It is high time to rename Midtown Manhattan “Indian Cultural Center or Indian Wedding Street” in New York City. Another Indian band baaja baraat with full-on music and dance shut down 5th Avenue for a few hours last week. About a year ago, Indian American CEO Varun Navani’s opulent wedding procession with over 400 guests took over Wall Street and broke the Internet in May 2025. From Indian Day Parade in August to Yoga Day celebrations to Times Square Diwali, Manhattan witnesses the best of Indian culture and festivals through the year.
Dr. Avish Jain, a medical journalist at ABC News, tied the knot with Pankti Doshi, a genetic counsellor, in a big fat Indian wedding in New York last week. It was a 5-day wedding event across New York, including pre-wedding ceremonies like Ganesh puja, bridal shower, mehendi, and sangeet. The newly-wed couple called it a family reunion cum a cultural festival; indeed, there are many things to see, do, and experience in an Indian wedding, irrespective of the size, scale, and budget.
Pankti Doshi-Avish Jain’s pre-wedding festivities were intimate and indoors unlike the baraat at Manhattan’s 5th Avenue, a bustling thoroughfare in the heart of New York City, with iconic landmarks: Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Empire State Building, Central Park, and Trump Tower. Their baraat with boundless energy of the guests in hundreds danced all the way to Rockefeller Center, the wedding venue. Unsurprisingly, its Instagram video went viral over the weekend.
In the Hindi-speaking region of India, baraat is an unrestrained street bash with DJs and dhol players, lights and lamps, family and friends. Though thousands of miles away from India, Avish Jain and Pankti Doshi had an equally high-octane band baaja baraat in New York City. Both the groom and the bride danced their hearts out to a live DJ that churned out foot-tapping Bollywood numbers. Equally enthusiastic were the family, friends, relatives, and guests who grooved.
Interestingly, the groom – Dr Avish Jain – turned a DJ in his own wedding procession, since he is a professional singer. He pursues music as a part-time passion and releases digital albums. He is a performer too. Edison’s Indian-American Mayor Sam Joshi invited him to perform live at the Diwali event in 2025. Avish described his 5-day wedding extravaganza, from pre-wedding photography to saat pheras (seven vows), “a love letter to New York City.”
Indian wedding processions, be it CEO Varun Navani’s or Avish Jain’s, taking over busy streets in US cities continue to go viral and get a flak at the same time. It divides the global Indian Diaspora into two groups; one group despises baraat as an unnecessary hurly-burly in the public space, whereas the other group rejoices in the celebration of Indian culture abroad. Though Avish Jain and Pankti Doshi obtained necessary permits from the city mayor office for certain fees, their baraat did not remain immune to criticism.
Big fat Indian weddings not only shut down bustling locales in America but also take over skies. Global aviation has a history of lavish Indian weddings, like Air India wedding on board, NRI Sanjai Jalaj’s wedding at Terminal 5 of New York JFK Airport, and an NRI wedding on a flying Boeing 747 in the Middle East. Specially, Gujarati, Marwari, Punjabi, and Telugu NRIs leave no stone unturned to make weddings unforgettable events, from inviting international artists to booking business class flights for high-profile guests,” said Sourav Agarwal, Senior Editor of IndianEagle.com.
