The city on Sunday stood witness to thousands of weddings on a day that is considered auspicious for buying gold. While the city’s thoroughfares saw more than usual razzmatazz of song, dance and exploding of crackers, there were a few who wondered if Sunday was indeed as auspicious as claimed.
In the absence of any possibility of collecting an official data, the estimates of total number of marriages that took place in the city on Sunday oscillated anywhere between 6,000 to 20,000. A few astrologers claimed that if there were 50,000 marriages set to take place this month, at least 20,000 were held this Sunday.
Renowned astrologer Suresh Kaushal said that Sunday, as per Hindu vedic ritual, was not considered very auspicious for marriage. “Some of the formation of nakshatras do not make this day auspicious,” he said, adding that people seemed to be taken in by the fact that the day was generally considered auspicious for buying gold.
Whether or not, the stars were in the exact position for blessing a communion of souls, the day did give all the jewellers in the city a chance to go all the way to the bank laughing. “You go in any jewellery shop and they have discounts to offer. But then, you also have to factor in the increase in the price of gold on this special day,” said Swati Sahay, who spend a couple of thousand of rupees for a gift to her niece getting married on Sunday night.
Right since evening, market places, like South Extension and Sarojini Nagar, had begun getting filled up with people out to do some last minute shopping.