Lockdown ties: Couple married midway on Assam-Bengal border

Groom travels 175 km, bride 55 km for minimalist wedding beside an entry check-gate

Assam’s Kajol and West Bengal’s Om Prakash expected a routine union when their marriage was fixed six months ago. Lockdown literally turned it into an event on the edge.

They tied the knot late on Saturday (May 23) night beside a check-gate at Sagolia on the Assam-West Bengal border.

It was a minimalist ceremony. About 20 people, including the priests from both sides, were present along with local MLA Ashwini Ray Sarkar.

The couple’s parents had thought of deferring the marriage date. But the horoscope came in the way; the priests said it would be now or never.

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“Besides, there was no certainty when normal life would return to organise the marriage at home as we would have liked,” said Ms. Kajol’s father Mahesh Sha, a resident of Ward No. 3 in Dhubri town, about 280 km west of Guwahati.

A marriage devoid of the usual gloss could have been organised at the bride’s home. But the Assam government had on May 8 barred the entry of people from West Bengal, except for patients, after two persons from that State tested positive.

“The family sought a way out. The administration of Dhubri district and Jalpaiguri district (West Bengal) coordinated for the marriage to happen while the local police helped out,” Mr. Sarkar, who represents the Bharatiya Janata Party from the Golakganj Assembly adjoining West Bengal, told The Hindu on Monday.

On Saturday, the groom and half a dozen people travelled about 175 km from Nagrakata Station Para while the bride and members of her family travelled 55 km to meet at Sagolia.

The police cleared a spot beside the Sagolia check-gate for the marriage.

“The parents of the bride and groom requested me to witness the wedding. I returned from the border on Sunday after blessing the couple,” Mr. Sarkar said.

Dhubri district officials said the couple were driven to a quarantine centre in Jalpaiguri district where they are expected to spend 14 days before going to house of Lal Dev Sha, the groom’s father.

“They will probably never forget their marriage anniversary and lockdown honeymoon,” said an official of the Golakganj Block in Dhubri district.