Gurugram: A young groom’s romantic dream to bring home his bride in a helicopter — rather than in the traditional, and more earthly ‘palanquin’ — vanished in thin air here on Thursday due to Father Time. Notwithstanding the raging debate over demonetisation and black money and hassles over a withdrawal limit of Rs 2.5 lakh for weddings, the man had arranged an aerial ‘palanquin’ for his bride. The groom, Vinod Vats, 25, from Gurugram was determined that a helicopter should do service for his bride Lalita.
He had made arrangements soon after the wedding was finalised. On Wednesday, Vinod was permitted by Gurugram district authorities to use a five-seater Pawan Hans helicopter in Gurugram’s jurisdiction. It would land at a school ground and the couple would be on Cloud Nine. But the arrangements turned out to be star-crossed. A Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official informed the family that the chopper could be provided only around 3 p.m. for the 45-minute ride from the bride’s village of Aklimpur near Badshahpur. This was unsuitable to the groom’s family as the ‘shubh mahurat’ — the auspicious hour — for departure of the newly-wed couple was around 9 a.m. Eventually, they decided to bring their daughter-in-law home in a car
