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Updated: Jan 28, 2019 10:38 IST

A wedding ceremony with only 25 people is rare in Uttarakhand, but one such wedding took place on Friday at Makku Math in Rudraprayag after the groom along with his relatives walked for over 6km in heavy snow to attend the ceremony.

Around 80 people had left for from Triyuginarayan village in the district to attend Rajnish Kurmachali’s wedding ceremony at Makku Math, but were stuck in traffic after vehicular roads were closed due to snow. The family then decided to send only those people who were needed for the rituals such as the groom’s maternal uncle, sisters and some elderly people. The dolled up family undertook a 6km long unique marriage procession, with children playing in the snow to reach their destination.

“We had seen a wedding procession like this in 2002 and now this was the next one. People will talk about this procession and the wedding for years as in both the weddings the groom was an army jawan,” said Ashish Gairola, the groom’s brother.

Speaking on whether the journey was difficult for the family, Gairola said, “If you see the pictures then you would question whether they were even feeling cold, forget difficulty. My eight-year-old son played with snow throughout the way.”

Since the last seven days, the village has not received power supply, making it difficult for them to carry out daily chores. The groom’s brother added that people have been charging their phone batteries through their cars due to power outage.

Bijay Lal, head of Triyuginarayan village said, “Even I had to go to the wedding but were all stuck due to the snow. But those who went enjoyed the whole journey and the wedding took place without any problem.”

Mangesh Ghildilyal, district magistrate of Rudraprayag said, "We received information about this wedding where people had to walk all the way. It is good that they walked, as due to continuous snowfall, there are high chances of accident as cars can skid." He added that machines have been deployed to clear the snow in the village but due to incessant snowfall the roads are still blocked.

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