After the global economic crisis, the Indian media has been talking of a slowdown, while not quite mustering the courage to utter the R-word yet. Stories of retrenchments, salary cuts, freezes on hiring, changes in spending patterns, abound. But, as with any story in India, the opposite is also true.

NIRMALA SHAMANUR forwards an undated wedding photograph that tells a story of a thousand words—and a few hundred grams  and some spare tolas—on why India remains the world’s biggest importer of the yellow metal. And why, perhaps, Abhinav Bindra‘s feat at Beijing didn’t quite capture the public imagination.

Disclaimer: This photograph is published not to intrude into the privacy of the new couple or to expose them to public scrutiny or ridicule, but to illustrate a larger point on the Indian economy