Lucknow: There are no high-end heritage hotels, no sprawling resorts and no picturesque locations. Yet, all wedding venues in districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh are booked to capacity from October to December and from January to April next year.
It is not as if suddenly a large number of weddings are taking place in these districts — it is just that people from Bihar are spilling over to eastern UP to host weddings in their families.
And the reason for this is the ban on liquor in Bihar.
Gaurav Anand from Siwan will be organising his sister’s wedding in November from Gorakhpur.
“The groom’s family is insisting on liquor being served during the functions and even my relatives feel that absence of liquor would rob the event of its fun element. So we have decided to have a destination wedding of sorts and both the families will come to Gorakhpur for the wedding”, he said.
Hotels in Gorakhpur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Mau, Chandauli, Maharajganj and even Varanasi are already booked to capacity for the wedding season in October- December.
In fact, local residents are finding it difficult to find guest houses and hotels for their weddings.
For a large number of family in the Hindi heartland, serving liquor is becoming a tradition of sorts, especially for the ‘baraatis’, and absence of it is seen as an insult to the guests. With the ban on liquor in Bihar, the common man is finding it difficult to make the guests ‘happy’— ‘kaise guest ko happy karenge’, they ask.
Vishwas Rai, a businessman from Vaishali, who is preparing to host his daughter’s wedding from Varanasi in October, said that despite the added cost of travel and boarding and lodging, he would be spared uncalled for tensions.
“If you serve liquor discreetly, the cops come and demand hefty bribes. There is the tension of dealing with cops during the wedding and also that of a guest misbehaving with them. To avoid all such hassles, it is better to pay more but get peace of mind”, he said.
For hotels and guest houses in eastern UP district, the liquor ban in Bihar has created a business boom.
“We have created packages for families from Bihar that include hotel, food, local transport, flower decorations, band, beauty packages for the bride and even a local guide for last minute shopping. We also make arrangements for pundits if the guests want. In short, if someone is coming here for a wedding, we make sure that there is no problem”, said Rajiv Singh, the manager of a well known hotel in Gorakhpur.
Some hotels are even arranging for local sightseeing and visits to temples for the guests after the wedding.
