Weddings are special, beautiful, and like it or not, also a reminder of certain patriarchal and regressive traditions that frankly, have no place in the twenty-first century.
And when chef Sneha Singhi Upadhaya decided to personalize her wedding, she inadvertently ended up breaking exactly one such tradition.
A month ago, when Sneha married her long-time boyfriend Saugat Upadhaya in a Hindu wedding ceremony, she added a small “twist” to the vidaai ceremony.
Traditionally, during the vidaai–the time when the bride parts way from her family home to head to her husband’s house–the bride’s brother accompanies her. The idea is that a daughter is being “given” by her parents to her husband.
But Sneha decided to drive herself from her vidaai ceremony, while adorned in her bridal lehenga. And in doing so, she challenged the notion that daughters are property to be given away.
When she put the video on Instagram, it went viral, with people admiring her actions:
Now that’s your modern-day fairytale.