In General

“India’s Grandest wedding in 100 years” say the newspaper headlines describing the wedding of the Sahara scions. I was telling my mom about the kind of opulent and extravagant spending – guests flown in special aircrafts, chauffeured in luxury cars, entertained by London Philharmonic orchestra, when she reminiscenced about the yesteryears.

Apparently, during the 60’s, each wedding invitation card was supposed to carry the mandatory footnote, “This function would be held in accordance with the Government of India’s Guest Control Regulations” which restricted entry to only 100 guests. This was because of the austerity drive by the govt after the China War (1965) and the infamous drought (1966).

My grandfather was an influential man in our village and the inspectors usually chose to look the other way during our family functions. The inspectors would typically be invited the next day for a special lunch where they would be rewarded for their ‘help’.