Not jewellery, saris or panjabis: at a wedding reception, a newly married couple were given saplings of various trees as a gift. The bride and groom received this unusual present on World Environment Day.

It happened at a wedding feast on Friday afternoon (5 June) in Deora village of Deshigram union in Sirajganj's Tarash upazila.

That day, Hadiul Hridoy, a journalist and the son of Abdul Latif of Paril village in the upazila's Talam union, married Jannatul Ferdous, daughter of Jahangir Alam of Deora village in Deshigram union of the same upazila. An invited guest, Mahbub Islam Palash, gave the couple saplings of different trees.

Mahbub Islam Palash is the director of an organisation called 'Paribesh O Prakritir Pathshala' (School of Environment and Nature). Handing over the saplings, he said: "Today is World Environment Day. Trees are essential to keeping the environment in balance. So I tried to step away from convention and give an unusual gift, one that helps protect that balance."

He said: "We can feel the benefit of trees in this intense heat. As it is now the monsoon, the tree-planting season, we came with this unusual gift to raise public awareness about planting trees."

Groom Hadiul Hridoy said: "I never imagined I would get trees as a wedding gift. These trees will be useful to my family in the days ahead, and they will also help protect the environment."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.