Wedding bells for tribal couples

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The pandemic destroyed the wedding plans of Puthur native Kaliyamma and her fiance Sholayur native Maruthachalam, a pharmacist. Kaliyamma who worked as a data entry operator in Bengaluru lost her job during the first lockdown, putting an end to the sole source of income of her family. She had to postpone her wedding due to the financial situation. 

Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust has now come forward to help such couples in the city. The trust is organising a community wedding at 11am at Thonnakkal on Sunday as part of the 96th birth anniversary of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Four other couples from Attappadi tribal settlements will also get married on Sunday along with Kaliyamma and Maruthachalam.  

Justice P B Suresh Kumar came forward to sponsor the wedding expenses of the tribal couples, said K N Anand Kumar, founder and executive director of the trust. “We used to organise community weddings for the past 15 years. Before the pandemic, Suresh Kumar had conveyed his wish to sponsor five couples. But it got delayed due to the pandemic outbreak,” he said. The four couples are Vijayalakshmi R and Govindaraj; Divya and Subramanian; Gayatri and Vellingiri; Kavitha P and Murugan. 

“Many were not able to afford a small piece of gold due to financial crisis. Many had to cancel their wedding too. So we decided to help them start their life with their loved ones. These are arranged marriages where grooms and brides are selected as per their custom,” Gopalakrishnan K, manager of Saigramam at Attapady settlement said. Each couple will be accompanied by 10 family members at their wedding.