Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (RJP)
Bantwal, Dec 14: How often do you see weddings with a message to society? To be honest, most people take wedding as a lavish affair and want to finish it off with the flow of rituals, with hundreds of people in attendance. Quite contrary to this, a couple stepped into matrimony with a noble message to conserve mother earth, and particularly river Netravati.
The open air wedding of Manju and Vani which took place at Ujrangadi Palke in Maninalkur village near Bantwal had many special elements in it. While the shade of the trees acted as the roof, the arrangements for the wedding were done with natural articles like earthen pots, coconut leaves, coconut shells, etc thus giving a message about simplicity and importance of nature.
Bride Vani is from the locality while the groom is a journalist working in the state capital. The couple by planting a sapling of coconut, stepped into the wedding life in a unique style. This one-of-a-kind wedding was held on Saturday and two days before that a Mehndi function was held. The couple drew water from the well and watered the coconut trees. Before that they recited poems written by renowned poet Kuvempu on nature. There was a special game of searching for the wedding ring in the mud water.
Even as novel nature friendly rituals were held unlike the traditional ones, songs on nature could also be heard. Some placards which proclaimed the beauty and importance of river Netravati were hung in the wedding venue. To add value to the theme, cartoons drawn by artist Dinesh Holla criticizing Yethinahole project were displayed. Sivaprasad Kannori and Kavya Shree Ajeru sang Yakshagana style songs with nature themes.
Bride Vani is the sister of Nada Mani Nalkuru and herself she is involved in many youth movements. Manjunath based in Bengaluru has also been involved in people friendly movements. He is also an activist.
Later Udayakumar Jyothigidde sang a pro woman song which was path breaking. A book on Netravati was released after that. This is one of the special weddings performed in the area. It is one of the first with lovers of environment participating with so much of enthusiasm. It was a revolution of sorts. The main message of the wedding was to tell the people to love and conserve Mother Nature.