Mukesh Chaudhari

The last of four siblings, Mangesh is the son of farmers Usha and Prakash. The idea came from his elder brother Mukesh, who works in the Pune office of special reformer Sindhutai Sakpal. Mukesh is a naturalist and fort conservationist.

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“We felt our wedding was an apt occasion to talk about the environment,” says Mangesh, who works as administration staff in the Daryapur Tehsil office. “My friends were quite taken. We had no firecrackers and instead of welcoming guests with a shawl and coconut, we gave them plants.” 

Mangesh and his wife Nivedita 

The bride, Nivedita, tells Sunday mid-day that she was more happy that her wedding presented a message of sustainbility. “I grew up in the village and as an adult I can see that we have somewhere lost our sense of duty to Mother Nature. I hope that the wedding inspires brides not to make their special day a strain on Earth’s resources,” she adds.

A few moments into the conversation, Mukesh’s experience of 22 years in rural Maharashtra’s grassroot conservation efforts comes through. “As soon as my brother’s marriage was fixed, I decided we would not contribute to pollution and that the message of protecting nature should come through,” he says over the phone from Pune. “The invitations went out as PDFs through email and WhatsApp, and talked about the importance of conserving forts, trees and educating girls.”

Forgoing band, baaja, baraat, the family just showed up at the mandap—unheard of in villages like theirs.  “We felt that a baraat with a horse was an unnecessary extravagance that creates noise pollution, and uses an animal for vanity. We were ridiculed by some villagers, who felt we had gone mad, but that’s fine. My father, whose livelihood depends on Mother Nature, understood what message the family was putting out,” says Mangesh.  The family also gifted 1,000 saplings of useful species such as bel that people use for Mahashivratri and are often chopped down for puja, as well as jamun, sitaphal (custard apple) and peru (guava). “We fell short of 300 saplings because as the word got around many came to ask for more,” says Mangesh. “The tiger tableau became a selfie point. In it, we talked about how tigers are being poached, and how we must go on safaris to understand the whole ecosystem and not just take pictures.”

At the venue, a musician played the shehnai and food was served in a pangat on the ground on banana leaves. “We wanted to avoid the buffet system because it’s a criminal waste of food,” says Mukesh. “Also, in a traditional pangat, you can have conversations organically with guests instead of isolating yourself in a corner with a plate.” Decoration was barebones, except for the stage for the married couple.  “We kept potted plants throughout.”

If anyone thinks this was to cut corners, the truth is they put their money where their conscience is. Mukesh says, “Saplings are not cheap, and we gave A-grade quality ones. We were very clear what we wanted. Maybe chandan saplings for the next big occasion…”