Shashi Tharoor - Sunanda Pushkar Wedding Reception

Shashi Tharoor weds Sunanda Pushkar in a simple function : Kerala.

In a traditional ceremony held at his ancestral home in Kerala, former Union minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor tied the knot with his Dubai-based fiance Sunanda Pushkar on Sunday. The marriage shorn of extravaganza was held in the presence of Tharoor's 94-year-old grandmother Jayasankari Amma and other family elders.

The function was held at the 200-year-old ancestral home of Tharoor at Elavanchery village near Kollangodu at about 8.30 am on Sunday. The 54-year-old-diplomat-turned politician, representing Thiruvananthapuram in Lok Sabha, tied the thali (mangalsutra)' around the neck of his Kashmiri bride before the couple garlanded each other and the bridegroom handed over the pudava', a piece of new clothing, to the bride, as per a tradition for Nair families.

Tharoor's maternal uncle and local CPM leader Narayanan Unni led the rituals which were held to the accompaniment of traditional percussion and wind instruments. Both Tharoor and Sunanda were in typical Kerala dress, woven specially by handloom experts of Balaramapuram, in Tharoor's constituency.

The ceremony began with the couple seeking the blessings of elders including Jayasankari Amma. Tharoor's sons Ishaan and Kanishk, both journalists born to his first wife, Sunanda's son Siva from her second marriage, Sunanda's father Col Pushkarnath Das, Tharoor's sisters Sobha and Smitha and Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar were among those present at the function.

The ceremony, which lasted about 45 minutes, ended with the family distributing sweets. Apart from Aiyar, no other Congress leaders or dignitaries participated in the event. The family had chosen to keep it a low-key affair. Just about 100 people attended the function excluding mediapersons who came from different parts of the country to cover the high-profile wedding.

Tharoor and wife later attended a harvest festival held at his house and enjoyed a traditional Kerala feast, prepared using grains from the first harvest of this season. They left for Thiruvananthapuram by evening.

This is the third marriage for both the former UN under-secretary general as well as Sunanda. Tharoor's first wife was an academic Tilottama Mukherjee. He recently completed divorce proceedings with his second wife, a Canadian, Christa Giles.

Pushkar was earlier married to a fellow Kashmiri named Sanjay Raina. After the marriage ended in a divorce, she married a Kerala businessman Sujith Menon who died in a road accident in 1997. She has a 17-year-old son from her second marriage.

Sunanda had grabbed headlines for alleged possession of a sweat equity stake worth Rs 70 crore in the controversial Kochi IPL franchise. The controversy, kicked off by IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi, had resulted in Tharoor's resignation from the Union ministry.

Read more >>