The few months of winter that we have in Pakistan have become pretty much synonymous with the Wedding Season. People make reservations for the halls months in advance to avoid disappointment at the last moment. Even though the prices are rising, there has been no decline in the fervor or the expenses that people are making for their weddings to be a 'success'. Money has become one of the most crucial requirements for a wedding. People prefer to take loans rather than to suffer the humiliation of a wedding that isn't expensive enough for the taste of their relatives, easily ignoring the fact that that money can come in handy for the newly weds in establishing their life. The ceremony has become more about appeasing the society than about celebrating the union of two people. Marriage has lost its purpose in this manner, and hence it is not surprising that the feeling which I have most markedly noticed while attending any marriage is that of absurdity.

Weddings have never been enjoyable for me, even as a child. Perhaps because the wedding ceremony appears to me to be the perfect example of the superficialities and hypocrisies of our culture; it has become a symbol for me of whatever I hate about our society. The problem is not with spending per se; if you have got money and if you want to spend, then of course you should. But the problem begins when people start to worship that money; they set a standard that a wedding deserves respect only if certain expensive items are bought or arranged, and the cost of wedding dress is above the 50 grand figure, and a huge amount of money is given in jehaiz, and a lot of gold and costly jewelry is gifted to the bride, etcetera, etcetera. Hence people make these expenses not because they want to, or because they can afford it, but because they want to keep their noses high among their relatives and friends. The problem is with society not awarding respect to simplicity and economy. 'People will talk' is the biggest fear of the parents getting their children married.

Well, open your eyes: people always talk. There is no scarcity of excuses for them. Owing to this, the ceremony ends up being a finely orchestrated drama of money and social politics. This is further aggravated by the manic craze of making a video of the function. A highly-paid professional cameraman is hired, who also assumes the role of a director and conducts the whole ritual: Light, camera, action! People are more concerned about making the video of the function than about the wedding itself. Be it the 'aunties' getting reading for the function or the youngsters choreographing their dances on the latest Indian tunes, they are all thinking: 'We should look good in the video!'

And last, but not the least, I hate weddings because the bride almost always looks ugly! Why do they even need to plaster their faces with such thick layers of make-up is something that is beyond my comprehension. I can't imagine why on earth brides spend thousands of rupees in beauty saloons for bridal make-up only to come up with such distasteful results!