Bidai | Ceremony
Then comes the sound that breaks everyone. The groom’s car begins to roll forward. The bride’s mother, who has been stoic until now, runs after the vehicle, her hand reaching out to touch the glass one last time. The father, jaw set, holds his wife back. The brothers jog alongside the car, their hands pressed to the window, promising, “We’ll come get you soon.”
But the Bidai is not static. In urban India, the ceremony is being fiercely renegotiated. bidai ceremony