TTD's Kalyanamasthu Marred

The 6th phase of the Kalyanamasthu program of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) that was conducted in 294 constituencies on Friday morning recorded the weddings of 12,000 couples across the state.

Quoting the TTD website, the objective of the Kalyanamasthu program is to facilitate the matrimony of 2 individuals so that they may "lead a life thereafter based on the principles of mutual love, respect, traditional family and social values, and harmonious co-existence."

Not all participants respect tradition, as is defined by the TTD and a vast majority of the general public, as the incidents that occured in various regions of the state suggest.

In the city of Eluru, West Godavari, it was noticed that a woman was pregnant before marriage, and the baffled authorities sought an explanation from the couple. It was found that the couple were in a live-in relationship, and that the man's family was against their marriage. The man's family was notified about his attempt at marriage, and what followed remains a mystery.

At yet another Kalyanamasthu venue in West Godavari, a couple with a 5-month-old child were so pre-occupied with getting married that they did not notice that their child had succumbed to the heat. It was much later that they noticed that the child had breathed his/her last.

In Visakhapatnam, irate family members rushed to the venue to corner a couple which turned out to have an interesting background. Both the man and the woman, who were all set to wed each other, are already married to other people, with whom both have 2 kids each.

The first wife of the man learnt of her husband's actions and rushed to the venue with the rest of the family. She succeeded in halting the marriage.

The negligence of authorities in doing a back-ground check of the couples participating in the event is being touted as the reason that such incidents are taking place.