A couple in Assam asks guests to give them old clothes on their big day, and take back saplings

When Bhupen Rabha tied the knot with Bobeeta Boro on January 30, they turned it into an occasion for social service and conservation of the environment. The exchange of wedding gifts two days later was the highpoint.

On February 1, more than 6,000 guests turned up at the reception the newlyweds hosted at Mr. Rabha’s residence in No. 2 Kataligaon (Rabhasupa), a village in western Assam’s Baksa district.

About 350 of them received a sapling each in exchange for a bundle of old clothes they were requested to bring as a wedding gift.

About 90 km west of Guwahati, No. 2 Kataligaon is officially Baksa district’s cleanest village and seen as the best in performing community service.

“We had, before the marriage, met village elders and discussed the idea of using the reception party as a platform for encouraging people to donate clothes for the poor as well as to take a step towards greening our surroundings. The villagers liked the idea,” the 34-year-old Mr. Rabha, who teaches English at a college and acts in regional films, said on Sunday.

Sachin Das, the Batabari Range Officer of Baska Forest Division, saw in the couple’s idea an opportunity to take the department’s social forestry campaign to the backyard of the villagers.

“I gave them 350 saplings of local species of trees, such as nageshwar (Indian rose chestnut), krishnachura (flame tree), and bokul (Spanish cherry),” he said.

Mr. Rabha and Ms. Boro handed over a sapling each to 350 guests who brought old clothes. A record was kept of those who could not be given a sapling, and of those who promised to bring old clothes later.

More trees to give

“We will try to carry on the programme of giving a return gift of a sapling until all the guests are covered,” Mr. Rabha, who gifted new blankets to about a dozen homeless people in the area on his wedding day, said.

Ms. Boro, who teaches at a private school in a nearby town, hoped the sapling-for-old clothes idea would catch on with more people in the area. “Weddings mean gifting precious metals or cash or consumer durables. These things aren’t as priceless as investing in the society or the environment,” she said.

Sandis Laime, Mr. Rabha’s best mate at the wedding, came all the way from Latvia to cherish the moment. “This wedding has been special,” he said.

Mr. Laime and Mr. Rabha had met in 2012 when they researched witch-hunting and witchcraft, which often leads to violence in Assam. The two plan to pursue a few more projects in the future.