Chopper weddings for Indian farmers

Delhi: Maan Singh and his family are the most talked about people in his village in India's northern Haryana state these days.
The 49-year-old farmer shelled out a whopping 140,000 rupees ($3,600) to hire a helicopter to ferry his son to his wedding.
Thousands of villagers in Farrukhnagar, where Mr Singh lives with his family and five brothers, cheered as the private Bell Jet Ranger helicopter flew off with his son, Jagdeep, 23, and two other relatives for the wedding on Monday.
However, they did not get permission to land in the bride's village in Kapashera, barely 20km (12 miles) away, because the ground was too soft for a makeshift helipad there.
Instead, the wedding party flew for 12 minutes to Palam airport in Delhi, and then travelled in a hired Mercedes Benz for the wedding.
Mr Singh belongs to a growing minority of rich farmers in India who are willing to splurge on marriages and family functions.
"Hiring a helicopter for a wedding is a good way of showing off your wealth in the village," says Col CS Chaturvedi, who runs a chopper rental company in the capital, Delhi.
"It is a novelty for a lot of people, and you attract a lot of attention automatically by getting a helicopter to land in your village."
Col Chaturvedi's company Trans Bharat Aviation, has already rented out its helicopters half a dozen times to rich farmers during the current wedding season.
Most of the 15 or so helicopter rental companies in Delhi have similar stories.
04/12/07 Soutik Biswas/BBC News, UK

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Categories: General Aviation Dec 2007, New Dec 2007