Alappuzha, Kerala:
Setting an example against wedding extravaganza, a young couple has tied nuptial knot on the highway side at Thottappally near Alappuzha.
After entering into wedlock with Remya on Thursday, the groom Omanakkuttan said he preferred the wayside wedding as he wanted to join the campaign against luxurious marriages.
A small improvised 'pandal' was set up on the highway side for the marriage and about 100 people, including social workers, close relatives and friends of the couple turned up for the function.
While there was no sumptuous wedding feast, known in local parlance as 'sadya', guests who turned up ignoring sweltering heat were treated with tumblers of lime juice.
Omanakuttan, who was a worker of CPI-M's youth outfit DYFI before becoming a bus conductor, said he was glad to have become a "link" in the campaign against wedding extravaganza which ruined many parents in the state.
Some local people, however, said the bride's parents had approached a community organisation for getting its auditorium for conducting the marriage.
However, they denied the facility arguing the groom was a non-believer and office-bearer of local unit of a rationalist forum.