Overheard in the elevator as I hopped into one to move between floors: “My mamaji is in a state of shock; he doesn’t know what to do. No one knows what to do.” This between two young office-goers on a Wednesday morning which possibly saw the most unprecedented wave of dialogue between known entities and utter strangers, alike. All of this, post the Big Modi Announcement.
When one prodded him, the gentleman (who refused to be named but said that the wedding would be in the Civil Lines area of Delhi) spoke about the cousin’s shaadi that was to be on 11 November, two days from now.
“You can imagine the trouble at home!” said this anxious stranger.
“Envelopes have been filled with cash that need to be handed out as shagun. There are caterers to be paid, phool-walleh – they don’t take cheques or online bank transactions! My house is in a fix.”
The anxiety is palpable, the problem paramount. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetising 500 and 1,000 rupee notes (with effect from the midnight of 8 November) and banks remaining closed on 9 November (some ATMs too remaining out of function as the RBI stocks them with lower denomination notes), here’s a million-rupee question (no pun intended) – WHAT do you if you’re getting married? Particularly ON 9, 10 or 11 November?
Between the Ghore-Wallah and the Banquet
Romit Bajaj, whose brother Amit gets married on the 11th, spoke about the cash issues the family’s facing:
The banquet hall we booked for my brother’s wedding needed to be paid a partial amount in cheque, which we’d already done, and the other half in cash. They now refuse to accept the cash we’d already withdrawn for this purpose! Where do we eke out 10,000 rupees in 100-rupee notes? They tell us to borrow from near and dear ones, to make it happen but how does all that happen two days before a wedding?
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Even if you, unlike Romit, had been lucky enough to book a venue entirely sans cash, what of the smaller vendors? “You can’t pay the ghore-wallahs through your debit card! Or the last-minute liquor runs,” Romit exclaims. “And what of the shagun envelopes that we’d already filled with notes? One doesn’t know whether to hand them out still with the old notes.”
If you were patting yourself on the back for having, through no prophetic volition of your own, bypassed these three dates and booked a later one in November, you’re still not out of the woods. Sahasranshu Mahapatra who gets married on the 21st of this month says:
Sure, all my shopping and vendor payments are made – but what of the banquet hall that will only accept cash on the due date? With withdrawals from bank accounts limited to Rs 10,000 per day post 10 November, how can I manage to withdraw the 1 lakh rupees I need before my wedding date? I will have less than 10 days!
A wedding is, of course, an intricate network of all kinds of paraphernalia – the mithai, the phhool, the daaru, the sehra, the ghora… all sorts of colourful what-have-yous. Can you still navigate your way around these men and women that you need most desperately on your wedding day? Perhaps they’ll give you credit – look the other way? No such luck.
The Quint made a few calls to some of the esteemed mithai-wallahs of Delhi – from the old and famous Old Famous Jalebi Wala in Chandni Chowk and a Nathu Sweets in CP to a Bikanervala in Gurgaon. Speaking as relatives of prospective brides/grooms, we attempted to order mithai from half a dozen sweet shops, letting them know that we had only Rs 500s and 1,000s since the money had been bundled in advance. At each of the places we called, we were politely told that there was no way around this, no ‘negotiating’ was possible and we must come up with Rs 100 notes for D-Day, irrespective of a ‘mistimed’ function.
Whispers of Downsized Weddings
The wedding planners and photographers we spoke to on the record said they’d noticed no drastic changes in the wedding department yet. While Devika, a young wedding designer, said, “Young companies like ours are glad; we hope the government follow-up is as efficient”, Kireet Suvra, a Kolkata-based photographer who owns The Wedding Vow, insisted he’d seen no sudden dip. However, one planner, on the condition of anonymity, later messaged to say:
Weddings are being downsized big time. Clients are insisting that vendors work for 40 percent off and vendors are fearing delayed payments and choosing to not work rather than not get paid. Vendors and international payments are all stuck.
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Perhaps one solution is to do as Romit Bajaj says:
We’re going to be stripping the hundred-rupee notes off the note garlands we’ve kept for my brother’s wedding and make do with them!
Amusing as that sounds, perhaps that is not too far-fetched for the ones getting hitched today, tomorrow or the day after. Attempt IOUs with vendors you’ve had long-standing relations with, borrow if you can/may – the money fix will tide over in the next couple of days and you can repay a friend/relative and try to stay calm.
On what is possibly one of the biggest days of your life, don’t let this rain on your parade.
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