Calcutta: One venue. Hundred-and-one weddings.
Couples tied the knot in a mass marriage ceremony conducted by Vishwa Jagriti Mission Trust, Calcutta, at PC Chandra Garden on Sunday.
The brides and grooms - most of them from the Sunderbans and Baruipur in South 24-Parganas and some from Tangra - don't have have the money to organise their wedding, said Sushil Goenka, the secretary of the Vishwa Jagriti Mission Trust, which has been conducting such ceremonies for the past seven years.
Among those who got married on Sunday were Rupali Mondal and Bikash Mondal, both from Gosaba in the Sunderbans. While Rupali is a Class VIII dropout and works as a domestic help, Bikash is an agricultural worker. Bikash's income depends on the quality of harvest.
"I am happy that they could marry. They have known each other for many years," said Jayanti Mondal, Rupali's mother.
Goenka, who is also the managing director of Emami Limited, said the couples either knew each other or selected each other and contacted the Trust for financial support.
An organiser of the mass marriage said many of the grooms work as orderlies in offices or as waiters in restaurants while the brides are mostly domestic help. Some of the women, who have passed Madhyamik, are keen on studying further and the Trust has assured them help.
"With both incomes, they will be able to set up a family," said the organiser.
The Trust gifted the couple some utensils, blankets, pillows, rice and oil for a month's consumption. "This is to help them set up their own households," said the organiser.
