Finding a perfect life partner is indeed an arduous task as so many hindrances in the name of tradition, religion, and caste crop up and of course physical appearances too decide things in a marriage.
When this has become a practical reality, the marriage dreams or hopes of many get either dashed or never gets fulfilled and in the case of differently abled it becomes even more complex as they have to face lots of difficulties in a society which functions on the normal/abnormal binary.
The wedding suyamvaram held here on Sunday for the differently abled by the Tamil Nadu Physically Handicapped Associations Federation, South Zone Forum and G. M. S. Foundation, Madurai was indeed a positive step towards a major change.
Over 400 differently abled from across the State had assembled at the venue with dreams to find their life mate. The event offered hopes of future on a platter, the hope was also writ large on their faces which had so far hidden dreams of a life in partnership and matrimony.
The main aim of organising such an event was to remove the stigma and the insecurity that a differently abled lives with and the travails that crop up over a period of time for their kith and kin on the responsibilities, said Rajkumari Jeevagan, founder chairman, G. M. S. Foundation.
Ms. Jeevagan further said that marriage also forms part of the rights discourse of the differently-abled and we need to transform this into a movement to fight for the rights of the differently abled.
The Suyamvaram was particularly aimed at helping the women who faced indifference from society and were denied basic rights, said, S. Boopathy, general secretary, TNPHAF, South Zone.
The participants interacted with others like them who had shown interest in their profiles, and 20 of the participants finally chose the ones they would share life with and would be involved in the third and final counselling before they tie the knot. Two sessions of counselling were done on Sunday. Barring a few for many, caste is still a great impediment as many insisted that they wished to marry from their own caste.
The weddings of these 20 would be held soon, the organisers said. The Foundation would be conducting the wedding in Madurai and Mina Dinesh of Madurai who lives in Muscat has agreed to sponsor the weddings, the organisers said.
District Collector, Anshul Mishra presided over the Suyamvaram event which was inaugurated by Madurai Corporation Mayor V. V. Rajan Chellapa. S. Rethinavelu, senior president, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and N. Sethuraman, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre participated in the event.
