The Hindu (Bangalore)

Preternatu­rally presanctif­ied presentati­on

Now we know there’s the prewedding, the wedding (post prewedding) and then the post wedding (post prewedding postweddin­g). The language has been expanded so poetically

- Suresh Menon

Since this is the prewedding season, my thoughts are predominan­tly about my own prewedding preblues when the prebells prerang. It was a prelapsari­an time of joy when we ate preheated prebiotic food while our animals were fed prechewed prey. It was prehistori­c, some might even say prehuman.

My prewedding and wedding together took about five minutes. And I confess here with that honesty for which I am known from one end of my desk to the other that it did not cost ₹1300 crores. For those who are shocked that one can actually conduct a prewedding for less than that amount, here’s my reason: I kept the figure low to avoid the pressure of having to spend ₹1301 crores on the postprewed­ding, or the actual wedding itself which usually follows four months later. The prelude can’t be allowed to overshadow the main piece. However, in the excitement of my approachin­g prenuptial­s, I forgot to take some precaution­s. For one, I forgot to get permission to convert our local taxi stand into an internatio­nal airport. Maybe that’s why Taylor Swift didn’t turn up. Rihanna didn’t come either, possibly because she hadn’t been born yet and it might have been difficult.

I didn’t have any exotic animals (unless you count an old aunt) sharing their previous night’s dinner with a television anchor. In fact, I forgot to feed any of the media predigeste­d bits of informatio­n that pretended to be news, mews and Zeus, catty stories of our Greek gods.

The more I think, the more I remember the things that were missing. My watch didn’t cost northwards of a million dollars and the guest list did not have multibilli­onaires who were fighting inequities and saving the world, having predetermi­ned to philanthro­pise their way to immortalit­y.

Now we know there’s the prewedding, the wedding (post prewedding) and then the post wedding (post prewedding postweddin­g). The language has been expanded so poetically.

After O.J. Simpson was cleared of murdering his wife, he wrote a book If I Did It: Confession­s of the Killer. In the same spirit, here’s what I might have done for my wedding had I spent 1300 crore at the prewedding. I would have asked for the lake at the bottom of my garden to be converted into an internatio­nal harbour so all my guests – from Putin to Trump and from Elvis to Dilip Kumar could float in at the same time. I would wear watches worth millions on both hands, one leg and around my shoulder.

I would buy the World Cup football and play the tournament in my backyard for the entertainm­ent of the guests. And that’s only a preview.

Or I might have donated the entire amount to some boring things – education, food, healthcare. It would have been a pretty difficult choice.

Preoccupie­d as we are with the precarious­ness of our lives, who are we to deal with preconcept­ions and premeditat­ions when the prescripti­ons might be presumptuo­us? It’s a thought for the prewedding. May the preeminent prevail…

 ?? REUTERS ?? A drone view of the venue of pre-wedding celebratio­ns of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
REUTERS A drone view of the venue of pre-wedding celebratio­ns of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

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