This season, Kashmir’s feisty weddings are looking lacklustre owing to the Covid-19 crisis. Besides the postponement of marriages, the pandemic has forced many people to go for innovations which they consider as ‘safeguards’ against the disease.
Jammu and Kashmir has recorded more than 50,000 Covid-19 cases till date and around 850 deaths, forcing many to defer their weddings.
In Kashmir, the peak marriage season falls between August to November. Those who are going for marriages contrary to past have drastically curtailed the number of guests. Needless to say, masks and sanitisers have become part of the wedding paraphernalia.
“This season Kashmir is witnessing very few weddings and number of guests are limited to just 100 to 150,’’ says Haji Shabir Ahmad who works as a wholesale dealer of disposable wedding items.
“Earlier for every average wedding we used to sell disposables worth around Rs 60,000 to 1,50,000. Now, our bills remain squeezed between Rs 20,000 to 30,000. Even the number of weddings has come down by around 70 percent.’’ He, however, says that now they have added sanitisers, masks and PPE kits in the list of items.
Also read: Won’t be enough Covid-19 vaccines till 2024 – Serum Institute’s Adar Poonawalla
Due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases, many families after mutual understanding have postponed their weddings for the next year. ‘’My brother was getting married this year and all arrangements were almost done but the growing number of Covid-19 cases have forced us to defer the marriage until next year as we don’t want to take the risk and a Kashmiri wedding without a big gathering looks very dull,’’ says Adnan Ahmad of old city.
In Kashmiri marriages, the host serves a couple of feasts comprising seven to twelve course Kashmiri Wazwan served in big copper plates. Each plate is consumed by four people. While a simple marriage lasts for two days, affluent families stretch their marriage ceremonies to four to five days where quintals of mutton delicacies prepared by trained chefs (Wazas) are served. As a precaution, many families now serve Wazwan in single copper plates instead of bigger plates known as (Trami). Some have replaced even the plates with clay bowls to serve Wazwan in them.
“I recently attended a marriage at Iqbal Nagar, Sopore, it was a simple function, the guests were served in clay pots instead of copper plates. Many people like the way our ancestors used to eat in the clay pots,’’ says Shiekh Haroon who attended the wedding. ‘For many, it was an innovative thing, besides, guests were also given masks and sanitisers.’’
Also read: 25 Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha MPs test Covid-19 positive – Here’s a list
The curtailment of the guest list has also made the marriages simple and easy, many even skipped the Wazwan and solemnised the marriage function serving tea or Khewa (green tea with saffron).
“My cousin is getting married next week. Last time when we had a marriage in our house the function lasted for four to five days and we ended up serving seven quintals of meat to nearly 1,000 guests. This time we are preparing just 100 kilograms of meat and our guest list is not more than 100,’’ says Peer Ishfaq. ‘’My cousin will go with seven to eight guests to bride’s house which wasn’t possible earlier.’’
“Earlier, people had to book chefs (Wazas) months ahead of the ceremony, the chefs are out of work from August 5 last year and now pandemic has hit our industry badly. The people who go for marriages have curtailed their expenses by around 80 percent as people don’t want to take any chances,’’ said Mohammad Yaqood, a chef from north Kashmir. “Kashmir’s wedding was a big trade, now it is at its lowest point. Hope situation will improve when the pandemic ends.’’