How the Brits stand on ceremony! It was the Coronation time (or was it only the "proclamation" time? You never know! What with the way the Brits insist on ceremony!) of Charles III, oh, yes, the Prince Charming of the Padmini Kolhapure fame. After the Queen's sad death due to old age, this man, waiting in the curtains for almost six to seven decades, finally became the king in his seventies, or, at least, was "proclaimed" to be one!
The entire pageant was worth a look. True, the monarchy in Britain has more of a token value. Often there are debates about its efficacy, valency, and necessity. And yet the British do not merely carry it on, but actually love their monarchs.
The "proclamation pageant" was quite some proof thereof. Every minute tradition was flawlessly followed. For once, the grandeur made you "suspend the colonial disbelief", so to say Every detail was exactly defined, religiously followed. That added a unique gravitas to the scene
Some time back, i presented a paper on Thomas Becket, the king's man turned archbishop, a man caught between duty and affection. Anyways, Becket is one of the most interesting personas in the British history. I absolutely adore his saga. While watching the "proclamation", all those dramatic references were coming alive, each persona, the clerk to clergy, the Dukes to the king, all the 'excellencies' were getting "a name and a place" as the Bard would put it, however modern.
Indeed standing on ceremony, whether literally and/or metaphorically, adds a sincerity, a genuineness to this banal life of ours, full of stupid treacheries as it is. The minute details may appear pompous, yet they are even a visual link to history, to the modernity being and becoming.
Our very own Ganapati festival can be an example. In our homes, for sure, we follow each and every tradition devotedly, in both senses of this term. Even in the public space, too, certain conventions are beyond any conveniences. Look at the installation and immersion of the five "manache Ganapati" in Pune, for example.
True, while standing on ceremony, certain archaic and hence questionable practices could be and should be negotiated, must be deleted, if necessary. Yet the sense of past is what makes our present, and adorns our future! Long live standing on ceremony in every sense of the term!
Pratima@"Rituals and ceremony in their due times (have) kept the world under the sky and the stars in their courses," says Terry Pritchard. Yes, indeed!
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