On this dog’s day, he got a 4-yr-old bride

But science fairs and cable TV – many of the inhabitants in this village with about 800 people have TV sets – could not do anything about superstitions. If it was Anju today, yesterday it was four-year-old Tapas Murmu, who was sold off for 10 paise to Ravi Mullick of the same village by his father Bishu Murmu in the belief that it would end his run of bad luck.

And Anju’s parents are surprised why there is a hue and cry about the marriage – they say another girl was married off to a dog last year in a neighbouring village.

Accidents and diseases chased Anju from her birth. "We thought that if we married her off to a dog, she would no longer remain a human being and will fall in the Sarameya (dog) gotra," says Subal, an illiterate gardener at the genetics department of Bidhan Chandra Krishi Mahavidyalaya at nearby Kalyani. "And in this way, my daughter will be able to ward off the evil eye the Satan casts on her," he adds.

There was precedent in the family. Subal says that his great grandfather Kalachand had done the same thing. "He had married one of his granddaughters to a dog and the girl lived happily thereafter," Subal says. When Subal and wife Saptami, who works in the State Government-owned Haringhata Dairy, decided on the marriage of their youngest daughter to a dog, they went to their family priest for advice. The priest said `yes’ but wanted the marriage to be preceded by a special puja. Then, the couple started searching for a good dog. The search ended at the door of family friend Barun Dutta who had a pet dog named Bullet. "I told them that I could offer my pet dog as groom if that could help the child get rid of her misfortunes," Dutta, a trader in the neighbouring Rajaberia village, says.

On the day of the marriage, the canine baraat came with all the paraphernalia including a band. "We invited about 50 people and about 50 more people turned up to watch the wedding," Saptami says. The wedding was accompanied by all the rituals, mantras and garlanding. There was one difference though. There was no `sankha-sindur'(vermilion and a bangle made of conch shell) or `topor’ (traditional cap for the groom) in the marriage.

The guests turned up with gifts which included utensils and clothes for the girl. And at both the wedding and the `boubhat’ (reception at the groom’s house) the guests were treated with sumptuous meals. The menu could match any marriage: Murighanta (daal with fish head), fish and chicken curry, curd and rasgulla. Both Karmakar and Dutta spent about Rs 10,000-15,000 each for the ceremony.

But not all the neighbours support the idea. "If this is the way you recover from diseases, there is no need of hospitals and doctors," Sunil Majumder, a neighbour, says. "But then superstitions are very hard to be removed. It’s all in the mind."

"I came to know about the incident the next day," says Madhumita Roy, Sub-Divisional Officer of Kalyani, under whose jurisdiction Khudra Mohanour falls. "But I cannot take any action as the girl remained with her father. We don’t recognise this a proper marriage," she said.