Love across seven seas: Bangla ‘manush’ falls for Japanese beauty

KANPUR: Love at first sight between Gopi Karmakar and Japanese girl Asuka Momose is about to end in a traditional Bengali marriage. They met each other during a conference in 2012 and now they are ready to tie knot in the city on February 2. Asuka’s family members have asked Gopi’s family to make arrangements for a traditional Indian wedding. Apart from family members, relatives and people of the area are excited to welcome ‘Japanese bahu’.The groom’s family is busy in making arrangements for this ‘international marriage’, in which five family members of Asuka will also come to attend the function.
Gopi went twice to Japan to meet Asuka’s parents. It was not too difficult to convince the parents as the two families are liberal, Gopi said while talking to TOI.
He said that the reason behind the marriage in Bengali tradition is that Asuka and her family love Indian culture very much. Asuka’s father and mother are fond of Indian food and attires. When I first introduced her to my parents, she was wearing traditional salwar-kameez and had applied mehndi on her palms, he added.
“Before leaving for Japan, Asuka worked in Bangalore with me for six months. She started watching Bollywood movies and her love for the country and its value increased manifold. Now we are making arrangements for functions like mehndi, sangeet and haldi ceremonies which are the part of an Indian marriage,” he said.
The love started when Gopi, a software engineer, a resident of Govind Nagar area of the city while working in Bangalore met Asuka during an office conference. Asuka, also a software engineer, came to Bangalore to attend this conference from Japan. Gopi fall flat over her mesmerizing personality.
The techies had also made an attractive electronic invitation card for their marriage. Apart from sending hard copy of their marriage cards, they are also inviting people through a link. When someone opens this link, it invites people. There is a sweet description on ‘how they met’ written in it.
The marriage will be a grand affair with all pomp and show associated with a Bengali wedding. “The main attractions will be mehndi, sangeet, cocktail party and haldi ceremonies,” Gopi’s cousin Deepak Das said.