A Kashmiri man sprays sanitizer on the hand of Haseeb Mushtaq, a Kashmiri groom as he arrives at brides home during his wedding ceremony on the outskirts of Srinagar. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way people celebrate weddings in Kashmir. The traditional week-long feasting , elaborate rituals and huge gatherings have given way to muted ceremonies with a limited number of close relatives attending. With restrictions in place and many weddings cancelled, the traditional wedding chefs have little or no work. The virus has drastically impacted the life and businesses in the region.
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Relatives of Kashmiri bride carry henna and candles inside a decorative basket during henna ceremony of a wedding on the outskirts of Srinagar.
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Khusheeba Munir holds the cell phone as her husband, Azhar Mahmood, who tested positive for COVID-19 and was not able to attend the marriage shares a lighter moment with his cousin and groom Haseeb Mushtaq. "Marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime affair, and I feel awful that we couldn't invite most of our relatives, friends and neighbours,'' Haseeb said at the ceremony. "The hardest part was deciding whom to invite and whom not.''
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Fayaz Ahmed, center and Manor Ahmed, left, uncles of Kashmiri bride Saima Ashraf, ask her permission before Nikah ceremony during a wedding.
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Kashmiri Wazas, or chefs, cook for a wedding feast Wazwan. With restrictions in place and many weddings canceled, the traditional master chefs have little or no work.
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Kashmiri Wazas, or chefs, chop mutton before cooking for a wedding feast Wazwan. Kashmiris typically hold elaborate marriage feasts, with meals cooked over firewood through the night by chiefs called "wazas.'' Hundreds of guests are invited for lunch and dinner and served up to 30-course meals. The feast is called "wazwan.'' The peculiarity of a wazwan is that every part of a lamb, except the hide, head and hooves, is used for making different dishes.
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Relatives and neighbors walk along with Haseeb Mushtaq, a Kashmiri groom during his wedding ceremony. Months before the pandemic, Haseeb Mushtaq drew up a guest list of hundreds and grand plans for celebrating his wedding in May. But then the pandemic blocked him from traveling home for his wedding from Dubai, where he has an engineering job. When he finally arrived home for his postponed wedding in September, he could only invite about a hundred people, mostly from his extended family and close friends.
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Kashmiri men eat a wedding feast Wazwan as they maintain social distance due to COVID-19 at a wedding on the outskirts of Srinagar. The wazwan tradition is so entrenched across all classes in Kashmir that awareness of the wastage of high-quality food has not produced any restraint. Numerous attempts by social groups and the government have failed to instill any significant austerity in the food.
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Kashmiri Wazas, or chefs, in personal protective equipment serve Wazwan. ``It is sad to see our hundreds of years of tradition changing in few months due to the pandemic. We used to eat from one big platter and now we have a small plate for each guest,'' Bashir Ahmed said at a relative's marriage party. ``It looks like a small change, but this kind of change saddens me.''
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Haseeb Mushtaq, center, groom along with his parents cut the cake during a henna ceremony of a wedding on the outskirts of Srinagar.
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Kashmiri men carry rice plates before serving them to guests during a wedding ceremony.
For master chef Ghulam Qadir and his team of over three dozen cooks, the pandemic has caused his earnings to be badly hit.
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Kashmiri couple, center, clap as they celebrate henna ceremony of their son's wedding Haseeb Mushtaq.
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A plate full of rice dressed with wazwan dishes is kept in front of a guest.
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A man in personal protective equipment sprays disinfectant to sanitize a wedding tent.
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