Nagpur: A lot of weddings that could have happened in the wedding season post Diwali got postponed in 2020. People did not want to compromise on the guest number and have a small quiet affair. So many such Dos got postponed to 2021.
Come January, it was as if the flood gates had opened. Engagement ceremonies, weddings began being celebrated on grand scale. Specially wedding lawns and banquet halls on the outskirts of the city saw brisk bookings.
At first the consequences didn’t show up. People got bolder and the number of invitees and days of celebration went up.
Well, the chickens seem to have come home to roost now. NMC officials blame the rapid and sudden rise in cases to such celebrations.
Rajeev ( name changed) is on Ventilator in a critical condition. In February 2021 his son got engaged. They wanted to have at least 500 guests for the wedding so booked a lawn in the city. Then permissions were withdrawn so they shifted to a hotel. But soon enough NMC cancelled such celebrations too. So the plan moved again to a Destination wedding in some resort that dot the Tiger tourism of Nagpur.
Rajeev got busy personally distributing wedding invites. In all this he neglected persistent cough and cold. Even when his family asked him to see a Doctor he laughed it off saying ” it’s nothing to worry about.”
Till he landed in the hospital with breathlessness and fever. His lungs had already been extensively damaged.
Finally, his son got married in a small affair without him.
Meanwhile, many family members and friends who had come in contact with him have also been infected.
” This is how Corona spread rapidly in Nagpur, Amraoti and other parts of Vidarbha. We are known for our love of large weddings!” Commented Dr Deosthale of Laxminagar zone.
Now a big notice is pasted in their offices.
” No permission will be granted for weddings”.
Too little too late?
…Sunita Mudaliar
