Weddings give the jitters as cash suddenly vanishes

NEW DELHI: Delhi-based businessman Ramesh Chandra Verma faced a big dilemma on Wednesday. Guests and relatives had arrived for his son's wedding on November 11, but he was embarrassingly short of cash. "We were forced to make do with the basic because the ration shop would not accept debit/credit cards," Verma said. He said he would go on Thursday and redeposit the Rs 1.5 lakh he had withdrawn for wedding expenses, but was exasperated that he could withdraw only Rs 20,000 per week when the nuptials were days away.

" People with wedding plans are the worst victims of this crisis," said Verma. "I will have to keep my son's marriage a low-key affair though I am not happy about it." Rahul Kumar would agree wholeheartedly with Verma. The hotel management professional is a nervous wreck. He too is getting married on November 11. "No one in my family is able to think of a solution," Kumar said.

Payments for the hall, tent house costs, travel and other major overheads can be made by cheque, but flowers, decoration and items needed for wedding rituals require cash. "I do not have any usable cash," moaned Vinod Anand, agonising over the marriage of his daughter to a software engineer. "Only six days are left and I have no money," he said, his dreams of a grand ceremony in tatters.

And what is an Indian wedding without gold jewellery? "Many buyers who only had Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes returned without buying anything," reported Pritesh Goyal, director of SLG Jewellers in Lajpat Nagar. A jeweller in Karol Bagh confided that "some jewellers used the opportunity to sell gold at a premium to people who came with paper money."

Tent house owners complained they wouldn't be able to pay their labourers and irregular staff. Siddharth, a light seller at Chandni Chowk, said people were not buying the fancy lights for lack of low-denomination currency notes. Ghulam Mustafa, who sells decoratives that fly off the shelves in wedding season, fretted, "I've had no customer since the morning, that when it is peak wedding season."

Gift buyers are already looking at other options. "We will have to buy gift coupons now, though we always used to give the newly-weds money so they could buy stuff of their choice," said homemaker Pushpa, who has to attend a wedding. Anil Kumar Yadav, a private company executive, had a frustrating time on Wednesday finding a shop that would accept Rs 500 or Rs 1,000. Yadav was out to buy gifts for his sister, who is getting married next week. "The government's decision has hit our plans," he fumed. "The move has caused major inconvenience to common people."