WEDDINGS
AND FUNERALS
If you happen to live in India then one of the scenes of the greatest grandeur and opulence is the sight of an Indian wedding of the rich and powerful.
The brass bands, the loudspeakers, the lights that encircle the homes and streets, the large sprawling tents, the long procession of expensive cars, Mercedes, Fords, Chevrolets etc. There is an atmosphere of self importance
If you happen to live in India then one of the scenes of the greatest grandeur and opulence is the sight of an Indian wedding of the rich and powerful.
The brass bands, the loudspeakers, the lights that encircle the homes and streets, the large sprawling tents, the long procession of expensive cars, Mercedes, Fords, Chevrolets etc. There is an atmosphere of self importance
and bon
homie in the air, gaiety confined to equals. If you are poor or in rags then
you can be easily thrown out by security guards. It reminds one of the weddings
of the Maharajas of old.
And then when these rich and powerful people die, there is the same long procession of cars, a feeling of solemnity and self importance in the air, and the funeral procession is equally long, with the same cavalcade of the rich and the powerful in their expensive cars.
When a poor man marries there is but a small shabby brass band, the beating of drums, a motley gathering of the poor and a feeling of humility and lowliness in the air.
And then when the poor man dies there is that same small crowd at the funeral, the same few friends or neighbours that carry the corpse on their shoulders.
There are some poor folk who die and are simply carted away in Municipal Trucks.
Yet, the fact remains, that whether they were taken to their final resting place in cavalcades of Mercedes cars, or whether they were carted there on the shoulders of poor men ---both the rich and the poor become equal in death.
They both leave the world with empty hands.
And then when these rich and powerful people die, there is the same long procession of cars, a feeling of solemnity and self importance in the air, and the funeral procession is equally long, with the same cavalcade of the rich and the powerful in their expensive cars.
When a poor man marries there is but a small shabby brass band, the beating of drums, a motley gathering of the poor and a feeling of humility and lowliness in the air.
And then when the poor man dies there is that same small crowd at the funeral, the same few friends or neighbours that carry the corpse on their shoulders.
There are some poor folk who die and are simply carted away in Municipal Trucks.
Yet, the fact remains, that whether they were taken to their final resting place in cavalcades of Mercedes cars, or whether they were carted there on the shoulders of poor men ---both the rich and the poor become equal in death.
They both leave the world with empty hands.
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