Indian Weddings and Leaderships Lessons to Engage Employees: A Confluence
The bloom of a flower has always fascinated me. Just before it calling a day, I watch them as buds. The next morning as I glide past them, I am transfixed. They are flowers- bloomed in full glory glistening with the morning dew- from jasmines, roses, hibiscus silhouetted by the green leaves and the blue sky. The very act of the bloom, quick in its dexterity, seamless in its motion and blissful in my ignorance is something my mind has always pondered. In my growing years when I saw the first footage on TV that brought the fluidity of the bloom to the forefront, it brought me closer to nature.
What brought those memories back? Weddings. Well, in a wedding we are so caught up in the act of celebration with the congregation of friends and family acting as the impetus that I have never observed weddings from the vantage point of a observer of human nature. A phone call from my friend changed that.
“Three day bonanza of fun, dance and merriment, with an army of well wishers in the thousands- is that what it is?” my friend Colin echoed on the phone with an infectious enthusiasm. I had just mentioned to him that I was traveling to India to attend a wedding. In the same breath, he continued “Bring me stories and pictures, and get me nuggets of eastern wisdom, I am fascinated by the different cultures.” Colin’s quest for learning brought a question that was in the back of my mind to the forefront.
The biggest memories that come to me are going to church in my hometown. Every Sunday was a special schedule. I got to wear my best clothes of the week, which was usually a dress, long socks, and a bow for my hair. Once my whole family was ready we would walk to church. On our way, my mom would often stop and talk to neighbors. Sometimes I would have to remind her that we were going to church or tell her that we were going to be late. Mass was an hour or so. After mass, my mom and dad would give me money to buy an ice cream or junk food. When I finished my ice cream, we would walk home with neighbors who lived on the same street. Walking home everybody would talk about how beautiful the ceremony was and how well the priest explained the Gospel. I loved the sense I was given by my neighbors. Comforting and belonging is what I felt when I was around them. McClay and McAllister refer to this as “anchor our memories in something more substantial than our thoughts and emotions,” which is my hometown connecting me back to my neighbors at my
As a first generation Indian-American, I am no stranger to being a part of a distinct community while observing two unique cultures. Traveling to India exposed me to a dynamic population with rich diversity comprising of numerous languages and differing religions. Though these individuals may have had differing customs from their neighbors, there were similar ambitions to conquer grinding poverty. This poverty can be clearly noticed by seeing citizens sleeping on floors of a railway station, or the lack of air conditioning in searing hot weather. The frailty and mortality of the human condition was starkly visible in India. As a fellow human, I was humbled not only by the lack of privilege and opportunity of many citizens, but also by their
Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settled together in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following their arranged wedding. Ashoke is an engineer by training and has no trouble adapting to his new life. Ashima, resists all things American and pines for her family. Ashima remains silent about her feelings of loneliness, however Ashoke is aware of how much she misses her homeland. Ashima and Ashoke have been raised in traditional Bengali homes where having servants is part of the culture. At their traditional Indian wedding ceremony, Ashima circled her husband seven times. I can envision this ceremony as this practice is the same in a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony I also engaged in. There are many traditions that are cross-cultural creating an understanding among the similarities.
The inherent personal expression found when one includes culture to a wedding ceremony provides a timeless experience for a bride or groom who see their marriage as a transitional rite of passage. Engaging in heritage can be a personal, frequent pursuit for some, thereby suggesting deeper importance when it is included in a wedding ceremony through venues, specific events, a symbolic activity, and so forth. Our society actively promotes this theory, from media resources meant specifically to appeal to the everyday American to smaller communal hubs like religious circles or family members who instill couples with the distinct values they subsequently carry into marital lives.
In our society today, culture is not what it used to be hundreds of years ago. There is no more “pure” culture. Our culture today is enriched with many different traditions and customs that are being shared and adopted. Due to emigration and immigration, a variety of diverse customs, beliefs, and knowledge moved with every exiting and entering human being. Thus, changing and shaping the culture of many. Throughout the world, the beliefs and religious views of culture are dissimilar around the world. By taking the time to read, listen and learn about certain people’s culture, there will be knowledge and understanding that will be gained.
Commonly, culture is considered large and extravagant events and holidays, such as Diwali, a wedding, or the Fourth of July. Each event and holiday have specific traits and rituals that occur to distinguish the event from everyday life, but culture isn’t exclusive to lavish events such as these and include everyday activities such as watching a football game and listening to a speech. Every belief, behavior, and symbolic system that a person shares with another is an example of culture. Authors Anne Fadiman and Joshua Reno explores the different aspects of culture and ethnography in their two books, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, and Waste Away: Working and
Many cultures have certain traditions that are very important to them. For example, the Hmong culture has a tradition about marriage. When a Hmong man wants to get married and start a family, he has to ask two specific men called “Mekoob”, to go with him to his women’s house and formally ask the parents for their daughter’s hand in marriage. They later talk about the wedding plan and the price for everything. The husband and his family have to pay for all the expenses.
In the film Monsoon Wedding, Indian culture is illustrated in the practices of the traditional Punjabi wedding. The wedding in the film was arranged as is the norm in Indian culture. Thought the wedding was rushed it was not forced. Aditi wanted to be married having realised the uncertainty of her previous relationship with a married man.
The Islamic and Hindu religions have an array of similarities and differences regarding their customs and laws in relation to the ‘wedding ceremony’.
Some of the spiritual influences that helped shaped the Indian native religion was the intersection of trade, learning and culture. India was one of the greatest civilization of all times and their goal of a civilized life was defined different from the West. India had the largest gathering of people when it came to the Komala festival. The Komala Indian festival was a spiritual gathering where fifteen to twenty million people will come together to renounce the material world for meditation and hostility. In other words, India’s great tradition focused mainly on renunciation, nonviolence, and the inner life.
We R One Weddings is a wedding officiating agency that is located in Aurora, Illinois. Rev. Victoria Burnett is their ordained, full service wedding officiant. Rev. Victoria Burnett has been ordained in the year 2000. She is conducting 35 to 50 weddings per year. Rev. Victoria Burnett is experienced in all religion denominations. She is a five-time Couple's Choice Award winner. Rev. Victoria Burnett is a proud member of the American Association of Wedding Officiants. We R One Weddings welcomes the civil /non religious and same sex parties. We R One Weddings also cherishes the theme weddings, eloping, and the renewal of vows. Each ceremony they prepare is customized in a collaborative approach. We R One Weddings strives to make the couple’s
Central Idea: India is a fascinating country with diverse traditions related to their language, their costumes, and their cuisine.
Marriage is a significant social event in contemporary society. It is a means of building new bonds between two individuals and their subsequent families. The foundations of memorable weddings are built on those that bring often-distant family and friends together for the occasion, while dressed in their most sophisticated attire, surrounded by elegant flowers, a night of dancing, captured through the lens of an exceptional photographer. Although Hinduism and Islam are two extremely distinctive religions, their matrimonial customs do share some comparable elements, like most other cultural wedding ceremonies. In both religions, they are devotedly obedient concerning religious and cultural practices in their marital ceremonies.
In terms of marriage and weddings, there is a pure mix of cultures within the Hindu and the Malay weddings, which are
As such, firsthand approach to Indian tradition is lacking at large, and the idea of tradition being through the media of interpretative tradition has engendered the danger of a distorted view of tradition. The distortion often swings between two extremes – either in viewing tradition as Everything, or as Nothing.