Grand Wedding, Grander Waste: The 200Cr Wedding That Left 4000kg Of Trash

A wedding that describes a 'big fat' wedding to the T- lavish and expensive, one that has everyone talking- Bollywood celebs galore, grand preparations and a beautiful venue.. there are a lot such grand weddings that happen time and again, but one that has been in the limelight off late was the 200 Cr Gupta wedding- a wedding with Baahubali-like sets, 200 helicopters and set in the beautiful town of Auli, settled within the hills in Uttarakhand. The wedding of the sons of two South African businessman brothers had everyone talking, so what could possibly go wrong? A lot it seems. 

The weddings were grand, but the trash left behind after the wedding was even grander- literally turning the hill station into a dumping ground... the 200 Cr wedding generated a massive 4000 kgs of trash, which was very conveniently left behind. This was despite a Public Interest Litigation filed prior to the wedding, stating the extensive wedding preparations were damaging the ecologically fragile meadow. But while that did not stop the wedding from happening in Auli, the wedding was 'monitored', keeping the cap of guests at 150 and banning helicopters from landing in Auli, but in Joshimath instead, from where the guests were ferried in cars.

But when the wedding is so grand that the Chief Minister himself attends it and finds it a 'blessing' for tourism rather than a curse for the environment, then perhaps we need more to be done. With celebs like Katrina Kaif, Siddharth Malhotra performing, Baba Ramdev hosting a massive yoga camp for everyone, and some of the biggest names from Bollywood singing, then seems like the show must go on, no matter what the cost to the environment.

After all the hue and cry, finally the Gupta brothers agreed to pay up to clean up the waste. The cleanship is being undertaken, and they've for now agreed to foot the entire bill for it. But the question that it begs is, why be reactive and not proactive when it comes to cleaning up after themselves? Surely someone who can afford to fly down flowers worth 5 crores from Switzerland for the wedding can afford to foot the bill for cleaning up trash after the wedding. And also, is risking an environmentally-sensitive zone for a high-profile wedding worth it? High time we get more sensitive about weddings, especially those who can afford to. 

ALSO READ: This Couple Had A Zero-Waste Wedding & Here's How You Can Make A Difference Too!