Some marriages are made in heaven, some in a relief camp
Muscat-based plumber Subeesh ties the knot with Sibina in a flood relief camp in Kerala
The adage ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ took on a new meaning for Kerala flood survivors Sibina and family who transformed their makeshift relief camp, originally a cement warehouse in North Paravur in Ernakulam, into a marriage hall yesterday morning.
Their radical choice of an unconventional venue ensured that the groom Subeesh, a plumber working in Muscat, got to marry in an arranged marriage set-up, before the end of his annual leave.
“Their marriage was fixed for August 23 originally. All the wedding trousseau, gold ornaments were purchased and invites were already sent out. But the floods put an unexpected halt to all of that and we had to seek shelter in a relief camp. But since we knew that Subeesh won’t be back in Kerala for another two years, it was important that we went as per our original plan,” said Santhosh K.V, the bride’s uncle in Malayalam, in an interview with Gulf News over the phone.
According to the uncle, the wedding which took place despite all odds went off smoothly due to the collective efforts of all the evacuees, the volunteers and those manning the relief camps.
“It was important that the wedding took place today as August 19 and August 23 were the only auspicious dates for their wedding as per their horoscopes,” he added.
The bride and the groom’s family, whose homes have been under water for the last one week, took the decision to invite the guests and their newfound friends in the relief camp to the cement warehouse. There were at least 700 guests, out of which 300 were evacuees who had fast become their friends.
“All the volunteers, ward members of the camp and the evacuees were kind enough to help us make the wedding go off smoothly,” said Santhosh.
There’s a Dubai connect to this unconventional wedding. A volunteer whose husband runs a Dubai-based event management company decided to put their expertise to work and make Sibina and Subeesh’s wedding a success.
“Our hearts went out to the family who lost out on wedding preparations due to the floods. We were volunteering in this camp when the bride’s brother Subin told us about how it was his dream to marry off his sister well. But unfortunately, rains had ruined their dreams. We just wanted to make their wedding day special as they had lost so much in the floods,” said Nileena Siju, a teacher in a school in Dubai who is on a vacation in Kochi. Their firm extended their services to the couple free of cost.