Come November and there is a choc o’ bloc of marriages across India. The

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wedding bells ring and call for traffic chaos. It’s all a part of the show. While we all take notice of the jewellery worn by the bride and can’t forget the biryani served under the canopy, we often disregard the essential ingredient of a typical Indian wedding – the music band.

Without a brass brand belching out few Bollywood numbers, marriages are incomplete. No baarat would dare leave the gates without the band baza. Ironically, they are also the most underrated and often a ridiculed lot in society.

As I write this piece, there is this band that has been practising for several hours under some trees. They go through this drill every day once the marriage season kicks in. Blowing their old trumpets and beating the drums while the conductor swings his stick, only to break for lunch.

Brass band is traditionally associated with discipline and order. The ones that’ll put to rhythm the marching of soldiers, their bugle calling everyone to attention and the rolling of the snare drum while they form a file. It is amazing that such a disciplined form of music is so conveniently associated with Indian marriages. And the much-respected musicians reduced to a motley crew of performers.

While the wedding band retains the uniform dress of their military counterpart, the music they play is a far cry from the marching beat. They are expected to play popular Hindi film songs. Some of the popular songs like, aaj mere yaar key saadhi hai have been mastered by almost every band, you’ll hear them in all marriages, but ask for anything new and you’ve ‘band bazaoed’ them.

That’s perhaps why the role of a band ends soon after the wedding march. From here the flashy DJ takes over, blasting your ears with his latest remix. The wedding DJ is so much in demand that some have dedicated their DJing exclusively to marriages.

The DJ is obviously much cooler than the bandwallah but he sure does not get as much attention as his friend playing in a club. I have my experience in this regard.

In one of my friend’s elder sisters wedding, my friends and I were asked to play English songs at the party. We eagerly agreed, hoping to grab some attention to our school band and ourselves. However, we had no idea where we were heading for – to the second floor from where we could see the crowd and they could only hear our music. No khatirdari, no applauses; we were just another item in the great Indian wedding.