Harshad and Mrudu eloped in the 1960s, defying caste and societal norms. Decades later, their grandchildren gave them the wedding they never had. As their love story goes viral, it reignites conversations on inter-caste marriages.
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00:00This video of a couple getting married 64 years after eloping in the 1960s became an
00:12overnight sensation.
00:14Marriages across religion and caste have always been met with taboo.
00:18According to the India Human Development Survey, only about 5% of Indian marriages are inter-caste.
00:24Harshad and Mridu, who first met in school in the 1960s, met with the same fate.
00:29Their love grew through handwritten letters.
00:31Harshad, a Jain and Mridu, a Brahmin, faced rejection from their families because of their
00:36bond.
00:37Madly in love, Mridu left behind a letter that read, I am not coming back.
00:41Since then, they have built a life together.
00:48Now 64 years later, their grandchildren got them married again, this time in a beautiful
00:52ceremony.
00:57Like Harshad and Mridu, many have defied society for love, some even paid with their lives.
01:01In 2019, Ravindra Adalit, man who married Shilpa, an upper-caste Rajput woman he met
01:06on Facebook, described how inter-caste couples are often seen as aliens or rebels in society.
01:12Pranay Adalit married Amrita, an upper-caste in 2018.
01:16Pranay was then murdered allegedly on the orders of Amrita's father.
01:20But that was not the case for Harshad and Mridu.
01:23It was their grandchildren, beaming in joy, who brought the grand ceremony to life with
01:26the help of Kanku Thapa, the wedding planner and designer.
01:30As Mridu cullinated Harshad after 64 years, entire internet melted at their love story.
01:35Many shared their struggle of inter-caste marriages.