It was certainly a marriage with a difference for it was solemnised more than five decades of 'live-in' relationship and among the wedding guests were the couple's grandsons, granddaughters and sons-in-law.
Bhanpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, about 40 kilometres from here, was witness to a unique marriage on Saturday when 75-year old Sukru Rawat and 62-year old Rajpata Devi tied the nuptial knot in a grand ceremony.
Accompanied by the band, which played Bollywood songs, the wedding party with the septuagenarian groom went round the village before reaching the house of Sukru. After all, he was both the host and the guest. The brothers of Rajpata Devi were also in attendance on this occasion.
Sukru had made elaborate arrangements for the occasion. He had sent invitations to the village panchayat chief and other people's representatives. Besides the invited guests, a large number of curious onlookers also witnessed the wedding ceremony.
According to the reports Sukru, a farmer had been living with Rajpata Devi for the past over fifty years as husband and wife though they never formally married. The two had met at a social function and had fallen in love.The couple has five children, all of whom were married.
''I had thought of formally marrying her (Rajpata) on several occasions but it never materialised...sometimes I did not have money...it also sometimes occurred to me that there was no need,'' Sukru said.
A Sukru neared the evening of his life, he felt the need to formally marry Rajpata. ''I feel relieved now,'' he said.
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