SRIKAKULAM: A few decades ago the elders of the remote fishermen village Nuvvlarevu Vajrapukotturu mandal held a meeting over the growing domestic violence for dowry. Several instances of their village girls, who got married in the distant places, facing harassment at their in-law’s house had triggered the emergency meeting.
That meeting a new rule was set: the girls will get married in their villages only.
Since then, the village, around 100 km away from the Srikakulam district headquarters, have been following the tradition. More peculiar than this is the marriages here are not performed as individual event, rather the residents chose to organise mass marriages once in three years.
On Friday, the village became a beehive of activities as the mass marriage event is happening on Sunday and around 100 couples are all set to tie their knots.
Festoons are being set, make-shift mandap are being erected and aroma of traditional dishes is wafting all through the village. In every house, marriage preparations are going on in a full swing. The elders, after an enormous exercise, picked up the muhurtham at 11:30 pm.
“I know my fiancee and in-laws since my childhood. In a way, all residents here are relatives in some way or the other. Thanks to the tradition,” says Bainapalli Gayatri, who is going to tie knot with Muvvala Chandra Sekhar, who is living next door. “The best part of this tradition is I will live my entire life with my parents as my neighbour. In the era of dowry harassment, it is a big sigh of relief,” she says, with a beaming face.
The groom is also happy. “Even if I leave the village in search of jobs, I can go happily as the two families stand with each other in every even and odds,” says Muvvala Chandra Sekhar.
B Purna Chandra (40) is on his toes for his daughter’s wedding. “My grandfather and my father got married in the same village. I did the same and my daughter will now follow the suit,” he says, claiming that not a single case of harassment by in-laws has been reported so far from the village.
Child marriage still in vogue
However, the village is not completely free of vices. Child protection officials say that in every mass marriage event, some villagers get married of their minor daughters. “We visited the entire village on Friday and held talks with village heads. This time, we are keeping a strong vigil to ensure that no such marriages are performed,” an official said.