Girl takes her groom home

A couple in Gangni upazila of Meherpur has set an example by breaking the conventional marriage system of the Bangladeshi society.

Unlike the conventional one, in this wedding of Toriqul Islam and Khadiza Akhter, the bride went to the groom’s house, married him and finally took the groom to her house. The picture is quite the opposite to traditional marriage.

The wedding took place in Gangni municipal area on Saturday. The bride is from Hazrahati village of Chuadanga Sadar upazila. Daughter of certain Kamruzzaman of the village Khadiza recently passed her HSC exam while the groom is a businessman.

The couple seemed very happy with the exceptional wedding.

Kamruzzaman, the father of the bride, said, “Although I was not sure in the beginning but later I agreed as my daughter was insisting.”

Abdul Mabud, the father of the groom said, “There are many traditions in our patriarchal society. It will help to eradicate gender discrimination in society. Besides, the bride’s family has to spend a huge amount of money for the wedding event. Such an initiative will reduce costs.”

The bride went to the groom’s house with guests in six vehicles.

“The bride’s family has to suffer a lot in conventional weddings in a patriarchal society like ours. We planned such a wedding to set a positive example,” Khadiza told Prothom Alo.

Nodding at Khadiza’s comment, Toriqul, said, “ We wanted to set a new trend in wedding ceremonies. We hope it will help to eliminate gender discrimination in our society.”