Mass marriage venue hosts 67 Muslim, Hindu couples

Vadodara/Anand: Tuesday became a turning point in the lives for both Shivani Mali and Khushbu Shaikh – two girls from Vadodara who got married at the same mass wedding venue. While Shivani tied the nuptial knot with Rohit Mali, Khushbu exchanged wedding vows with Mansuri Munaf, both grooms too residents of Vadodara.
The unique mass marriage was organized at Umeta village in Anand district by Zaryaah Foundation, an NGO.
The third such event to be hosted by the NGO, this time a total of 67 such couples including 57 Muslim and 10 Hindu couples exchanged wedding vows with traditional ‘nikaah’ and ‘lagn’ ceremonies.
“We had organized the first mass wedding programme in 2019, in which 13 Muslim couples got married through ‘nikaah’ ceremony. In 2020, we had organized ‘nikaah’ ceremonies for 32 couples. But this year, we decided to support marriage of 67 couples including Muslims and Hindus so that all the deserving daughters and their parents can celebrate the occasion regardless of any barriers of religion or socio-economic background,” said Allarakha Vohra, founder of Zaryaah Foundation.
The applications for the mass wedding ceremony were invited online from girls who had attained marriageable age but were facing financial constraints.
“The applications were scrutinized based on financial status of the families. For instance, our first preference was to support those daughters, who were either orphans or did not have parental support. Our second preference was for those daughters who had lost the sole bread earner in their family,” Vohra explained. The foundation not only printed the invitees for the to-be-brides but also gifted them with 15 set of clothes, basic furniture for their new houses and kitchen utensils. “We also provided them Rs 5,000 cash so that they can go and shop footwear of their choice. The choice of ‘cholis’ was also left on them,” he said.
Before the marriage ceremonies, the girls underwent a counselling round through which they were asked whether they wanted to get marriage or study further. “We have assured them that we will provide them all the support if they want to study courses like graphic designing, accounting, coding or tally after their marriage,” he said.
Interestingly, director duo Abbas Burmawala and Mustan Burmawala remained present during the mass marriage to bless the couples.