The wedding
season is just about winding down with young couples busy unwrapping all their
wedding gifts. But obviously, household items, jewellery, and suchlike are the
things that they’ll probably have received in abundance from various members of
their families. But two separate recent incidents may spark new ideas about how
things can take a different turn as far as wedding gifts between the brides’
and the grooms’ side are concerned.
In Kerala, a
young Muslim bridegroom, Ijaz Hakim presented 100 books as Mehr to his wife,
Ajna Nizam, at their Nikah. Instead of asking for all those glittering, shiny
things that young brides otherwise aspire to have, the bride, in this case, had
handed the groom a specific list of books that she wanted. The young man went
about hunting down each book and on his wedding day and delivered the cache at
his bride’s doorstep.
We all know
that the practice of giving and receiving marriage dowry is still one of our
social evils, which masquerades as our customs and traditions. But, just a few
months earlier, a young Hindu groom, Suryakanta Barik from Sonarpur in West
Bengal, who had refused a traditional ‘dowry’ received a surprise gift from his
wife Priyanka Bej and in-laws on his wedding day — books worth ₹1 lakh.
What lovely
and inspiring stories these are. I’ve written in the past about gifting books
on auspicious occasions and in fact, now I wonder how come I never thought of
this before. After all, weddings are the most special occasion of all. There is
always a traditional exchange of gifts and goodies between families during
weddings. But, instead of suit pieces and tea sets, wouldn’t it be nice to have
an exchange of knowledge? At a wedding, where the parents of the bride
constantly worry about how to please their daughter’s in-laws, imagine shifting
the fuss to what books best suit the groom’s literary tastes.
Keeping in
mind that India is supposed to be heading towards a knowledge-based economy,
wouldn’t it be nice if the home of a freshly-minted couple was lined with
books, instead of their necks and wrists being laden with some odd jewellery or
fancy watches? There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says — ‘A book holds a
house of gold’. If we are to be known as a progressive society, perhaps that’s
the kind of home that young couples need to build.
Source | Hindustan Times | 6th
February 2020
Regards
Mr. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library &
Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge
Repository
Khaitan & Co
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