Gala wedding raises controversy
12 December 2000 22:00 IST A gala wedding ceremony of two Marwari business houses has become a centre of debate in Goa with several NGOs objecting to the naked display of wealth.
The whole extravaganza could be worth Rs 10 crore, estimated the local newspapers here, while reporting extensively about the wedding of Bombay-based Agnivesh Agrawal and Puja Bonger from Calcutta.
The nuptial knot was tied on 11 December, off the Sinquerim coast at the Taj Holiday Village while the sun was setting at around 6.30, in the presence of top industrialists, film stars and state dignitaries.
The bride and the bridegroom exchanged garlands, specially imported from Singapore, in a huge dome-kind-of six metre high mandir, built specially for the occasion by FilmCity artists from Bombay on the lawns of Taj Village, besides two such small domes built on both the sides, making it a five-metre long dais.
The whole lawn was decorated with islands of flowers imported from Singapore while equally huge idol of Lord Ganesh was built at the main gate. The mandir of Radha-Krishna of a similar size was also built at the other end, from where the bridegroom started the procession.
Horse-back Agnivesh, son of Anil Agrawal, approached the main mandap with a well-decorated elephant with howdah in front while imported flowers were showered from the helicopter throughout the 'varat'. A special band brought from Pune was playing throughout the ceremony, besides the local police band.
A 50-course pure vegetarian buffet, prepared by the maharaj from Rajasthan, was arranged in eight different stalls besides variety of fruits, fruits juices, sharbat and sweets. The mukhwas itself had 100 different varieties while special pan centre was set up by Dasi Brothers of Ahmedabad.
The cultural evenings however had begun from 9 December itself at the resort with Rajasthani programme on the first day, followed by Falguni Pathak show the next day. A special Bollywood show presented soon after the spectacular wedding ceremony, where film stars including Shahrukh Khan, Ravina Tandon and Namrata Shirodkar performed.
It concluded today with a cultural evening by Pt Hariprasad Chourasia and a special show by Daler Mehendi. The sound system for the cultural extravaganza was brought all the way from Bangalore.
The only Goan things used for one of the costliest wedding in the country was the idyllic location of a Goan beach, fully booked four five star resorts as well as few other resorts and around 80 air-conditioned cars. The families flew down in three specially hired charter flights from Bombay and Calcutta.
At least four organisations, including Rashtra Seva Dal and the Committee for Eradication of Superstitions, has strongly condemned wastage of crores of rupees in this callous manner when hundreds of countrymen continue dying of hunger and are deprived of educational facilities for want of money. "They could have very well donated it for charity purpose", they said in a strongly worded press note.
It is a pathetic picture of India where on one side more than 600 million people sleep without an evening meal, and on other side there is this vulgar display of wealth where millions are wasted! Is it not strange that the concerned Govt agencies are turning a blind eye to all this? Or is it that all these agencies are only meant to harass a god-fearing common man?