There were no pandal, festoons, arches, priests, music nor ceremony of any sort. None of the grandeur associated with weddings was there. Yet, by having their wedding on the newly created islet on the Mookaneri lake in the city on Wednesday, G. Aravind and P. Poovizhi, environmental activists, sent a strong message.
As active environmental activists, the couple decided to get their marriage solemnised in the island to create awareness among the public on the importance of protecting the environment and the need for increasing forest cover.
At the stroke of 9.15 a.m. on Wednesday, Aravind tied the knot around the neck of bride P. Poovizhi, in the presence of a large number of appreciative relatives and friends.
Citizen initiative
Those who attended the wedding wore simple handloom cotton dress and the water and the trees stood witness to the whole event.
Mookaneri lake is maintained by the Salem Citizens Forum and it has already set up 46 islands in the water body to attract both the visiting public and the birds. The Forum had created the 47th island for this wedding.
Mr. Aravind, who is in the organic food products business, is a member of Salem Citizens’ Forum. Ms. Poovizhi of Harur town in Dharmapuri district too has been actively involved in promoting awareness on protecting the environment.
Both of them decided to solemnise the marriage in a different way by promoting environmental awareness and decided to create an island in the water spread area of Mookaneri lake for this purpose by spending ₹50,000.
After the marriage was solemnised, the couple planted saplings. The relatives of both the bride and the groom followed suit and more than 100 saplings were planted in the island on the occasion.
The couple have given funds for planting about 1,000 saplings in the island and the vicinity of the lake in a phased manner, according to Piyush Sethiya, convener of the Salem Citizens Forum and the moving force behind the entire show.
After the marriage was solemnised in the island, the newly-weds and their relatives returned to the main land in coracles and a reception was held at the open-air auditorium on the bund of the lake.
The couple had requested their relatives to present only cash as gift. The relatives and friends were very generous and they presented a total of ₹82,000 as gift, and the entire amount was handed over to the Forum for continuing lake renovation works.
Film directors Balaji Sakthivel of ‘Kaadal’ fame and Raju Murugan of ‘Joker’ fame attended the marriage.
