separate outfits for the several events held each day, of course with matching jewellery.
From my London centric perspective and following research done by the Financial Times, one would assume that coupling and young people entering into relationships is falling out of fashion. In the US and UK nearly half of 25-34 years olds are finding themselves single, which must naturally lead to a decline in the wedding industry. Could the same happen in India?
I asked Randeep Singh (pictured below) who acted as master of ceremonies for the entire three days and during a short break, we enjoyed a cup of hot sweet tea served in a clay cup. A native of Kolkata, he left corporate life to compere weddings around the country and occasionally overseas. He laughed at the suggestion of any slow down in the Indian wedding industry and whilst he agreed there has been a small rise in singles (particularly in the largest cities), the overwhelming momentum for young people is a desire to get married and this remains strong. In fact, he expects it to be a twenty year bull market if not more. The other trend he mentioned is the rapid economic development of the country is being matched by the level of extravagance displayed in middle-class weddings. In his own words, the projects he is working on for the second half of the year were mind blowing, both in terms of display and the amount of manpower that is likely to be required.
How and where does demographics come into this? Countries with large young populations expect to see rapid consumption driven growth, allowing the economy to pick up speed like cycling down a hill. Added to this the large tax cuts announced last week are intended to get young Indians spending more. Weddings are just one outlay, as the expanding middle-class experience a considerable rise in living standards. In contrast, in ageing societies, economic activity often reduces and with it growth is normally slower or in some cases as Rachel Reeves in the UK is finding, elusive, resulting in more expected tax rises.
As the sweat laden drummers lay down their instruments and the groom entered into the bridal home for the ceremony to start, I along with other parents with children looked at the clear sky and gleaming moon to gain inspiration on how much harder we are going to have to work, to afford something like this in the future.
