Wedding Kits; finding a new place for our beautiful …goonj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/26-story.pdfWedding Kits; finding a new place for our beautiful memories Doesn‟t matter

Wedding Kits; finding a new place for our beautiful memories

Doesn‟t matter who you are; rich, poor, middle class..Weddings are about celebrating two lives

and families coming together. Holds true for all of us.. BUT what‟s not so happy is the major

financial burden it brings on to the families. An old saying goes, „there is no end to how much

you can spend on a wedding or making a house‟. In villages across India where people live and

die for their dignity, unfortunately the celebrations are marred by this struggle to get the basics

together..

It‟s easy to say why to do it if you can‟t afford it.. It‟s harder to understand the problems and

address them in the smallest ways.. This story is perhaps a good example of big difference small

things make in peoples‟ lives.. When you finish reading this story, do spend a moment thinking

about Lehenga or Shervani you

26th

Story

wore or imagine wearing on your D-day, and see how that precious emotion can be shared easily

with someone who doesn‟t have the means to fulfill it.

Reena could only study till class 10th since her dad couldn‟t afford further studies for her and the

school was far away. Living in village Siyuna (Uttarkashi), for her parents raising 3 children

with their little income from agriculture was back breaking work. When Reena‟s marriage was

fixed, the joy was mixed with the worry on how to arrange even the basics for the occasion. Like

most young girls she had dreams about her wedding and like most parents, her‟s were also trying

every possible way to make it a memorable day. Reena‟s aunt (Bua) shared about Goonj

wedding Kits to the family.

Goonj Wedding Kits are a simple act of sorting out and putting together a collection of

new/fancier clothes and other accessories we get from the cities, which could adorn the bride and

bridegroom and their families at weddings. Next time you visit our Delhi office, do take out time

to see what beautiful stuff people give, which make our wedding Kits for village India. These

kits reach people like Reena‟s parents who can‟t afford wedding expenses without undergoing

huge debts.. These Kits are given mostly through the local Panchayats for a due diligence about

the economic condition of the recipient families. Together with Pandaal (a comprehensive

collection of some basics like Utensils, blankets, Daris etc in big quantities) given to a

community for their functions to reduce on a lot of money spent routinely on occasions like

weddings.

In many districts of Uttrakhand, Goonj‟s work has spread wide and deep. Reena knew about

Goonj from last year during winters when her family was given woolens, blankets, utensils and

other things as a part of Goonj winter Kit.

When she approached Goonj for the wedding Kit, after due diligence we supported her family

with a wedding kit which included ration, new clothing, utensil sets, suitcases, Cosmetics and

Bridal Lehenga set.

This gift from Goonj saved a lot of money that my parents would have spent in renting out a

lehenga and other things from the market which would still not be as beautiful as the one I got

from Goonj” Reena says. “I did not have to spend a single rupee on any cosmetics as the kit

contained things that I could have never purchased in my life.. I still use it and my friends say

that it is different. These things are not available here in local markets.. That makes me happy”

she adds.

We all have a lot of sweet memories connected to everything about our wedding and that‟s

probably why people find it difficult to part with these things. That perhaps also explains why we

don‟t get many wedding Lehengas from urban India. So we did a little Indian style jugaad to fill

this gap, a little spin to connect the proverbial dots.. We took Mata ki chunni‟s (the shiny cloth

pieces offered to the Gods) and stitched them together to make marriage lehengas. It‟s a sight to

behold; the pleasant surprise on people‟s faces when they find that the beautiful lehengas they

see at our processing centre have been created from the Chunni‟s given by Temples and

societies.

Uma has a similar story to share. Coming from a family of seven, the dependency on just one

earning member was far too harsh. Uma‟s younger sister Rekha works in Goonj Uttarakhand.

Though fixing up of Uma‟s marriage was happy news, it also brought about a question mark

about the big expenditure for the whole family. Too embarrassed to share her problem, Rekha

asked Uma to approach Goonj directly. After closely assessing their family‟s real economic

condition Goonj provided these kits.

“We gifted those new cut piece clothes to my sisters‟ new family. She wore the jewelry &

cosmetics on her Mehendi Raat and then the next day on her wedding. I could see my parent‟s

relief on this burden getting relieved.” says a beaming Rekha.

“We must have saved at least 15-20 thousand rupees after getting this support in the form of this

kit from Goonj.. That‟s just the monetary part but we can never thank Goonj enough for their

timely help that maintained our dignity” she adds.

Post disaster a lot of ration support was also given for weddings.. Over 300 marriages have been

supported in Guptakashi region alone..

In Mandala, MP, Uttaraji from Prayas Shiksha Samiti(Goonj‟s partner organization) recalls how

village community would earlier participate and makes disposable plates from banana & Pan

Leaves for big community events like weddings to take care of the eating arrangement. Typically

the cost of procuring utensils is around Rs 2,000 to 3,000 but because of these kits‟ support

people are now able to channelize this money to meet other significant expenses.

Uttara Ji shares that these communities purchase cloth on few occasions like Diwali and

sometimes out of necessity for winters. This kit is a blessing to them.

So far Goonj has reached out hundreds of such wedding Kits in Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh &

Bihar. To dignify this giving instead of charity, communities are encouraged to receive these kits

after participating in developmental activities. Once a family uses these wedding dresses we

suggest that they pass it on to others who need them as well.

There can be a debate on why people want to spend so much money on weddings.. But till we in

the cities continue with our big fat weddings, we can only feel grateful that village India is

wholeheartedly giving a new lease of life to the precious lehengas and suits, which mean a world

of beautiful memories to us..

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