Music troupe and wedding receptions -- Inevitably married by society

You are in and around Chennai and a friend invites you for a wedding reception and you accept; entering the place, the first thing you will surely notice is a local music troupe singing hit tracks from kollywood. Whatever be the circumstances your friend is in…be it your friend is in financial crisis out of wedding arrangements or simply he hates spoiling the get-together mood brewing in the wedding reception, music troupe is a must.

Amidst the gossips and get-together hugs everything gets absorbed; even if the world falls apart or the bride and groom decide not to marry… everything… No one has an ear for this troupe except for kids who are generally ignored during such events, elderly people who are usually avoided and introverts who wish to avoid such events but are forced to attend. These are the only people for whom the troupe plays.

My friend’s parents were contemplating on whether to arrange for a music troupe for his wedding reception. His uncle was convincing enough for taking the music troupe off the task-list and helped the hour long discussion to end. Arrangements were on a full swing and invitations were ready in a fortnight. Upon seeing the invitation, many of the invitees called upon. Some of them expressed the need for a music troupe performance; many wanted to know if they had any financial crunch; only very few wished for the wedding and confirmed their presence. Now to keep rumors at bay, a troupe performance was finally arranged in a hurry.

Music performances were a part of the wedding in olden days when the celebration use to take place for more than a day and has no relevance in the present trends. The society we live in thrusts upon such obligations that may be contradictory to our thoughts and way of life yet we have to concede to the fact that we are a part of a larger society.

Wall posters and Chennai

Posters for all seasons and reasons: You can spot them almost everywhere in Chennai. Posters for political events, general wishes for the local politicians, strike announcements, condemning the ruling political party, birthdays, celebrity functions, anniversaries, house vacancies, movie audio release, movie 10th day, movie 25th day, someone going abroad, obituaries, music concerts … the list is endless.

Thanks to the metro-rail construction that’s been happening in the city whose steel barricades are utilized for sticking these posters. Sad part is that the metro-rail contractors employ 2-3 men for removing these posters on a monthly basis. Sticking of posters start once the hustle-bustle of the city roads starts to diminish and goes on past midnight. I often see guys carrying the poster material and a bucketful of glue in a bicycle riding the entire stretch of metro-construction. Huge mammoth sized posters are printed in separates blocks and are stuck in a matrix fashion. I got to know that there is poster creation software used these days for the matrix type huge poster printing.

Wikipedia states that the wall posters have 200 years of history and the modern day posters emerged in 1870’s. Pure textual posters were present during the time of Shakespeare circa (1600). Posters then evolved into an art form as well before they were used for political or commercial propaganda.

Posters are a good medium of propaganda, but how much is the achieved penetration of information in this busy metro-life, with most of the people hooked to their own ear pods, succumbed to their thoughts and their way of thinking?? Is the amount of paper and money that’s being put is worth?