Surabhi HR, a marketing professional and an activist from Bengaluru, has a different plan for her wedding. On 23 October i.e. a fortnight before her wedding, she did a Facebook live to announce her wedding to the world and invited everybody to be a part of it.
Surabhi is getting married on 6 November and the only guests in her wedding would be around 500 under-privileged kids. She has named her wedding #SevaSeShaadi. There will be a mehendi ceremony with these children, a dance show for them and other activities.
While the kids will be the guest of honour, everybody in her friends list is also invited to be a part of the wedding. She wants them to be the volunteers, who can help organise the event, engage with kids and make this event special for everybody.
Surabhi’s fiancé is all along with her in spreading the message and execute the idea. More than 9,000 people have seen Surabhi’s FB live and the shares are increasing. Almost everybody seems to have liked the idea.
Getting away from the big-fat Indian weddings to put the money and resources to better use, is an idea picking up in the Indian society.
In 2012, a young sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of the tribal district of Narmada made a social statement when he chose to get married at a mass wedding to set an example before his community that the marriage of an IAS officer needs not be flashy.
In Hyderabad, a couple cut the wedding ceremonies short to donate refrigerator, chairs, printers, blankets, carpets, books, utensils and playing equipment on their son’s wedding.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)