New Delhi: Sarojkanta Biswal, a 33-year-old school teacher in Odisha has set a benchmark when it comes to saving the environment and getting married.
Biswal in an unexpected move surprised his in-laws when he declined to take any form of dowry for marrying Rashmirekha Paital, also a schoolteacher. But when his father-in-law insisted for the dowry he asked him to give 1001 saplings.
“I had promised myself that I would never take dowry. But when my father-in-law insisted that he has to give dowry, I asked him to give me 1001 saplings of fruit-bearing trees,” Biswal was quoted in a report in HT.
Reportedly, on June 21, the day before marriage, Biswal’s father-in-law sent 1001 saplings.
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Then the young school teacher distributed about 700 saplings of mango and Bakul tree among people of his village Balabhadrapur amidst blowing of the conch.
In fact, to keep the marriage free of sound and air pollution, he also avoided any use of DJ music or bursting of firecrackers during the procession.
“It was always my dream to celebrate my marriage in the greenest possible way. As the convenor of “Gachha Ti Pai Saathi Tiye”(friend for a tree) organisation, I have been spreading the message of the need to plant trees and save the planet from global warming and climate change. I chose fruit-bearing trees as people would be inclined to nurture such trees,” Biswal added.