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Culture

Forget horses and elephants, Grooms now arrive in choppers

By: Karthik :+: Under: Culture, Desi Ishtyle, It Happens Only in India
On: ⋅ December 6, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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Son Singh departs his village for the wedding
Image from BBC

Horses and Elephants have dotted the desi wedding scene for time immemorial. Putting an end to all of that was the Singh family.

Mann Singh paid 1.4 lakh rupees ($3,600) to fly his son in to the brides village, 12 miles away. The kicker is that Mr. Singh is not a wealthy business man or a steel tycoon, he is a farmer, a wealthy one, but a farmer nonetheless.

Thousands of villagers in Farrukhnagar, where Mr Singh lives with his family and five brothers, cheered as the private Bell Jet Ranger helicopter flew off with his son, Jagdeep, 23, and two other relatives for the wedding on Monday.

But all was not well, as the chopper was denied permission to land in the brides village. Instead they were made to fly into the Palam Airport in Delhi and take a Merc back.

However, they did not get permission to land in the bride’s village in Kapashera, barely 20km (12 miles) away, because the ground was too soft for a makeshift helipad there.

Instead, the wedding party flew for 12 minutes to Palam airport in Delhi, and then travelled in a hired Mercedes Benz for the wedding.

Why? Because Mr. Singh explained that it was his dream for his son to arrive by air for the wedding, well that and according to sources, it is an easy way to show off your wealth

Hiring a helicopter for a wedding is a good way of showing off your wealth in the village, It is a novelty for a lot of people, and you attract a lot of attention automatically by getting a helicopter to land in your village

And Dad Singh says it was not an easy job, specially with all the red tape he had to clear, before they could lift off

I had to get permission from some 10 government departments to hire a chopper and get it to land in my village. And there is always the problem of weather and landing facilities which can upset your plans

Although the bride was supposed to be flown back, the fog put an end to their plan.

Son Singh was happy, but he had this to say

It was an amazing feeling. But I’d been happier if we could have landed at my wife’s village

Given India’s history of setting and breaking records, we are watching out for the next outlandish wedding that will displace this one.

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