Aided by affirmative action, India’s most marginalised communities, the scheduled castes, are slowly but steadily breaking out of a centuries-old cycle of penury and oppression. Launching a petition to the local police station, bridegroom Sanjay Jatav’s fight for an equal wedding and permission to take out his wedding procession through the upper caste dominated areas in Nizampur –his bride’s village – in Kasganj district, Uttar Pradesh became as important for the village as for the nation at a time when caste conflicts seem to have turned on their axis. Jatav’s wedding etched a landmark because he refused to back down in a scenario that has frequently triggered boycotts or bloodshed in the region.