28,000 couples married, thanks to Sharma!

Bhopal, Apr 3: It's a record that may leave an established marriage bureau stunned and envious! Fifty-two-year-old Rameshwar Sharma, who is posted in police's wireless department, has played an important role in getting 28,000 couple married. And that too for no fee! His two-room government house witnesses a fair-like scene with streams of people arriving in morning and evening.

With his mobile phone continuously ringing, Mr Shrama is no less than a ''redeemer'' for parents, who approach him with their bags filled with bio-data and photographs of their children.

He keeps on assuring doubting parents that they would be successful in finding suitable match soon.

Mr Sharma had even made financial arrangements for getting poor girls married.

Mr Sharma told UNI that getting a girl married was regarded as pious as undertaking a pilgrimage in Hindu religion. This was his inspiration when he started his work 32 years ago.

He had not imagined then that his small effort would assume such a big dimension some day.

Mr Sharma, who basically hails from Guna district, said he had observed that getting a girl, especially if she belonged to a poor family, married was a big task.

Several families put their land and other valueable possessions at stake for getting their girls married.

In this endeavour, he started with searching for prospective brides and bridegrooms for Brahmin families but later extended his service to people of all communities and religions.

Mr Sharma claimed that he had got 8,000 couples of Muslim community and Rs 3,000 couples of Sikh community married besides solemnising a few Christian marriages. He said he was specially prepared for helping people belonging to SC and ST communities. It was not all rosy for Mr Sharma in the beginning and he had some bitter experiences when he had to listen harsh words from the side of the bride or the bridegroom.

''One of the incidents pained me so much that I left the task for some time. However, I re-started it after some time on the voice my inner conscience,'' he said.

On whether he thought of providing his work a professional outlook and earn a lot of money, Mr Sharma said, ''With God's blessings, I never went through this conflict.'' The life partner for Mr Sharma, who had got thousands of people married, was chosen by his parents.

He said he could not have gone ahead with his work without the support of his wife, Shyamlata.

Initially, his wife did not like the regular crowd in the house but after some time she accepted it whole-heartedly. Now, Ms Sharma feels serving people, who look for match for their children, as her duty.

Mr Sharma possesses 2,000 diaries filled with the names of prospective brides and bridegrooms besides photographs of 20,000 boys and 8,000-10,000 girls.

Mr Sharma said the mentality of parents in urban areas had undergone a change. Even when the marriage was fixed by parents, a prior meeting between bride and bridegroom and their consent was given due importance.

His work has earned him great social recognition and several organisations had honoured him. His name has been included in a book, published by a US-based institute, focussing on contemporary people.

Mr Sharma wished to get his achievement registered in Guinness Book of World Records and was communicating with the institute.

The Sharma couple, who are childless, express concern who would carry the task forward but are hopeful that someone would come.

He wishes to establish a trust with the money he would receive after retiring from government job so that the show goes on.

UNI