A wedding destined to be seen by millions across India is set to be staged in Auckland next month – no doubt taking away the breath of Kiwis unused to the extravagance of maharajah style marriage.
The wedding of Auckland doctor Pooja Chitgopeker to Chicago industrialist Vikram Aditya Kumar at the Formosa Golf Club in east Auckland will be loud enough to be seen across the city – and on New Delhi Television (NDTV’s) My Big Fat Indian Wedding series.
Complete with lions, tigers, perhaps an elephant or two, the groom will ride in on a chariot, watched by a guest list including Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble and American right wing idols Sarah Palin and Donald Rumsfeld.
Bhangra king Daler Mehndi will provide the music. Aruna Chitgopeker, who admits she is being seriously stressed by the organisation of it all, has no doubt it’s the perfect thing to do for the oldest of her two children.
“It is good to have something unique and special,” she says.
“We don’t just want an ordinary wedding; we wanted something totally unique.”
They have hired the Formosa Golf Club and booked out most of the Langholm for January 6 to 8 and have had designers create a Rajasthan setting in which the groom will ride in on the chariot to meet his former beauty queen bride.
“He arrives like a king or a prince,” Aruna said.
The 40 groomsmen will arrive in nine helicopters flying in formation over Auckland.
“Ideally we wanted to hire an island for three days, because we’ve got up to 400 people coming from overseas,” Aruna said.
They are having trouble finding an elephant.
“We have tigers and lions. We have all that sorted. There are rules and regulations, they are not going to be let loose, there will be in special cages.
“It is quite overwhelming, it is all exciting and there is so much to do.
“There is a bit of a nervous feeling, being such a high end wedding as well.”
Pooja, who graduated last month from Auckland University medical school, was born in Manchester, England, but spent most of her childhood here, attending Diocesan School for Girls.
She won the Miss India New Zealand (2002) contest, Miss India Worldwide (2003) (1st runner up) and Miss Auckland (2002) (1st runner up).
She says that after she won the beauty contests, Bollywood came calling. She instead decided on the family tradition, medicine.
Now hoping to become a plastic surgeon, she is now with her husband to be in Chicago.
It’s not an arranged wedding.
“It’s a love marriage, we are in this century.”
The families are praying furiously for fine weather after they ruled out alternative venues in Jaipur or Maimi for the traditional Hindu wedding.
Her father, Mohan Chigopeker, is a doctor who served as team doctor for both the Indian and New Zealand cricket teams.
Kumar, who was born in Chicago, is CEO in waiting of family owned Autotech Viktron Group, a Bangalore based company that is a world leader in computer circuit board equipment.
As for the guest list, Aruna was not too sure who had RSVP’d yet.
Palin and Rumsfeld – Kumar family friends and supporters – had got the invites, and so has Prime Minister John Key and Mayor Len Brown.
In a rare change of exclusive weddings, the media are also invited.
