ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
BHUBANESWAR: Ruchika Priyadarsini’s joy knows no bounds. She had always dreamt of her would-be husband riding a horse to their wedding and that is about to be fulfilled. “I had requested him to come on a horse and he has agreed,” she gushed. ” That would be a dream come true,” she said. Ruchika Priyadarsini could consider herself lucky as more and more grooms are opting for cars. Samarendra Satpathy of Aayojan, event planners, said the marriage season so far has seen below-average demand for horses. He, however, attributed it to the scorching heat. “Due to the scorching summer, people prefer AC cars,” he said.
He said that a horse could cost more than Rs 10,000, which would go up if transport cost was added. The cost can go up even further – as high as Rs 18,000 -if a palanquin is thrown in. ” Only about 30 per cent of our clients prefer horses,” he said adding that these are sourced from dealers in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri. Musaraf Ali, a horse owner, said he has been in the business for the past two decades. “This has been our only source of livelihood,” he said. He said the marriage season lasted for around four months after which the animals have to be engaged for other work. “The horses are then used in activities like film shoots and riding-training. A horse starts working at the age of four.
Our eldest horse Shahenshah, who is 16-years-old, has taken part in more than 50 marriages,” he said. Ali, who lives in Choudwar, lamented that people argued over the prices charged for the horses. “They must understand how difficult it is to maintain the horses,” he said. He said that the charges depend on where the horse is used. “If it is taken outside the city then the charges will be obviously more,”
he said. Yusuf, who has been in the business for the past 15 years, also said demand has been low this season, adding that in the city, people preferred horse-drawn carriages over single horses.
Rudrakshya Badu of Eventvive, however, said there was equal demand for cars and horses with demand for the latter going up during the winter. Manas Das of Bahaghara, another event management firm, is optimistic about the continuing role of horses in weddings. He said horses were still in demand and will continue to be as people want to make their weddings memorable. “The groom riding a horse to his wedding is an image that has
endured for eternity,” he said. As for cost, he said the difference was not much between the four wheelers and the four-legged, particularly if the car is the smaller type and not the luxury variants. He sounded a warning, though: The horses can turn volatile due to excessive noise during the procession.
Rooting for horses, too was Saurav Das. Talking to Orissa POST, he said his father and forefathers had rode horses to their weddings and he was not going to be any different. “It is a tradition I will not miss,” he said.
