Theresa Braine
The Daily News
Theresa Braine wrote the following article in The Daily News:
After a bride in India died of a massive heart attack during her wedding, the groom married her sister — as the deceased sibling lay in the next room.
The bride collapsed as the soon-to-be-joined families celebrated in a village in Uttar Pradesh last Thursday, The Times of India reported. A woman named Surabhi was scheduled to marry a man named Mangesh Kumar, but she didn’t live to complete the ceremony. The pair were about to exchange garlands in a jaimala ceremony when “suddenly the bride complained of uneasiness and collapsed,” The Times of India recounted.
Her family rushed her to a medical facility, where she was declared dead, the newspaper said.
“As per the doctor, the bride died of heart attack,” the grieving relatives told The Times of India.
The shocked families were at a loss. And then they swapped in her little sister.
“We did not know what to do in the situation,” Surabhi’s brother Saurabh told the news agency Indo-Asian News Service, according to India’s News 18. “Both the families sat together, and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter, and both agreed.”
Soon after the nuptials, the families turned their attention to last rites for Surabhi.
“It was a tough call for our family,” Surabhi’s uncle Ajab Singh told News 18. “One daughter lay dead in one room and the wedding of another daughter was being solemnized in the other room. We have never witnessed such mixed emotions. The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding has yet to sink in.”
About 90% of the weddings in India are arranged marriages, USA Today noted. Such incidences have been known to happen before, Radha Patel, founder of a matchmaking site, told USA Today. “So much vetting goes into matching families in marriages, and it is natural for the families to want to stay together.”
After a bride in India died of a massive heart attack during her wedding, the groom married her sister — as the deceased sibling lay in the next room.
The bride collapsed as the soon-to-be-joined families celebrated in a village in Uttar Pradesh last Thursday, The Times of India reported. A woman named Surabhi was scheduled to marry a man named Mangesh Kumar, but she didn’t live to complete the ceremony. The pair were about to exchange garlands in a jaimala ceremony when “suddenly the bride complained of uneasiness and collapsed,” The Times of India recounted.
Her family rushed her to a medical facility, where she was declared dead, the newspaper said.
“As per the doctor, the bride died of heart attack,” the grieving relatives told The Times of India.
The shocked families were at a loss. And then they swapped in her little sister.
“We did not know what to do in the situation,” Surabhi’s brother Saurabh told the news agency Indo-Asian News Service, according to India’s News 18. “Both the families sat together, and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter, and both agreed.”
Soon after the nuptials, the families turned their attention to last rites for Surabhi.
“It was a tough call for our family,” Surabhi’s uncle Ajab Singh told News 18. “One daughter lay dead in one room and the wedding of another daughter was being solemnized in the other room. We have never witnessed such mixed emotions. The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding has yet to sink in.”
About 90% of the weddings in India are arranged marriages, USA Today noted. Such incidences have been known to happen before, Radha Patel, founder of a matchmaking site, told USA Today. “So much vetting goes into matching families in marriages, and it is natural for the families to want to stay together.”
