GOPALGANJ: It was not a Bollywood fairytale wedding. It happened in the real life, that too, in the rural hinterland of the state.
The bridegroom, Pankaj Srivastava, hired a chopper to ferry the “baaratis (marriage party)” to Salempur village in Barauli block from Harpur Tengrahi village under Sidhwalia block in Gopalganj district, a distance of seven km, on Thursday. Pankaj married Ranjita, daughter of Bipin Lal Srivastava.
Hundreds of villagers assembled at Harpur Tengrahi to watch the “baaratis” board the chopper on Thursday. The chopper made nine sorties to ferry the “baaratis” on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the chopper landed at the village again, to take the “baaratis” back. The bride and bridegroom were the last to reach Harpur Tengrahi.
Pankaj, who earlier used to run a grocery shop at the village, is the owner of an industrial unit at Gurgaon in Haryana.
“Flying in a chopper was my dream since childhood,” he said, adding 480 persons have been working in his industrial unit which includes 462 Biharis.
Pankaj’s father Parmeshwar Srivastava said the use of chopper in marriages is common in Gurgaon. “But, here in Gopalganj, it is something new,” he said.