Sudhir and Mickchiko exchange garlands in Varanasi. Picture by Sanjay Gupta

Varanasi, Dec. 15: Had Manmohan Singh known about Mickchiko and Sudhir Tripathi, he might have looked beyond the sushi as the brand ambassador for Indo-Japanese partnership in his speech at Tokyo’s parliament.

“Love in Varanasi,” sister Sikochiko giggled as Mickchiko placed a garland around Sudhir’s neck here on Wednesday night amid blowing conch shells and exploding crackers.

Varanasi tour guide Sudhir wed his girlfriend from Tokyo hours before the Prime Minister grabbed at a supposed Indian craze for sushi, a fish delicacy, to woo Japanese trade and support for the Indo-US nuclear deal.

After the exchange of garlands, Sudhir put vermilion on his bride’s forehead as a loudspeaker blared “Love in Tokyo”, a number from a 1966 Bollywood flick starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh.

But Sudhir’s Japanese sister-in-law was right: love hadn’t bloomed in Tokyo but at Varanasi five years ago as the tour guide took Mickchiko and her friends around the many tourist spots in the temple town.

After she went back to Japan, the couple stayed in touch through the Internet.

“By the time they decided to get married, they had exchanged at least 200 emails,” one of the groom’s relatives said.

Six months ago, Sudhir flew to Tokyo to meet Mickchiko’s parents, who readily gave their nod to the cross- cultural marriage.

The bride’s parents — the father in kurta-pyjama and mother in a Banarasi sari — were at Utsav Vatika, a marriage hall in Vara- nasi’s Rampur locality, on Wednesday night to bless the couple.

Mickchiko, in a scarlet Banarasi, kept breaking into giggles as the priest ran the gamut of Hindu rituals with Bhojpuri and Bollywood hits playing in the background.

So, will it be Tokyo or Varanasi after marriage?

Sudhir’s family understandably wants the couple to settle down in Varanasi after a short stay in Japan, but the groom’s friends said he might be eyeing a life in Japan.

Sudhir was non-committal. “It’s not certain; let’s see how things work out for us,” he said.

Sudhir and Mickchiko aren’t an exception, the Prime Minister could have told the Japanese lawmakers.

In 2002, eight men in Bihar’s Bodhgaya, a Buddhist tourism spot, got married to Japanese girls who had come on a trip. All the grooms were local guides.