Kolkata, July 7: Abhishek and Chaitanya have tied the holy knot forever. This’s not a Bollywood wedding at all. This’s as real as any other simple Bengali marriage with all rituals and presence of family, friends and relatives.
The guests were told not to post any photographs on social media until all the ceremonies were over in the city’s first public gay marriage.
“But once our pheras (the seven rounds around the fire) were done, social media exploded, Abhishek beamed. Photographs of the couple dressed in be-jewelled cream-coloured sherwani and dhoti-kurta under an elegant white floral arrangement got hundreds of instant fawning likes and shares on Facebook. Photos of the couple daubing haldi on each other’s faces got 2,000 likes by Tuesday evening. “We hope this gives courage to others to come out and acknowledge their love for their partners,” Abhishek said.
It was at the Taj Mahal, that Chaitanya found the perfect spot to go down on one knee in March 2020 and put a ring on Abhishek. But it was the city of joy that broke all barriers.
The biggest challenge, though, was to find a priest to conduct the wedding.
“Plenty of pandits turned us down. We were worried that we may not find anyone. My last hope was our family pandit and it was a make-or-break approach for me,” Abhishek said. “The moment I told him about being the priest for our marriage, he agreed at once despite fear of boycott. He said why won’t he supervise the ceremonies,” he narrated.
“He even said, ‘Laxmi aur Narayan ki jodi toh dekha hain. Yeh Narayan-Narayan ka jodi hai’,” recalled Chaitanya.
