Have you ever seen something like a centipede dance? Well, I have. I recently attended a wedding of different style (for me) close to our apple orchard in Chhajpur, Dist Shimla. Before I describe the wedding, let me describe to you the differences that we north Indians are used to.

Firstly in this area of Chhajpur, District Shimla and around, there is no dowry system. The girls parents are not forced to give any dowry unless they can afford to and want to.

Secondly, the boys side gives the jewelry that the bride wears on that day.

Thirdly, unlike other areas and casts, the Rajputs here were not allowed (by the then Rajas) to take out the BARAT (the wedding procession) to the girls house. The system is still being followed, although some families are trying to break out of this system.

About 5 or 6 people from the grooms side, minus the groom, come to the girls house and attend the ceremonies like Mehndi’ etc. and enjoy the hospitality of the girls side and next day they go away.

Then the bride, with the whole village (almost) in tow, goes to the groom’s house by a certain auspicious time for the ‘Pheras’. The Pheras are performed and the boy and girl are finally declared man and wife.

Now to the wedding that I attended. It was actually a double wedding. We were from the brides side. The groom’s niece also got married the same day (double wedding for the groom). While the niece’s marriage was held like a normal wedding where the groom takes the Barat to the brides house, for our bride, it was a normal wedding as per the customs of this area.

In the morning, just before the bride was to leave for the groom’s house, while they all were Dancing and enjoying I happened to record their dance. Not a good video but I have tried to catch their steps on the media with my cell phone. You must also notice the build up. Starting with just one man (obviously drunk in this case). Then others join in.

It was like a centipede dancing. So many men and women dancing together, holding one another by the waist and shoulders and not tripping on one another. The beauty of the steps is such that they were very safe even if their number increases ten times. Great!

And the best part of the wedding was that the brides parents were totally at ease as all the work was being done by the villagers. The food was cooked and served by them. The guests were looked after by the villagers. All help was made available to the brides parents. And there was nothing special about it as this is their custom and they always do it like this.

Cant we city people learn from our country cousins.