Delhi Government Introduces Policy To Limit The Number Of Guests To A Wedding And We Think It’s Awesome

I had somewhat of a relaxing weekend this time around after a long time. Slept in late, went for a refreshing day at the spa, celebrated my father’s birthday with a nice family dinner and then went to attend a family wedding in Chhatarpur, New Delhi. Less of a wedding and more of a grand function with celebrity performances, photo booths and lighting that could blind you, this wasn’t my first rodeo, but turns out it could’ve been my last.

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Having been born and raised in Delhi, into a family that’s fairly connected, you are privy to all sorts of fancy and extra wedding shenanigans while growing up. From a loud screeching band of relatives you haven’t met more than once, to getting the best caterer on board to serve you all sorts of cuisines and food , Indians often use weddings to establish power, wealth and status. And all the while they spend their money as ‘shagun‘ on the band waalas, and leave a mess behind that doesn’t get cleaned up, others suffer in the wake of someone else’s parade. But not anymore.

Also Read : What Aunties Say At Weddings, And How To Tackle Them!

The Delhi government, soon after Supreme Court’s disapproval of littering and wasting food at lavish social events, came up with a policy to keep the social events and curtail their grandeur in the city in a ‘social function policy’. The policy will focus on putting a cap on the number of guests you can invite to social functions, based on the size of the venue. The guests in number shall be decided by dividing the square metre area of the venue by 1.5 or by multiplying the total number of cars that can be parked by four.

And that won’t be all. Thank goodness. There will also be no more horse drawn carriage rides for the groom and a super slow dancing squad preceding him to the venue, and congesting the roads. Because while he makes it to the venue and does his wedding things against the backdrop of some soothing music, the rest of us get traffucked with a background score of horns and abuses being hurled by everyone. Music and DJ will also have to operate within the prescribed decibels and for the super cool ones who think firing into the air during the weddings is tradition and not dangerous, no more firearms will be allowed. Also, all the left over food from the wedding, which mind you is enough to feed the homeless for days will have to be indeed given away to the unprivileged.

And since it is Delhi and to every new law, the citizens have a patent ‘tu jaanta nahi mera baap kaun hai‘ attitude, the policy also lists out how if it a first offence to not adhere to the norms, the penalty is for 5 lakh rupees. For the second time around it is 10 lakhs and for the third time it goes up to a 15 lakhs for the owner of the venue, followed by a cancellation of the owners license to host.

Also Read : Bollywood Weddings Vs. Weddings IRL. The Things They Don’t Show You

And that is perhaps the best news I have heard in a while now. The government has finally taken a step that if followed through well, will make life easier for a lot of people! All that glamour at the cost of littering around the city you inhabit, and for what? To flaunt how much money you have, especially during the time of a climate emergency is just plain absurd. It is time people start taking responsibility for their actions, and for the ones who still want to splurge, maybe spending that extra leftover money on your honeymoon would be a much better idea than to pay for the dinner of a 1500 people you barely know.