On Monday, amid the lockdown, Pappanaickenpudur resident D. Pushparaj tied the knot to his girlfriend A. Vijayalakshmi. The couple was among the six or seven that got married at the Sri Baladhandayuthapani Murugan Temple in Gandhi Park.
The couple along with 10 members - five each from the bride and the groom family - reached the temple around 5 a.m. and after completing the formalities, left the place by 5.30 a.m.
Mr. Pushparaj’s uncle N. Chandran said the muhurtam was scheduled between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. But the families had to move it forward at the instructions of the temple management, which said it was moving it by 5 a.m. as there at least half-a-dozen weddings to be solemnised and they had to do it keeping in mind the lockdown and personal distance to be maintained.
The families then consulted one another and elders in the respective families. “We decided to go ahead as the elders did not want the wedding to be cancelled or postponed.”
Thereafter, Mr. Chandran reached out to the local police station, where officials asked him to get in touch with the district administration. “At the Collectorate, officials asked me to apply with the wedding invitation. Thereafter, a few family members and I met the Collector, who asked us a few questions and granted permission.” The permission was for not more than 10 persons to attend the wedding and two vehicles to travel to the temple and return home.
Mr. Pushparaj, who works as a salesman in a leading home appliances shop, said he was thrilled and equally tensed in the run up the wedding, as his was a love marriage. Ms. Vijayalakshmi was his junior in college.
One of the important tasks was to call up relatives to tell them about the change in plans, the decision to go ahead with the wedding and seek their blessings. And, also answer calls from concerned relatives and friends.
“My wife and I also kept updating relatives and friends through messages and social media posts.” And, at the temple, the couple made sure that their wedding was captured on a mobile phone camera to be shared on social media platforms. Mr. Chandran said the families had decided to hold the reception at a later date, after the lockdown ended and normality returned.
The bride and groom along with the relatives, who attended the wedding, wore masks and maintained physical distancing, according to sources privy to the development. Other such small-scale weddings also took place at temples in Kalampalayam in Thondamuthur and Chinniyampalayam on the outskirts of the city.
Tiruppur
Upon receiving permission from the district administration, Thenmozhi and Srikanth tied the knot at a small temple in Cheyur near Avinashi on Monday. The wedding was initially scheduled to be held in a hall in Avinashi, but was relocated following the lockdown, sources said. The relatives wore masks as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.
(With inputs from
R. Akileish)
