I am busy at work, so I will just post a bunch of links.
From Swami there is this about bringing of marriages under the Essential Commodities Act in Jammu and Kashmir.

“The ECA of 1955, which was notified in September 1973, has been re-invoked in view of the huge wastage of food involved in marriage feasts across the state,” Minister for Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Taj Mohiuddin told reporters.

The order stipulates that not more than 45 kg each of rice and meat must be consumed at a wedding. The bride’s side must not invite more than 75 guests, including 25 baratees. The groom can invite 50 guests, Mohiuddin said.

Swami got married only recently, so he probably doesn’t know that at one time this was the case all over India. There used to be a limit on the number of guests you could invite. And this is for those who think that it is not the system that makes people corrupt, but the people that corrupt the system. If you were a government employee whose unpleasant job is to barge into Marriage Mandaps and arrest people for overspending, how long do you think you are going to remain honest?

Yes Ramnath, I’ve read this advice from Swaminathan Aiyar to his brother Mani Shankar Aiyar. I will be bold enough to confess that I read it in the paper today morning (The kind of paper that you hold in your hands, I mean) . That’s good advice, but look at it this way. May be he was trying to make up for calling his brother a dog last sunday.

I am referring of course, to this passage.

Now, I have been a stern critic of the Gandhi family most of my life. I am not happy that the great party which won us independence has become one where Congressmen sit up and beg every time a member of the Gandhi family whistles. But my opposition to sectarian politics vastly outweighs my opposition to dynastic politics.