"we did this coming out of the box."
A Bangladeshi bride got married in the district of Meherpur. But it was a unique wedding ceremony as the bride went to the groom’s house to tie the knot.
It was an exceptional ceremony, which broke the age-old customs of wedding ceremonies in Bangladesh. It also turned the heads of many villagers.
The bride, Khadija Akhtar Khushi is an undergraduate student at Kushtia Islamia College and is from the district of Chuadanga.
Groom Tarikul Islam Joy is a businessman and the son of a local workers’ party leader. He is from the district of Meherpur.
Khadija travelled to her future husband’s house on September 21, 2019, along with her bridesmaids and family members.
Seven buses and twenty motorcycles reached Tarikul’s house for the event.
After the wedding was finished, Khadija took her new husband to her father’s house located in the village of Hajrahati.
Traditionally, the groom and his relatives go to the bride’s house where the marriage and celebrations take place.
After, the bride says goodbye to her family she goes to her husband’s house. It has been a cultural tradition since ancient times.
But the Bangladeshi bride explained that she chose to have her wedding the other way round as a way of “coming out of the box.”
Khadija said:
“Generally, a groom goes to the bride’s house to wed, and perform a wedding ceremony in our society. But, as an expression of equal rights for men and women, we did this coming out of the box.”
The groom’s father Abdul Mabud added:
“We speak about ensuring women’s rights, but we fail in reality.
“By arranging such a marriage, I tried to bring up the matter of equal rights for men and women to the fore.”
This is effectively a landmark wedding as it highlights progress within society.
Not only is it becoming more frequent in Bangladesh but it is also happening throughout South Asia.
One example took place in India and it was believed to be West Bengal’s first “rainbow wedding” after a transgender couple got married.
Both the bride and groom had undergone gender reassignment surgery.
Bride Tista Das, aged 38, and groom Dipan Chakravarthy, aged 40, were surrounded by their friends and family as they took part in a traditional Bengali ceremony.
Their wedding came after the Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a third gender in 2014 in what was a historic ruling.
Prior to that, transgender people were often excluded from Indian society and many were forced into begging or doing menial jobs.
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