Woman gets hitched on wheels

RAIPUR: Marriages might be made in heaven but they are rarely solemnized in hospitals. Sitting on a wheelchair, Rupali Nandi, a 23-year-old widow, took solemn vows at the women's ward of Ambedkar Hospital here on Friday on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.
The women's ward, where usually pain and agony rule the roost, was filled with a different air, as Rupali and her to-be husband, Varun Bagh, 30, tied the knot, surrounded by a few relatives and the hospital staff, including doctors and nurses.
Suffering from jaundice, which incidentally has claimed two lives in the city in the past week, Rupali was admitted to the hospital on Thursday, a day before her wedding on the auspicious day of Akshaya Trithiya.
Not willing to let the ailment ruin his marriage plan, Varun and his family members approached the hospital authorities with the request to solemnize the wedding in the ward. Moved by their insistence, the authorities accepted the strange request and the ward was converted to a makeshift 'mandap', with a 'havan kund'.
However, the usual decor of flowers was missing. But that didn't seem to dampen the spirit of the couple. Dressed in the traditional red saree, Rupali, took the 'pheras' on a wheelchair. The 10-minute ceremony was conducted according to Hindu rites, with the couple taking vows to be with each other, in thick and thin..
According to Rupali's family members, she had got married five-years-ago, but her husband died within 10 months. She met Varun at a function organized to promote widow re-marriage on March 9.
Incidentally, it is Varun's first wedding and he had purposely decided upon getting married to a widow. According to those who were privy to the marriage function, Varun was "excited" and even stated that he would have carried Rupali in his lap and taken the "pheras", if she wasn't able to sit on a wheelchair.
Varun, who hails from Odisha, works as a draftsman in a local construction firm.