I witnessed a typical marriage procession in Delhi yesterday evening ... got caught in one as I was going somewhere. It's something to behold of course. The absurdity is clearly off the charts.
What a silly superficial show it is! The noise and lights and above all riding a horse ... perhaps pretending that you're a king returning after conquering a new kingdom in battle.
Why does this absurdity persist? Why do educated people let themselves be put through such absurd, silly rituals? Why don't people have the common sense to admit that this is something stupendously silly and that it's time to stop doing this?
Why can't the young generation simply put their foot down and say 'to hell with it.' Why does not anybody have the imagination to recognize this as a symbol of extraordinary stupidity?
Clearly, this is evidence that Indians in huge numbers lack the quality of imagination. Perhaps Indians' obsession with the game of cricket is further substantiation of the same quality.
It's quite odd when you think about it. Marriage is after all a simple matter of a 'living arrangement' involving a couple of humans. And society has taken it and decided to attach spiritual significance, religious significance, and cosmic significance to it.
God has been assigned the task of supervising living arrangements among humans. What a job!
What a silly superficial show it is! The noise and lights and above all riding a horse ... perhaps pretending that you're a king returning after conquering a new kingdom in battle.
Why does this absurdity persist? Why do educated people let themselves be put through such absurd, silly rituals? Why don't people have the common sense to admit that this is something stupendously silly and that it's time to stop doing this?
Why can't the young generation simply put their foot down and say 'to hell with it.' Why does not anybody have the imagination to recognize this as a symbol of extraordinary stupidity?
Clearly, this is evidence that Indians in huge numbers lack the quality of imagination. Perhaps Indians' obsession with the game of cricket is further substantiation of the same quality.
It's quite odd when you think about it. Marriage is after all a simple matter of a 'living arrangement' involving a couple of humans. And society has taken it and decided to attach spiritual significance, religious significance, and cosmic significance to it.
God has been assigned the task of supervising living arrangements among humans. What a job!
Rituals do have a role in our connectedness with our community. They bring people together give occasion for merriment. After all marriage is not just for 2 people to wed but a few hundred to come together. Ostentation however need to be discouraged.
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