As a people we – as in Indians – revel in marriage. Not content in conspiring to wed off near and dear ones, we also take enormous amount of pleasure in marrying off others that inhabit the space around us. And we don’t really discrinmiate between plants, animals, or objects. My earliest memories are of leaving out little mounds of rice and dal for the marriage of the crows and sparrows every Pongal. Or dolls marriages when we were kids. Like everything else in India, marriages are too completely inclusive. Everyone and everything is included to join in the great Indan marriage tamasha and expected to participate in it in good cheer!

The latest is a pair of trees who got married off in Kolkata. A Banyan Tree and a Pepul Tree – i wonder who was the bride and who was the groom – were united in holy matrimony with the full works. There was wedding finery, priests, the sacred fire, chants and of course a 1000 odd guests. Who says that Indians don’t approve of mixed marriages – after all it doesn’t get more mixed than a Banyan Tree and a Pepul tree. Reuters reports:

The marriage between the sacred trees — whose trunks were decorated with red cloth, streaks of vermilion and marigold garlands — was followed by a banquet attended by nearly 1,000 people.

Incidentally, the wedding market in India is around Rs.50,000 crores (Rs.5000 billion). This is just the middle and upper income group spend on marraiges.Lower income groups get them into debt many times over to put up grand marriages. And of course it does not include the monies spent on marrying of plants, dolls, crows, sparrows and other unsuspecting victims:)