Bride walks ‘double marathon’ to tie knot

KANPUR: Corona may have forced postponement of thousand of weddings, but a Kanpur Dehat girl decided to defy her parents when they put off her marriage for a second time after the extension of lockown. She walked 80-km to reach her groom’s house in neighbouring Kannauj to exchange vows.
While her sudden appearance took the groom's family by surprise, they welcomed her and the wedding was solemnised with the consent of both sides while maintaining social distancing amid Covid-19 lockdown. Villagers, too, came out in the support of the bride, who was expecting opposition for defying social norms.
Goldy covered 80 km to reach groom’s house in Kannauj dist
The groom, Virendra Kumar Rathore (23), a native of Baisapur village of Taalgram in Kannauj, is a daily wager. His marriage was fixed with Goldy (19) of Mangalpur area of Kanpur Dehat.
Goldy told TOI, “Our marriage was fixed for May 4. We were expecting relief after Lockdown 3.0, but after the announcement of Lockdown 4.0, when our parents decided to postpone our marriage, I just lost patience and decided to not let the pandemic come in the way of our marriage. I was fearing criticism for going against the trend, but finally I left my house without informing anyone.”
She started before dawn on Wednesday and reached her groom's house late in the adjacent district, Kannauj, in the evening. “After covering a stretch of 80 km I reached my groom-to be house and got married on Thursday at village temple with the consent of our family members,” she added.
The priest, Acharya Kamlesh Mishra, performed the rituals amid chanting of Vedic ‘mantras’ in the temple premises. He blessed the couple.