Saturday was a tale of two weddings, with brides in Maharashtra and Bihar earning praise for prioritising their lives and needs over their grooms. While a bride in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad town, a Class XII student, answered her Economics exam paper even while her husband-to-be waited at the wedding hall, a girl in Bihar called off her wedding when the groom turned up for the ceremony in an allegedly drunk state.

The former wedding was to take place on Saturday, the same day that 20-year-old Renuka Pawar had her Class XII exam. She said she insisted that the wedding be scheduled in such a way that it didn’t clash with her exam. Hailing from a poor family which fell on harder times after her father’s death, Pawar said education was important and she had worked hard for this.

On Saturday, after giving her exam, she entered the marriage hall to much applause, before she and her husband Shekhar tied the knot with two other couples at the mass marriage ceremony.

Meanwhile, in Bihar’s Dumri Chapiya village, the bride Rinki Kumari was to marry one Bablu Kumar, also on Saturday. Tribhuvan Shah, the bride’s father, said, “The groom was so drunk that he was unaware of his surroundings. He misbehaved on stage, so my daughter refused to marry him.”

Another relative said the groom was so heavily drunk that he couldn’t even stand properly nor could he perform the rituals. As a result, Kumari left the wedding. And though both families tried to convince her to change her mind, she didn’t agree. Villagers apparently didn’t let the groom leave the venue till he returned all the dowry that was given. 

(With inputs from agencies)