Firdaus Variava, a young Parsi living in Mumbai, knew it wasn't going to be easy when he decided to marry his girlfriend, Delhiite Nidhi Ramachandran. It would be a struggle getting her folks to accept him and have her move all the way to Mumbai.
As expected, Nidhi's parents were less than thrilled about their daughter wanting to marry a Parsi. They believed that Firdaus' household would be too modern and Westernised for their slightly more traditional tastes. With time, however, their resistance was weathered by his charisma and Nidhi's persistence. They realised the couple wasn't going to change their minds and that there was no point keeping them apart.
They had a civil marriage and a mix of Parsi and Hindu ceremonies. There was a jashan wherein a Parsi priest said some prayers and then a puja by a Hindu priest. There was also a bunch of other ceremonies, including a madarsaro, aadarni and ashirwad, as well as a mehendi and sangeet with a lot of song and dance.
Photograph: Reuters/Gorm Kallestad/Pool
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