Man, wife and POST happily married

More than 500 guests paused and pondered, as Rebecca Gianotti (former PLC student) and Gajan Sivandran (former Scotch boy) were married in a Hindu ceremony at The Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo.

The ceremony paused while Rebecca's dad, Umberto (Bert), took a photograph.

He said: "They are such beautifully polite people that everybody waited, while I whipped out the POST and handed it to the bridal couple, probably with everybody thinking: 'Is this some weird Australian marriage custom involving a newspaper?'"

At least the 16 guests from Perth knew what was happening.

They were keeping up a friendly ritual started by a POST reader years ago - having their picture taken at a place far from home where they were enjoying themselves immensely, but with the POST to show that they were also thinking of home.

The couple will have a second wedding ceremony at the PLC chapel.

Rebecca and Gajan have both been invited to complete their PhDs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Boston), working on environment engineering, with full scholarships, for five years.

Their Sri Lankan Hindu ceremony involved a lot of symbolism, with pots of earth being sown with nine varieties of grain to symbolise a fertile life for the couple.

The bestmen, Bec's brothers Michael and David, sprinkled the groom's feet with water to signify cleansing, and received a gift of a gold ring for their good grace.

The bridal couple sat in a flower-decked canopy.

Bert, father of the bride, took her hand in his, and holding a betal leaf and a coconut in the other, placed Bec's hand in Gajan's hand.

Helen, the bride's mother, indicated her consent by pouring water into her husband's hand, while he held a gold coin, symbolising his daughter.

Gajan accepted the coin and passed it to his parents, Sive and Kanthi, to show the acceptance of the bride by the groom and his family as a new member of their family, to protect and cherish.

The climax of the ceremony was Gajan placing around Bec's neck the thali - a gold pendant with the Lord's symbol inscribed on it, which to a Hindu wife denotes eternal love for her husband and she wears it, as long as her husband lives, on a chain, next to her heart.

Then they circled a sacred fire three times.

On the first round, Gajan placed Bec's right foot on a granite stone with the blessing: "May your will be strong and steadfast like this stone" and placed a silver ring on her second toe.

He repeated the procedure on the second round, placing a ring on her left foot and showed her a star reminding her of a devoted wife known for her chastity.

On the final round, the couple placed a hand each into a narrow-necked vessel and vied for a small ring placed inside by the priest - to enable the couple to share the joys of pursuit, irrespective of the winner.

The final rite was a sacrament emphasising the participation and blessing of the entire family circle, because the Hindu marriage aims at bliss achieved through the union of the families.