Marriage is not in heaven but in different panchayats.!

Reason for preferring Kerala as a place for marriage is, of course, the convenience of the people especially the foreigners. They get married easily and  get the marriage certificate not one but many from local bodies if marriages are conducted in different locations. The rules of the marriage registration agency particularly those of the panchayats are baggy to get certificate very easily. It is now not an offence to get more certificates by arranging the marriage of the same couple at different localities.

Today I attended a Christian marriage at Vanaswargam Church, S L Puram, Cherthala for which the bride was one converted from Hindu religion. The marriage is likely to be registered in Kanjikkuzhy panchayat. The reception was arranged in an auditorium at Muhamma Panchayat. When I reached the auditorium the people there were waiting for the bride and groom to come as the “muhurtham” was almost ahead for the marriage. Soon the couple married  at the church an hour before  reached spot in Hindu marriage attire and re-married in the Hindu style. A priest (Shanti) of the local SNDPwith a photo of Sre Narayana Guru and a traditional lamp was present their to chant the Hindu marriage manthras. Obviously this Hindu marriage is going to be registered in Muhamma Munchayat. The whole incident was incomprehensible to me and hence I left the place avoiding the reception. I think, I was invited only for the Christian marriage in the Church.

And which certificate the couple is going to collect is unknown to me. Perhaps they collect certificates from both the panchayats and use them advantageously for their foreign trips. And they also keep separate wedding albums to show their kids in future the diverse version of their marriages. This is not my first experience  to attend a marriage of the sort as I had another experience  at Kanichukulangara Co-operative bank auditorium a few months back.

I can’t understand why the people arrange both the types of marriage ceremony for inter-caste marriages. Why can’t they prefer a registered marriage in that case?.  Does the law permit people to hold two more marriage certificates?  And if it is a criminal offence what is the punishment? Could the marriage registration authority issue certificates  without proper enquiry?

Thanks to cell phone and the Internet.  Coming are the days of more and more “online” inter-caste marriages. The government should weigh up to make rules to contain marriage frauds.

Don’t permit God’s Own Country to become a place of  fraud nuptial knots.

K A Solaman