Adding a touch of grace to weddings

Monday, November 03, 2008

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: EVERYONE wishes for memorable wedding functions for his or her marriage and do their best to celebrate different events as these gatherings remain as sweet memories of life, which is often discussed in later years of married life.Starting from Mayoon, Mehndi to Wallima reception, every function has its own importance in a wedding. But, the arrival of Barat is very important for a bride and it matters for groom as well. In subcontinent, every groom arrives at the bride’s house full of pride and in his best manner to make this occasion memorable for the whole forthcoming life. The groom in this region comes in procession of family, relatives, and friends. They accompany the groom to the bride’s home for official wedding ceremony.No major change has been witnessed in arrival of Barat with the passage of time. A change in time is bringing gradual change in traditions and is replacing them with new norms, but the arrival of Barat is still according to the old traditions. The groom arrives with full pomp and show. Sometimes, they also showed off and do things, which are usually out of their capacity. In the present times, groom arrives in decorated luxury cars, which are usually rented. The groom makes his way to the bride’s home on a richly decorated horse or in a car and the Barat follows in different vehicles.However, richly decked horse drawn carriages known as Baghis are still common, which was also used by grooms in the past. The tradition of the grooms arriving at the bride’s house riding a horse is still alive in the villages of Punjab where it is considered prideful. Decorating a Baghgi and a groom’s car is also an art, which consumes large amounts of money. However, due to inflation, people usually do not spend much money on car and Baghis decorations. Those who can afford it, still arrange a Baghgi to go to the bride’s house. Arranging a special Baghgi for Barat costs the groom a large sum as the culture of a horse-drawn carriage has almost vanished from society. Thus, the people doing this business for special occasions charge a handsome amount for their services. The Baghgi providers charge for their services either in kilometres travelled or hours spent. However, mostly they charge in hours for their services. In Lahore, there are three major points where for hire Baghis are available, Scheme Morr, Taxali Gate and Ghaziabad. The people who run this business have kept special snow white horses. They also hire special decorators for decorating Baghis. The decoration of horses and Baghis take at least two hours. The people who decorate horses and Baghis also look after both in routine days. They wash the Baghis before a function and also give bath to horses as well. The charges of a Baghgi vary but the minimum charges are Rs 6000 for five to 10 kilometres distance. Usually, people hire Baghis for Barat and at Rukhsati, they returned in car. If someone wants to return back in a Baghgi, then the Baghis are booked on hourly basis. The minimum charges of booking of Baghis on hourly basis Rs 4000 per hour. The people providing Baghgi service said that they have to stay a minimum of four hours if they have to bring back the Barat on the Baghgi. In the meantime, they usually have at least another booking. They said that usually people book Baghis for one side trip only.The use of Baghis for reaching the bride’s home has lessened. Now, a groom usually uses luxury vehicles for this purpose. Decorating the groom car is also an art. The car decorators are seen in every locality of the city. The wedding car decoration charges start from Rs 800 and reach to Rs 5000. Spending money for decorating cars totally depend upon the groom’s pocket capacity as the decorated car is used only once. The car decorators use different type of decoration material, which are not costly, but the service charges is high. The car decorators usually charge for their service almost 300 to 400 times more than the decorating material costs. They use both fresh flowers as well as artificial flowers. Usually, they charge Rs 20 to Rs 30 for a piece of fresh rose for use in car decoration as compared to the market price of Rs 5 to Rs 10 per piece. The decorators knowing the fact that the groom’s family is not in bargaining mood, usually ask them to pay happily telling them they are going for wedding. Similarly, they charge Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for an ordinary bouquet market price of which is not more than Rs 400.
Social Feature was published in The News on November 03 2008 on Lahore City Pages.