At a time when the whole word is on full alert and geared up to prevent the recurrence of the deadly new Covid strain from China, this article looks back , not on the horror, sufferings and death toll on the world population but on the impact caused by the deadly spread of the earlier Covid 19 especially on the wedding scenario in India/Tamil Nadu.
' Coronavirus -19. as it is commonly called , is a new virus and has many variants and is believed to be caused the first 'Virus pneumonia' in Wuhan ,People's Republic of China', as reported by WHO's Country office on 31st December 2019. After assessing the alarming levels of spread and the severity of the consequences , WHO declared the outbreak of COVID -19 as 'Pandemic' and not a Public Health crisis on 11th March 2020 in Geneva . By that time the global death toll has reached 4291 from 118,000 cases from 114 countries.
In India the first confirmed Coronavirus-19 case was reported in Thrissur, Kerala on 27th January 2020 , on a 20 year old female returned from Wuhan , China. In Tamil Nadu, the first case was reported on 07th March 2020.
A burgeoning Indian wedding industry worth approximately $50 billions went topsy turvy within few months of the incidence of Covid 19 in India. Government restrictions imposed on the movement and assembly of people and the fear psychosis unleased by the media and medical fraternity (in the initial stages of the pandemic) had a heavy toll on the industry. General public either completely abandoned the marriage ceremony or as directed by the governments conducted a lean marriage with limited guests. Some have even went to the extreme of conducting virtual marriage ceremony. In my closer circle, one marriage was postponed once and later conducted with limited number of guests. Another one, went for registered marriage with out any marriage ceremony.
Link for one study conducted on the impact of Covid on Indian weddings is appended here:
https://qz.com/india/2129616/how-the-indian-wedding-industry-has-responded-to-the-pandemic.
Indian/Tamil traditional marriage revolves around the concept of 'tying the three knots' and was performed traditionally in villages and village temples. Every caste and community has their own systems and practices which are being followed even today. Over the years , marriage has transformed into a big fat, big crowd and big budget event which helps the nascent wedding industry to emerge. This transformation helps many niche startups in matrimonial services, event management, logistics, photo & videos, decoration, gifts, makeup and invites etc. to venture out and flourish. But the major contributors for the industry are the catering and venue services, Jewellery, hotels and wedding apparels. Technology is also nudging its own space in the industry in the form of e-invite, drone photography, online shopping , 3D design software to shoot the entire venue, social media photo sharing etc. Theme weddings and destination weddings are trending amongst Generation Z ( Zoomers). Even with the phenomenal growth in each section of the industry, wedding industry is still considered not as an organized industry
Some of the photos taken during the reception function recently at Kovalam , Kerala , of the marriage registered during Covid 19 are attached herewith
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