Instead of perfume, it is the smell of sanitiser that pervades the air. The groom is welcomed by a mustachioed guard holding a thermal device to test his temperature before the bride’s sister brings the aarti thali (plate).
It is next to impossible to convince the female guests to put the masks on. After all, they have spent thousands of rupees on make-up. This wedding season, life in a banquet hall has been reduced to a long list of dos and don’ts and the stakeholders are feeling the pinch.
As the guests come and go, the manager is busy reminding the parents of the groom and the bride to keep the number to 100, the prescribed limit by the government. The reference point is a Meerut case where the manager of the banquet hall, along with fathers of bride and groom, were booked for flouting COVID-19 norms. Nobody wants to be labelled a “super spreader”. “Keep them floating”, is the new mantra but is hard to practise. How would you ask the groom’s friends jiving to…