Mumbai: The Pawar family was all smiles and happy in the first half of this month and the reason was obvious - their only son was about marry on March 18. The family was busy making all the arrangements without having any idea that their happiness was about to get ruined - credits - the lockdown owing to the sudden outbreak of coronavirus.
The well planned usual 'big budget' Maharashtrian wedding was then short down to a event with numerous limitations. And all this was done just before a few hours of the marriage.
"None can imagine our plight. It was the marriage of our only son. We had so many dreams for his marriage but nothing could be done," said Ashok Pawar, father of Akshay (28). The marriage was to take place at a banquet in Matunga on March 18.
The family performed all the prewedding rituals like Haldi, Sangeet etc at their residence in Mahim, which became the venue of their son's marriage just a few hours before. "Everything was in place.
All guests comprising of close and distant relatives were invited and were set to attend the wedding," recalls Pratibha Pawar, mother of the groom. "On March 17, we were enjoying the rituals and other stuff. Till then only family members and some close friends were present.
It was around 8pm when the banquet manager called us to give the shock of our life," she adds. According to the family, the banquet manager canceled their booking at 8 pm on March 17 while the wedding was to take place on March 18 by around 10 am.
"The manager told us that marriage cannot take place now owing to the imposition of section 144 in the city due to spread of coronavirus. We were shocked and were unable to figure out what is to be done now," said Akshay, a software developer.
But his parents were firm on their stand as they wanted the son to get married as per the schedule. "I thought that sitting idle won't work. We support the lockdown and the rules but at the same time we wanted our son to get married on the decided date.
Thus, I soon called the decorator and asked him to put up a temporary pandal on our building's terrace. The decorator came by 12 midnight on March 17 and completed the decoration by 4 am of March 18," says the father.
"By the time his father was busy making the arrangements, I decided to cut short the guest's list. I personally called every person and apologized them for asking them not to attend the wedding. Our earlier planned wedding was made a family affair," Pratibha said.
On the D-day, the marriage took place on the building's terrace and the arrangements for food were made in the building's compound. "Our entire group was preparing for Akshay's marriage but not everyone could attend it.
Only few of us could make to the marriage," said Namrata Patil, a childhood friend of Akshay. The family now plans to give a big bash (reception) to all its relatives and guests soon after the lockdown is over and the country gets rid of the pandemic.
