Weddings and other events deferred as Covid cases rocket- Varsity shut- Temp Almost 40

Families who are still going ahead with the pre-scheduled marriages are scaling down on the festivities

The summer wedding season starts in late April and continues into May, said event managers

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Debraj Mitra   |  TT  |  Calcutta   |  26.04.21: Several weddings are being postponed in the wake of the fresh surge in Covid-19 cases, said event managers.

Families who are still going ahead with the pre-scheduled weddings are scaling down on the festivities.

Susmit Ray Choudhuri and Debjani Banerjee, techies based in Mumbai but are in Calcutta for close to a year because of the work-from-home culture, were to have got married at a banquet in Rajarhat on May 14.

They had hired an event aggregator six months ago. The number of invitees was around 250. Virtual wedding cards had been sent to guests when the second wave of the virus started making its impact felt. Two days ago, the two families decided to postpone the party to November, hoping things would improve by then.

“The fresh surge (in Covid-19 cases) is scarier than last time. We cannot risk a large gathering, with several aged guests. It is not only about the guests. A big event means exposure to several external agencies — decorators, caterers and other vendors. Going ahead with the event would have been too risky,” said Ray Choudhuri.

The couple will get their marriage registered at a new flat they have rented on April 30 in front of close family members.

The summer wedding season starts in late April and continues into May, said event managers.

Sudipto Hore, the general manager of Regenta Orko’s hotel in Kasba, said he has had “at least four wedding events postponed so far”.

Some other events are being scaled down substantially, he said.

“There is no government cap on the number of guests. But the guest lists of 200-250 are being brought down to 100 or lower, combining both the bride’s and the groom’s side,” he said.

“This time last year was pathetic in terms of business. But we were trying to stand up on our feet from November. But this (the second wave) blow has again knocked us down,” said Hore.

Event managers in Calcutta said the increasing deaths was driving fear this time. The death of a kin because of Covid-19 makes it virtually impossible for the bride or groom’s family to go ahead with the wedding, they said.

“Till a month ago, preparations for weddings were in full swing but things started changing over the past 10-15 days,” said Rishabh Bapna, the owner of a popular event management firm called Cherry Tree.

He was supposed to organise three parties — with over 200 people attending each — in the run-up to a gala wedding on April 27.

He got a call from the client a few days ago. They wanted only a dinner for 30-40 guests on April 26 before an austere wedding the next day.

A caterer in south Calcutta, who did not want to be named, said other social events like birthday parties had also been scaled down.

“I had a contract of serving around 60 guests at a birthday party of a boy in New Alipore on April 24. The order was cancelled at the last moment,” the vendor said.

Varsity shut

The Maualana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, to which all private engineering colleges in Bengal are affiliated, will remain shut till further orders because of Covid.

Almost 40

Monday was the hottest day in Calcutta this season, with the Celsius clocking 39.7 degrees. The maximum temperature was four notches above normal.