Mysuru: Amidst a lot of opposition and threats from pro-Hindu activists, Vokkaliga girl Ashitha, now renamed Shaista, got married to her childhood friend, Shakeel on Sunday.
Both the bride and groom and their families hailing from Mandya, looked happy at the grand wedding reception which was held without any hitch under tight police security at Taj Convention hall near Bannimantap in Mysuru on Sunday evening. It was not just a wedding but a union of two communities, as friends and relatives of both families, dressed in their own style greeted the newly wed couple.
“I feel good, very happy,” Shaista told Deccan Chronicle, as she posed in a peach coloured lehanga and a maroon goongat, with rich jewellery in Muslim style. The groom, Shakeel, looked equally happy as he posed in a navy blue suit and white shirt. While the formal wedding was a private affair, the reception at Taj Convention hall drew attention with both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes served.
Father of Shaista, Dr Narendra Babu said, “I feel very happy as we are celebrating our daughter’s wedding.” Interestingly, several poets and progressive thinkers including Prof K.S. Bhagwan, Gowri Lankesh, social activists including Vimala of Janavadi Mahila Sangha and others lined up to extend their support for the wedding.
More than 2000 people participated in the wedding with person carefully screened before they being allowed to enter the wedding venue. Intelligence SP Rajendraprasad and DCP NR constituency Umesh Ganapathi Sait supervised security arrangements.
Shaista, daughter of Dr Narendra Babu of Ashok Nagar in Mandya, has done her MBA in HR and MS in HR from England. Shakeel, son of Mukther (a rice and jaggery merchant), resident of Gandhi Nagar in Mandya has done his MBA in Marketing and looks after his father’s business.
He is the proprietor of Deccan Trading Corporation. Dr Narendra Babu and Mukther are friends for fifty years, Shaista and Shakeel were childhood friends too and had studied together from PU to MBA.
