The bride died at her wedding, her sister replaced her

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The wedding continues while the body is in the next room. PHOTO: Pixabay

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The shocking incident is from India, where arranged marriages are flourishing

Indian weddings have always aroused interest because of their extravagance and rituals that lasted for days, but a wedding ceremony recently managed to attract the attention of the whole world. Something so shocking happened during it that, according to the popular understanding of normalcy, the wedding ritual had to stop immediately and the people involved in it did nothing for a long time. However, in India, things seem to be happening differently, and it is not emotions that are leading, but traditions and superstitions.

At the end of May, the groom Manjesh Kumar marries his chosen one Surbhi. While the couple performs an important ritual of making seven promises, circling the fire, the bride falls to the ground. An ambulance was called and taken to hospital, but doctors were unable to save her because she suffered a massive heart attack. Indian customs at death dictate that the body of the deceased be returned to the home and kept by relatives until it is cremated. Surbhi’s parents do this, especially since Manjesh’s family is still in their house. The reason is the existing stigma of not returning without a bride when you go to get married. There is also an agreed dowry.

The two families begin to discuss what to do, and it occurs to someone that Surbhi’s younger sister may take her place. This leads to the absurd situation of Nisha being changed and continuing the ritual started by her poop.

“It was a very strange situation, because my younger sister’s wedding was taking place while the older one’s body was lying in another room,” Brother Saurab told local media. According to him, this was a very complicated decision for their family.

Uncle Ajab Singh emphasizes that they have never experienced such different emotions, because neither the happiness of the wedding nor the pain of death could be experienced. “We were torn between the fact that one daughter was lying dead in one room and the other was getting married in the next room,” he explains. However, the elderly members of the family believe that they did the right thing, as there is a belief that the interruption of a marriage ceremony brings misfortune.

That’s why another Indian wedding had an unexpected end a month earlier. During the days-long rituals, the groom Darampal disappears. After his search by relatives did not yield results, reports were filed with the police. “We received a complaint from the bride’s family for not complying with an appointment and a request from the groom’s father to help find him,” explained the police station in the city of Maharajpur. As their search did not yield results, but they still found that it was an escape, not a kidnapping, a proposal was made for one of the guests to take the place of the missing groom and the wedding continued. However, this was not dictated by any spontaneous manifestation of feelings towards the abandoned bride, but was done amid an in-depth analysis among those present at the celebration of who was best suited to take the place of the runaway groom.

The opinion of older family members is actually quite key in choosing young people with whom to enter into a marriage, as they themselves usually do not have enough money to finance their wedding. In addition, there is a tradition for the bride to have a dowry to give to her chosen one. In recent years, Indian authorities have been working to bring some justice to the issue, following suicides of people who have failed to repay their debts, which have accumulated so that they can marry their daughters. A fund for organizing mass weddings for the poor has been set up, in which the rich can set aside 1% of what they spend on their wedding ceremony if it exceeds $ 7,000.

But no matter how outdated for the Western world arranged lavish weddings may seem outdated and violate free choice in marriage, in India they continue to be seen as a very reliable means of achieving family happiness. According to human rights activists, this is largely due to the powerful impact that Bollywood films have on the lives of Indians. Their plots follow local traditions on the issue en masse and rarely offer a different point of view. In addition, a number of Bollywood stars have also become married through arranged marriage and consider this approach to finding a partner very good. Among them are Vivek Oberoi and Priyanka Alva, who have been a family since 2010. In his interviews, the actor explains that he is happy with his marriage because he was terribly lonely before entering into an alliance with Priyanka. “We are blessed with two amazing children and every day I fall even more in love with my wife. Arranged marriage brings with it the romance of discovering ourselves over time, “said Vivek Oberoi. For him, marriage is more than attraction.

Proponents of arranged marriages argue that falling in love happens after the wedding and thus preserves the excitement and sense of adventure for years to come, unlike those in love, in which the partners are usually aware of each other before the wedding. The participation of the parents in choosing a suitable partner gives the much-needed sober judgment of who will really be one, and their help usually continues after the marriage, as they feel committed to supporting the young family in order for it to be successful. Of course, this is not always the case, and there are many unhappy young Indians who have to live with someone just because they are liked by the family. That is why lately there is a tendency for them to choose their partner and for the adults to give their approval for her.

Around the world, they are considered suspicious and difficult to recognize

For a large part of the world, arranged marriages are suspicious, even in some countries they are equated with those on account and prosecuted by law. The main motive is that the will of the people entering into such unions is not leading, therefore it is difficult to hold them accountable for them.

For example, New Zealand refuses a visa to the wife of Indian Ketan Barhate, who lives in its territory. In June 2019, he traveled to his homeland to find a wife. He offers his chosen one Kalindi an arranged marriage, but since he does not have enough time to realize it, he promises to return to India in November. He does, they get married, but the pandemic has already started and the bride has been denied entry to New Zealand due to coronavirus restrictions. So she stays in India.

For a year, Ketan made arrangements for her to obtain a visa to join him in New Zealand, but was always denied. The reason is that the two have no evidence of a relationship before their wedding.

The groom will have to return to India earlier this year to try to collect them. The two live together for two months. They also contact an immigration lawyer to help them. Eventually, in May, Kalindi received a visa to live with her husband in New Zealand. According to their lawyer, the two have gone through quite turbulent months and the New Zealand authorities have been able to show more professionalism, empathy and common sense in dealing with the circumstances surrounding their case. Since there is no specified period to meet the requirement for living together, they should be happy that Kalindi and Ketan have decided to take such a step, instead of living in different places and just seeing each other after the man has no home of his own. in India.

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