Mumbai:
Come Sunday, May 16, and Mumbai will turn into one huge marriage procession.
Mumbaikars, be prepared for snail-paced traffic through blaring music, as approximately 50,000 weddings are expected to take place on that day.
May 16 is
Akshaya Tritiya, one of the most auspicious days for weddings according to the Hindu calendar.
The crazy rush this year is because this is the first auspicious wedding date in almost five months. There were no wedding dates between December 14, 2009 and May 14 this year. An '
adhik maas' - extra lunar month - in which weddings are considered inauspicious, also added to the wedding drought.
The fact that it falls on a Sunday adds to the madness. All marriage halls, caterers, decorators, mehendi artistes, etc, in the city have their hands full.
Versova resident Haresh Sharma, father of a bride-to-be, said, "My son-in-law had got a transfer to Bangalore and so we wanted the wedding as soon as possible. But our
pandit informed us that there are no
shubh mahurats before May 16. My son-in-law had to convince his bosses to put a stay on his transfer for few months. Finally, they are getting married this May."
Wedding organiser Girish Thappar of A to Z weddings said, "After almost six months of waiting, more than 50,000 weddings are supposed to take place in the city on May 16. Anybody who plans to make last minute bookings will not be able to do so."
He added that a similar situation would arise on May 23, 28, 29 and 31. "I have increased staff for supervision, as on each day we have at least five weddings to take care of," he said.
The rush has seen rates go up by at least 15 per cent at marriage halls. "Cost per plate has gone up, while the decoration costs, which used to be Rs 25,000, has shot up to Rs 35,000 now," he added.
"All our venues are booked between May 16 and 31," said Dharampal Talwar, owner of Talwar caterers whose major clientele are Punjabis and Gujaratis. Talwar revealed that many farmhouses too had been booked for marriages on May 16.
Nilima Daruwala, general manager, banquets, Blue Foods, said, "Some of the bookings were made a year in advance for this day."
Bandwallahs, of course, are all fully booked. "This time we have been forced to turn away clients as we have no manpower who can bear the workload. For May 16 and 29 we are booked," said Dharmesh Singh, a bandwallah.