As the wedding day nears, with all the invites sent and the duties delegated, the stage is set. At the crack of dawn on the wedding day, all the men in the bride’s family, and other locals, go into the forest to select strong trunks to make the wedding platform or the mandap. Four to six sturdy trunks of palash or bamboo are collected. The vibrant red flowers of the former are used to extract colours for different festivals and rituals. In case there are no dried trees, an exemption is made, only because it is for a wedding, and a few living trees are cut down. The mandap’s roof is usually made from the leaves of jamun and, at times, tendu.
