Marriage luxuries a bane in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram People in Kerala appear to be attempting to outdo each other in holding extravagant marriages without the least concern about the money being spent or the future financial implications for the family because of the fabulous 'marriage show'.

Even a decade ago, the pomp and splendour associated with marriages were only beginning to raise eyebrows, but currently it appears to have become a full-blown case with even engagement functions of middle class couples involving over a thousand guests. Even at a moderate estimate of Rs100 per head for the food, the catering costs alone would go over hundred thousand rupees.

Some families resort to providing luxury buses to pick up guests from various points and drop them back after the gala event. Thanks to the buoyant 'marriage business', marriage halls have sprung up all over the state, with some of them charging tens of thousands of rupees. A leading air-conditioned marriage hall in the state capital charges a rent close to Rs50,000, which would have been the total cost of a middle-class marriage a decade ago. And all this is besides the money spent by the girls' families on dowry.

Unfortunately, while all this can be affordable for a fraction of the population, others blindly imitate, not knowing the financial shocks that await them. Opinion makers feel that the high costs associated with the marriage function have even sparked a higher corruption rate.

According to Justice M. Rajendran Nair of the Family Court, "People aim to spend lavishly by taking loans or borrowing money. Wedding ceremonies thus become pompous affairs without anyone caring for the future of the couple after the marriage".

He said at a workshop on marriage luxuries held here, that he had dealt with as many as 3,500 divorce cases in just four years, adding that the cause of many of these divorces were financial problems which in turn led to indebtedness and finally the parting of couples.

Sadly, these aspects of the social fabric of Kerala remain hidden even as social scientists have traditionally played up the achievements like low infant mortality, hundred per cent literacy and high life expectancy in Kerala.

According to P.K. Sreemathi, MLA the ballooning marriage expenses are both a cause for alarm and a national waste, while Kerala State Social Welfare Board chairperson K. Thulasy feels low-expenditure weddings should be the norm for Keralites.