Patna: An Indian marriage is all about glamour, dancing and wasteful expenditure but a groom in Bihar reached his in-laws’ home riding a bicycle with the message to save the environment in what is being described as a “typical ideal wedding”.
The event in Samastipur district of Bihar on Sunday has sparked debates in the society.
The marriage of Sanjeev Sah, a resident of Ramchandrapur-Dussehara village, had been fixed with Samrita Kumari, a resident of Rajaisi village in Samastipur district. However, the groom decided to use the occasion to spread the message of saving environment.
Eventually, he led the wedding procession riding a cycle with no fleet of vehicles or high-decibel sound of a DJ van following him. What was interesting was that all the 60 guests joining his wedding procession, too, used cycles to reach the house of the bride.
That was just a part of it. Witnesses said the groom also carried a bundle of saplings with him and went on planting them en route to the house of his would-be wife with the shouts of “Plant trees, save girls”.
Finally when the wedding procession reached the home of the bride, the guests were served food on banana leaves and water in earthen glass, instead of high-quality plates and glasses.
“The global warming has been a matter of serious concern in the society and hence I decided to use this auspicious occasion to spread this message,” Sanjeev Sah, the groom, said.
The villagers have appreciated the move, describing it as need of the hour. “I had attended many weddings in the past but never saw such a marriage,” remarked a social activist Gyandeep.
Eco-friendly marriages are slowly becoming a trend in Bihar with the new generation grooms carrying out tree plantations, welcoming the guests with saplings and holding seminars over how to save environment, much to the delight of environments.
Last year, a debate about how to increase green cover and save environment was organised at a wedding function in the same district before the marriage rituals formally got started.
At another wedding solemnised in Sheikhpura district, mass plantation was done around the village by the groom and his relatives and guests. Identical scenes were witnessed in Rohtas district when the newly-wed couple planted a sapling.
