One of the most expensive affairs in India is marriage. Here weddings are supposed to be grand, it is a show of a family¡¯s financial strength. However, not everyone is privileged enough to have ¡®big fat Indian wedding¡¯. Hundreds of brides who are fatherless tied a knot in a mass ceremony yesterday in Gujarat.?
?271 brides were married in Surat, a large city beside the Tapi River in the west Indian state of Gujarat.
There were five Muslim girls and one girl from Nepal among these numbers.?
This event takes place every year some 270 km from Ahmedabad from the past eight years in a row. It is funded by diamond tycoon Mahesh Savani, ¡®who believes that giving away brides is a blessing from God¡¯. He has been funding and organizing mass weddings for fatherless women in Surat since 2010.
In 2012, 23 girls got married at this event, but every year this number kept increasing.?
¡°When we started this activity, we wanted to help Surat girls who have lost their father. Each year, the number kept going up and for the past two years, it has been economically feasible for us to do it alone,¡± The Times of India quoted Mahesh Savani as saying.?
Mahesh said that he feels a 'social responsibility' to help women who can't afford their own weddings.
Till now Mahesh has helped fund 3,172 weddings such brides.