They say money can’t buy you love, but in India, it can certainly buy you a helluva wedding. In that country – and even in its worldwide diaspora – weddings are not to be taken lightly. You might’ve heard about the “Big Fat Greek Wedding”? Well, they have nothing on even the lowest peasant Indian village wedding. Indians believe it’s a matter of their honour to spend whatever they can – and then some – on their daughters’ weddings. And it’s always the daughters’ weddings since the groom arrives at the brides’ homes for the wedding rites to be performed. In villages, it’d be a matter of honour for the ENTIRE village to ensure the wedding is over the top – and give the groom’s entourage no excuse to complain!!
But the family of Mukesh Ambani — the richest man in India and Asia and 11th in the world at US$115 billion and owner of Reliance Industries and the IPL Mumbai Indians – took the pre-wedding bash for their youngest SON Anant to a completely new level. Two weeks ago, they commandeered a small town in Gujrat and for three days held a bash that could only be compared to the spectacular Grand Darbar of 1911 when George V came to India to be crowned Emperor. The event set back the Ambanis US$152M and one newspaper described it as an “ode to excess”. The dress code alone for the guests ran to nine pages!!
For entertainment, billionaire Rihanna was flown in to give her first concert in 8 years – at a cost of US$8 million!! The world famous Senegalese singer Akon was second billing!! From Bollywood, came the three ruling Khans – Shahrukh, Amir and Salman – on a single stage – dancing to the Oscar-winning song “Naatu” ! Imagine that megastar Amitabh Bachan was almost a sideshow!! Some of the guests included the world one-percenters Bill Gates and Paula Hurd ; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Ivana Trump and husband Jared, cricket icons Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
Twenty-one chefs prepared 75 types of dishes for breakfast, more than 225 types of dishes for lunch, 275 types of dishes for dinner, and 85 types of dishes for the midnight meal”!! . The idea being that none of the guests would – God forbid!! – have to suffer the indignity of eating the same food twice. Just like the Royal Darbar of 1911, while there were no tiger hunts for the guests, there had to be elephants galore!!
Now as for the wedding – scheduled for July, the father of the bride Radhika Merchant – who’s just an ordinary billionaire – will now have to outdo the Ambanis to save face since he’ll be the host!!
After all, how much you can afford to waste on a wedding signals your status!!
…the winning % in 2025
With there being no “built-in” voting majorities anymore in good ole Mudland, the PPP and PNC behemoths are gonna have to do whatever it takes to get “outside” votes. But this is nothing new, innit? The traditional “swing” vote has always been the Amerindians and their solid 10% — and they know it. As such, both parties have courted them over the years and they seem to’ve settled pragmatically on splitting their votes so’s not to alienate either of the big guns!!
But a new variable voting block are the Venezuelans who’ve flooded our shores as “migrants” and “refugees”. PPP GS Jagdeo has assured us that ninety-percent of them are of Guyanese descent who can be registered as voters. We don’t have any firm numbers on how many they are – but estimates range between 30-40,000!! Now, this is beyond significant since the difference between the two parties in 2020 was a mere 16,000votes!!
Your Eyewitness now understands why Spanish is now so popular!!
…cross-over votes
The PPP – going after traditional PNC voters – started paving a garbage-strewn alley in East Ruimveldt called Genip Lane that adjoined a play area. A PNC MP complained bitterly about the PPP taking away play space!!
