Traditional Indian weddings - stimulus to local economy

Ever since I started blogging, I feel like a news reporter looking for incidents and things to comment/report. One such event was the wedding of my sister-in-law, which recently happened in Mysore. It was a traditional Hindu wedding with traditions and customs followed to the extent possible.

Usually, I don't like traditional weddings and I feel they are both a waste of time and money and a big energy drain for every one involved. But this time around I started looking at it with a new set of eyes or rather came up with a different point of view. I felt the weddings are a stimulus for the local economy. Here are the reasons why I felt that way.

• The silk sarees that were bought, I feel we wouldn't have bought them and in such quantities if not for the wedding.
• The flower decorations in the hall and the just the flowers/garlands bought for the wedding. I am sure most of the flowers used in the wedding were locally grown.
• In the last post, I spoke about the Indian farmers market, when I went shopping for the wedding, I saw in some cases we were buying out some of the trader’s daily quota of veggies.
• The wedding hall expense was one I couldn't justify but when I saw the number of people it employed to run the show I think I am partially satisfied. The people working there should be paid better is a different question altogether.
• The stuff needed for the pooja in the weddings, I know that there are lots of stores in Mysore and Bangalore who for generations have been doing the business of selling pooja items.
• I think I need to make a special mention for beetle leaf, the wedding on the whole required quite a lot of beetle leaves. It was used in the pooja and it was given to people with their take home gifts. I am sure most people who took it home simply put it in the garbage bin but the farmer who grew it got his fair share (for the critics: yes, “fair” part of the statement is debatable) .
• Traditional Indian weddings require a lot of coconuts too, for they are used in cooking, pooja and also take home gifts for the guests. At a time when coconut farmers are losing market and money, weddings are definitely a hearty welcome.
• The photo/video person also makes his money with such events.
• The cook who is an independent contractor also employs people under him and takes his share.
• The priest conducting the wedding earns his living through this.
• There are a lot of things that are unique to our community weddings and I felt these unique things keeps us closer to our roots (villages)
• Even though gold/jewelry takes up decent share of the wedding budget, I don't want to comment on the jewelry aspect, for I believe the return on investment in terms of stimulation of economy in the local area is not immediately seen with gold.
• Mysore dairy had a separate section with an officer dedicated to handle wedding and big function orders.

All in all I felt wedding is a big job creator and an industry in itself. Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating for expensive or lavish weddings but I am just pointing out the fact that the money spent is helping the economy and is doing it on a broader range.

There are other advantages for a traditional wedding besides plain economics, like the gathering of relatives and friends whom we probably wouldn't have met in years and preserving the culture and traditions for one more generation.