A Gay Couple, Abhishek and Chaitanya, tie a not in Kolkata

A Gay Couple from Kolkata, Abhishek Ray and Chaitanya Sharma, tied a not on 3rd July, in the presence of friends and family. They grabbed all the attention, when the pictures of their intimate wedding went viral on social media. Abhishek and Chaitanya's marriage stands as a beacon of hope for the LGBTQIA+ Community.

As the pictures of their wedding went viral on social media, it seems that all the Hindu rituals has been followed, like exchanging Varmalas, Chanting mantras, taking vows around the holy fire by walking around it seven times. In the pictures Abhishek is wearing a traditional Bengali attire, Dhoti and Kurta. Chaitanya on the other hand is wearing Sherwani.
        
Abhishek is a renowned fashion designer in Kolkata and Chaitanya is a digital marketing expert based in Gurgaon. They met on Facebook in 2020 even though they were in each other’s friend list for many years. Chaitanya texted Abhishek when Abhishek uploaded a picture of him cutting a birthday cake with his friend’s kids. Chaitanya is fond of kids so he texted Abhishek thinking that they were his kids and thinking that he was married. And the chatting started from there. And never stopped. One day Chaitanya decided to fly to Kolkata to meet Abhishek but Abhishek was still sceptical because they still hadn’t exchanged numbers, they still talked on messenger. But once they met, everything changed. The two-day trip changed into two weeks. They knew from the start that this wasn’t something casual. So they decided to get married.

Chaitanya proposed Abhishek in front of Taj Mahal because Abhishek was into Bollywood, a filmy guy. And from there they started planning their wedding. Met with each other’s families. Though the Abhishek’s mother was afraid of what the society would think, Chaitanya and Abhishek didn’t care. After all the hurdles they did get married in the presence of their families and friends, who support them.
   
This is not the first gay marriage that is taking place in India. Before this, a gay couple from Hyderabad tied the knot in a grand ceremony. Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang sent out a strong statement that their happiness that mattered the most, and nothing else. Legal issues did not prevent them from celebrating their union.

By-
Aritri Ghosh
Amity University, kolkata