AP woman who eloped at 16 to marry TN man, meets family 56 years later

THOOTHUKUDI: After more than five decades, it was a reunion for a 75-yearold Andhra Pradesh woman, who had left her native village at a young age of 16 to marry a man belonging to Melakaranthai here, with her family. The families were spellbound as relatives of Gowri Parvathi (75) came to visit her all the way from Chinnayyapalem village near Narsipatnam of Anakapalle district in Andhra Pradesh, which is almost 1,300km away.

The couple Nammazhvar and Gowri Parvathi lives in Melakaranthai, a village along Thoothukudi-Madurai national highway near Vilathikulam in Thoothukudi. Nammazhvar, who is 80 now, had come to Chinnayyapalem and Narsipatnam villages in the 1960s for a coolie wage job with an HT tower installation firm.

“I had befriended some local guys during my stay in Narsipatnam and that is how I met Gowri and began a relationship,” recalls Nammazhvar. Nammazhvar said they eloped to Tamil Nadu to marry at one point, but Gowri’s family members caught them at Vijayawada bus stand.

“They left Nammazhvar with a stern warning not to disturb her anymore and took her back home,” he said, adding that heard Gowri crying that she would commit suicide if he failed to come back again in 10 days. So he made a journey again to Narsipatnam and asked the daughter of a washerman, who he knew before, to clandestinely inform about his arrival to Gowri.

Soon Gowri came to his place and both left for Melakaranthai and got married. “It was 1966 when we got married. Gowri was 16 and I was 21. She did not go back to her native since then,” Nammazhvar added. The couple gave birth to Ayyammal, Shanmugaraj and Muthulakshmi. Nammazhvar pursued agriculture on a seven acre land to run the family.

Shanmugaraj (49) said that as his mother was ageing and often crying to see her relatives, he made the journey to Chinnayyapalem last week and enquired about their family members. “My mother was pronouncing the name of the village differently which delayed the process. However, we were able to find the place with the help of Google maps and she remembered nearby villages as well,” he said.

Shanmugaraj managed to find the families of his mother within four hours of reaching the village. “At once they came to know about my mother is Gowri and all the relatives gathered and gave me a warm welcome,” he said, adding they also accompanied back with him to Melakaranthai to see Gowri. At Melakaranthai also, Nammazhvar’s family gave a reception to Gowri’s family members.

The two families were boundless in joy as they were seeing each other after a gap of 56 years. The family members said that Gowri’s brothers Majji Somulu, Majji Dasu, sisters Mamidi Venkayamma and Gengamma had expired, while Majji Rambabu and Vadaddi Manga are alive. Rambabu and Manga had come to Melakaranthai to see Gowri.

Balaji, a grandson of Gengamma, told TNIE that they are much surprised and enthralled to see Gowri, her children and grand children. “We had made searches at various places, especially at temples. Our grandma Mamidi Venkayamma had cried many days and searched Gowri at many places before she died”. he said.