Feb rain catches Kol off-guard, washes out open-air weddings
Times of India | 21 February 2025
1234 Kolkata: Heavy rain and gusty winds on Thursday played spoilsport for weddings scheduled for the day in Kolkata and its adjoining areas. With rain sweeping away the elaborately done open-air venues of the ceremonies, the day turned out to be a nightmare for many bride and groom families. Moreover, the families had a tough time navigating through this untimely situation at the end of Feb despite weathermen having cautioned beforehand.
When it started to rain around 11am, most of the bride and groom families were busy performing the Haldi ceremony rituals, which are often arranged open-air as the turmeric paste is applied on the bride and the groom before water is poured over them.Families who had decked up rooftops for holding the event suffered the most.
One such couple, who faced the rain hurdle during Haldi ceremony, is Soumik Dey and Megha Bhoumick, both residents of Park Circus. The duo tied the knot on Thursday, but were left with no option than to make last-minute arrangements for shifting the Haldi ceremony venue indoors. The venue change also delayed their Haldi ceremony.
"Due to the delayed Haldi ceremony, the ‘biyer tawttyo' — gifts from the bride's household to the groom — arrived almost two hours late," said Dey.Expressing displeasure and helplessness, Bhoumick shared how the event was caught in a mess despite being planned well in advance.
"There was a rain alert, and we were prepared for the worst and it (rain) finally happened. The lawn is knee-deep in water. In just four hours, we managed to shift the evening programme to a banquet hall, including all the decorations that were made," said Subhajit Sinha, a Kolkata-based wedding planner, who had a total contract of Rs 20 lakh for the complete arrangement of a big-fat Bengali wedding at an open-air exclusive venue off Anandapur. "We have a limited budget for my sister's wedding. We had also put up a backdrop and decorated the rooftop at our residence for the afternoon Haldi ceremony. But the decorations collapsed and were blown away by the gusty wind," said Subhasish Sinha, a resident of Sarsuna in Behala. Sinha, whose sister Satabdi, was hitched on the day, was left disheartened and worried. Even as rain dampened arrangements and expectations, it was quite a trending affair on social media. Wedding photographers kept posting pictures of rain-ravaged wedding venues throughout the day on various social media platforms, an unusual shift from their wedding clicks featuring the wedding glitz and glamour.
At one of the venues, a wedding photographer sustained injuries in Sonarpur when a pandal made of bamboo collapsed on him.
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