Extravagance Personified!

Perhaps, "extravagance," too, would be an understatement to describe this wedding described in this week's issue of Tehelka.

ON THE NIGHT of November 22 , some 5,000 people, among them the exquisitely dressed and elegantly propelled Ludhianvi elite, attended realtor king Gulshan Kumar’s son’s prewedding ceremony. Opulence was not restricted to the BMW-Mercedes-filled parking lot. It continued past the impressive Sphinx statue guarding the entrance, past actor Bipasha Basu welcoming the guests into a six acre plot converted by 60 artisans from around the country into a replica of the sets of the movie The Mummy. Blessing the Ludhianvi Tutankhamun’s wedding amidst roving laser light glory were 500 life-size statues of Cleopatra, Nefertiti and the Egyptian pantheon of gods, all made-to-order with Hollywood assistance. When asked how much he spent on the wedding Gulshan Kumar, said ‘peanuts’. Those ‘peanuts’ also brought the IT department knocking on his doors.

What a SHEER WASTE of money! In our country, we have thousands and thousands of people who find it difficult to make ends meet; we have farmers who commit suicide because they cannot bear to see the misery of their families anymore; and we have bright children who end up working in inhuman conditions instead of studying because they won't get food if they don't work.

And whatever happened to the recession?

Wish all such people who have loads of money find loads of good avenues to spend on rather than waste away on extravagant weddings.