Monday 10th February 2025

I thought today would be quite exhausting, as I was up extremely early this morning to be ready for Manju to pick me up at 06:00 and take me to Hatton for a wedding. I had wondered whether I was a bit crazy accepting the wedding invitation, as it was a long journey to Hatton and back, but this was only my second Tamil Hindu wedding (after Gobi and Kavi's in 2019), and I am extremely fond of Vinotharan, who was getting married to Thilageswary, so I didn't want to miss it.

Poor Thilageswary has waited 8 years for Vinotharan to get round to the wedding, so there was much excitement from their families and close friends to see them finally get married. I was so pleased that I had made the effort to go, as it really was such a joyous occasion. The journey back to the Hill Country was special for me, and it was lovely to be back with so many familiar faces. Tea Leaf is far more than an organisation - it is a vibrant, loving community of people.

It only took just over three and a half hours to get from Kurunegala to Hatton, so I arrived a few minutes before the wedding 'started' at 10:00, forgetting that for the first hour of a Hindu wedding not a lot happens, but it gave me the chance to catch up with Isabelle again, which was lovely, as I am not sure when I will see her again. I think we were both delighted to see so many Tea Leaf staff celebrating this momentous occasion for two of their well-loved colleagues.

The wedding was from 10:00 until 13:00, but inevitably went on a bit longer, and we didn't have lunch until 14:00. I felt sad leaving the festivities a bit early at 14:30, but it was going to take another three and a half hours to get back to Kurunegala, so there were a few sad goodbyes, as I am unlikely to be back in Sri Lanka until next January at the earliest. I loved today, though, and I was so glad that I made the effort to go all that way to pay my respects to Vinotharan and Thilageswary.

As you might expect, the photographs today are all from the wonderful wedding celebrations, which was such a huge privilege to be invited to. Apparently, 1,200 guests were invited, but they were only anticipating that 800-1,000 would actually come, which is simply astonishing!











Comments

  1. CharlesFebruary 11, 2025 at 1:01 AM

    What a spectacle this wedding ceremony must have been, Keith. (Julie and I witnessed the start of a Hindu wedding in a village in the backwaters of Kochi the Sunday before last, so we have a sense of what is involved)

    ReplyDelete

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