izzy wrote:
and the roka ( whats that) ceremony
Its an old north indian tradition. It stems from the term 'rok' as in 'Stop'. In essence after the Roka ceremony in the olden days, the girl's side would 'stop' looking for a 'suitable boy' for their girl. This is the boy's side giving firm committment before the engagement that they are indeed interested in the relation and please put a hold to all other search activities.
There is also not too much lost if either of the side changes its mind since either of them can do due diligence and find out more about the bride or groom's background before cementing it further with a formal engagement where a date for the wedding is also fixed. I know all this because a very close friend of mine had a 'roka' ceremondy and the girl's side called off the wedding when after a few more weeks and days they found out that my friend wanted to pursue an MBA and the girl's side thought, oh if he was going to study more then how could he support their daughter. Today that friend heads an entire division (close to 3000 people report to him) of a major software outsourcing giant. He did do his MBA funded by his employers and sits very pretty in life. That was just an aside
And here's a link to the news on CNN-IBN -
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/31191/ais ... big-b.html