There are two things in India that are accepted as gospel truths. Number one, things pertaining to religion, and others relating to age-old customs and traditions. But what happens when a ‘woman’, a single mother at that, breaks the mould and decides to perform the Kanyadaan at her daughter’s marriage?
Rajeshwari Sharma, a single mother from Australia, broke traditions (and the internet) when a Facebook user, Aravindam Sudarsan shared a beautiful post about her performing the Kanyadaan for her daughter, Sandhya Sharma’s wedding…
Even though the post was shared a few weeks ago, it quickly broke the internet and not only made the Chennai-based photographer, Varun Suresh, an internet sensation but also turned Rajeshwari, into a modern-day feminist idol.. Take a look at the pictures:
Rajeshwari was married young and moved to Australia soon after her wedding. She worked in IBM in 1988, during the IT boom. But things weren’t so smooth sailing on the personal front, and soon decided to separate from her husband after 17 years of marriage. In an exclusive interview to Newsminute, Rajeshwari shared the idea behind the novel concept, “Since my husband wasn’t a major part of my children’s lives, it was not very difficult for my family to adjust. I very much wanted to be a part of my daughter’s wedding and so I decided to be the one who had to give her away in marriage”
The emotion was felt so strong that even author and politician Shashi Tharoor couldn’t help but spread the word:
Terrific story of a single mother who performed kanyadaan for her daughter: https://t.co/Z9xCiMGKj2
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 31, 2018
And here are some of the happy pictures of the wedding…
We hope this story encourages people to do away with archaic traditions and gender stereotypes. We definitely need more women like Rajeshwari. Bravo!
