Almost every HR theory says that motivation works better than incentives. Well I guess if I had to write about marriage, this would be the right time... :-)
Ok getting to the point. We have all this len den going on in the wedding, you know like the guy's side gives out whole lot of gifts to whole lot of people. Then something struck me. If the wedding rituals of Hindu system are so relevant, and simple why all this paraphernalia?
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Time: long long time ago, lets say when people used to follow rituals as they were meant to be.
Its a small village, very typical of those times. The groom's father is a popular person owing to his following his Dharma in proper way and earned his righteous place in the society. He arranges for a Brahmin to get the wedding ceremony done. Obviously he invites people from the village too to see the function. These people will bless the couple. Everything is smooth. There is no elaborate dinner/lunch, no gift giving, no camera flashes and other blah. Just plain smooth and pure wedding that took a little more that couple of hours to finish. The couple took vows and took to their own livelihood from thereon.
In the same village, there is another groom's father. He does the same thing. Though unlike our earlier described father, this person is not that popular. The reason is left to one's own imagination. Now he realizes that just by inviting, he won't get a lot of people to the wedding. Somehow being a human and still an integral part of society, he has to get as much people as he saw in that other wedding. So he calls for all the people of the village and gives them gifts a day prior to the wedding. Though he sugarcoats the entire thing as something else, the motive is the same. Now this wedding, almost everyone comes!
Do you see what this second person is doing?
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Years later, here I am. Probably cursing that "other" person. The guy, who thought that giving gifts more important than building reputation by fairer means. And here I am, managing the entire bandwagon that surrounds wedding.
Ultimately, what is important? That I give a lavish party to a 500 people ensemble or that I say that I want to spend the rest of my life with someone keeping 500 people as witnesses? What is giving me more accountability? What is keeping me in the true fabric of society? What is giving me a better purpose of life?