TIRUCHY: While lockdown restrictions allow only 50 people to attend a wedding, hundreds took part in this wedding in Mayiladuthurai on Sunday evening as it was hosted virtually.
It was a self-respect, inter-caste marriage and the bride and groom were Aruvi and Gokula Krishna, architecture postgraduates. The bride is related to Kali Poongundran, Deputy President of Dravidar Kazhagam (DK). The wedding was remotely solemnised by DK president K Veeramani.
Both Veeramani and Poongundran participated from their respective houses in Chennai
While only 20 participated in-person at a farmhouse near Mayiladuthurai, over 100 persons along with their family members took part through the virtual conferencing (VC) platform Zoom. The VC was shared on the bride and groom's Facebook accounts and also hosted live on YoutTube. Several hundreds viewed the wedding in realtime.
Being a self respect marriage, few speakers spoke from various parts of Tamil Nadu.Many took part from overseas as well, including Singapore and Germany.
The marriage was initially planned to be held directly, as it was decided before the onset of the second wave of the pandemic. However, owing to tightened restrictions the event was taken online.
Solemnising the wedding and commenting on the ease of holding virtual events like this, Veeramani said, "Change is inevitable, accepting and adapting to it is rationalism. Modernity should flourish and our meaningul parts of customs should be its manure."
He added, "Had this wedding be conducted in normal times, it would have a participation like that of a conference. Now, it is being held virutally, thanks to scientific advancements."