Weddings held at home; guests attend online
NOIDA: With the second wave of Covid-19 striking the country in April, many couples who were set to get married decided to postpone their weddings.
To control the surge of cases, the UP government on April 5 had issued tight restrictions, including on weddings. According to it, there could only be at most 100 people in a closed space and 200 people in an open space. On April 17, night curfew was imposed. But frequent postponement pushed some couples to go ahead with their nuptials at home.
Only flatmate as guest
Gaur Green City 2 (Avenue 14) resident Mohit Chauhan got married this way on April 30. He was supposed to take his wedding procession (baraat) to his bride Pratibha’s hometown in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh.
“The plan was to take a procession of 50 people. But by April 20, the plan was to drive to Himachal with four members of my immediate family,” said 28-year-old Chauhan.the plan changed again as on April 26, Chauhan’s close friend lost his father. “Then we decided against any celebration.”
Pratibha (27) is a resident of Indirapuram and the couple work as software engineers with a multinational company in Noida.
“Pratibha had not gone home too. As the situation worsened, we had an idea, let’s just get married at my home. We informed our parents, mine were at Dhampur at the time, and they agreed as well. So, on April 30, we got married at the flat, with only my flatmate in attendance,” he said.
A priest conducted their ceremony online and all their relatives joined virtually.
Invited priest home
Another Noida resident, Arunima Sharma, 30, had a similar tale. “I had already postponed my wedding from February to April due to Covid. We had made bookings for April 25 but postponed. But had a change of mind and decided to marry at home itself. My sister, who was in town, joined us with my parents. A priest was invited who conducted the ceremony with full Covid protocols,” said Sharma.
Arunima’s husband, Siddharth’s (30) parents attended the ceremony virtually as they were in Jaipur.
A father’s last wish
At Ghaziabad’s Shipra Suncity Apartments in Indirapuram on April 30, Parul Kumar, 27, was set to get married on April 30 in in Noida. But just a day earlier, her father, Raj Kumar, 58, developed Covid symptoms and wa shifted to a facility.
Sanjay Singh, a neighbour and councillor of the area, said Kumar’s oxygen saturation level was at 40% (safe limit is over 95%). “He told me his last wish was to see his daughter get married,” said Singh.
The family immediately called the groom’s family from Pratap Vihar and a priest as well. The same night, at the facility, Parul got married to Sanjay Kumar, 30, as her father watched.
A few hours later, Raj Kumar passed away. “His cremation was done on April 30. Now, the whole family is in isolation as they tested positive,” said Singh.