VELLORE: The marriage hall was abuzz with the movement of people, decorators looking into finer aspects of each and every ornamental article beautifying the hall, and cooks busy in the kitchen making sumptuous food to be served on the plantain leaves for the visitors.
However, the euphoria disappeared like a water bubble when a sudden tiff over erecting party flags and festoons erupted at Dhanapal marriage hall at Arni in Tiruvannamalai district on Saturday night as the bridegroom’s (P Shanmugam) father Padmanabhan, a local AIADMK leader, questioned as to why their
side was not consulted before placing the banners.
He wanted Rajagopal, father of the bride R Shanthi, to remove the banners, festoons, and party flags, erected to welcome DMK district secretary Sivanantham, before his party leader and Minister for
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Sevoor S Ramachandran visited the hall to bless the couple.
All hell broke as both sides engaged in a fiery battle over the matter leaving the tired bride and the groom watching the events helplessly as they had just finished posing for photos during the marriage reception.
“After hours of fight, the bride’s side agreed to remove the DMK banners and flags before the minister’s visit. At 1.30 am on Sunday, we all made a compromise and began to look into other arrangements,” said a relative of the groom.
However, things took an ugly turn when a fresh round of quarrel broke out early in the morning just
minutes before the auspicious time for tying the holy knot approached.
The girl’s side refused to proceed further with the arrangements passing the buck on the groom’s relatives who had already grown impatient with the events. The bride also said to have expressed her displeasure over the adamant approach of Shanmugam’s relatives and told she was not ready to tie the knot under
such tumultuous situation which might create problems for her in the days to come.
As the relatives of the bride began to walk away, the sound and fury in the marriage hall disappeared leading to sepulchral silence prevail. While Santhiya’s father took her to a temple in their native village Sellur to perform her marriage with her cousin Ezhumalai, the groom’s father Padmanabhan walked into the Arni police station with a complaint seeking the cops to get him back the huge amount of money he had spent for the called-off marriage.
“I had to spent as much as Rs 2.45 lakh for the marriage function. All the money went waste,” Padmanabhan said.
When the police held inquiries, Rajagopal claimed that he too had spent an amount equal for the function. He also produced the related bills, leaving the police confused to move further in the case.