Jodi No... 177
Author: Mamta Sen Date: 26 Apr 2008
HERE’s one lesson Maharashtra’s well-to-do farmers should definitely take a cue from. Moved by the plight of poverty-stricken farmers who find it difficult to wed off their young daughters, farmer-turned-wrestler -turned-real-estate baron Kanwarjeet Singh Sandhu organised a mass wedding for couples in his hometown Nowshera, Punjab, on April 13. The elaborate wedding not only included the kanyadaan of each of the 177 brides (with personal household gifts like watches and cupboards), which Sandhu religiously performed, but the 57-year-old even invited several ministers from the ruling state government to bless the couples.He now wants to duplicate the same in Maharashtra, but says will do so post-October, after the huge celebrations of the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh at the 300-year-old Sakchand Gurudwara in Nanded.“Since 7 is my lucky number, I shall wed 777 couples this time,” he says. The event, he believes, will act as a boost to rural Maharashtra, which is reeling under farmer suicides. “The rich have to eventually take care of the poor, only then can a society and a nation progress,” he concludes.
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