A bridegroom caught unawares

Jisha Surya
First Published : 20 Apr 2010

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Not in his wildest dreams would Satish have dreamt that `Eyjafjallajokull’ will have an impact on his marriage.
As the eruption of volcano under the glacier `Eyjafjallajokull’ in Iceland hit the headlines, the ash from the volcano has clouded the nuptial dreams of this Thiruvananthapuram native. Satish, who is an IT professional in London, is among the over two lakh passengers held up in Europe owing to the indefinite suspension of air traffic. His marriage which was scheduled to take place in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, has been indefinitely postponed.
The unprecedented development has shattered the plans of the families of the bride and bridegroom, who are trying to reach out to invitees over phone and newspaper ads.
“Though, we have postponed the marriage, we couldn’t fix a new date as there is no clarity on the date of his arrival. We are following news reports. Still, there is no development on the issue,’’ says Satish’s father Sasikumar R Nair.
Another Thiruvananthapuram- based employee is also caught in a difficult situation. Unnikrishnan, who is among a 20- member team from the Technopark- based Allianz Cornhill, has been stranded in Europe owing to disruption of flights. Unnikrishnan’s marriage is scheduled to be held April 28.
The visas of all the 20 would expire this week and the company is taking steps to renew it for another one month as the uncertainty over flights continues.
CEO of Toonz Animations P Jayakumar, who went to France on a business trip, is another victim of the Icelandic volcano. Jayakumar was planning to reach Geneva via London and return to Thiruvananthapuram on April 17. He reached London on April 14 and was stranded there. Not ready to give up, he took a train to Geneva from London on April 17. From there, he went to Italy using a cab.
From Rome, he used a flight to reach Dubai and is on his way back to Thiruvananthapuram.
In a similar case, a team of IBS staff from UK was unable to attend a conference at Technopark here in view of the disruption of air flights.
A group of 10 travel industry personnel from various parts of the country, including Keralites, are also stranded at the Glasgow airport. They have send a memorandum to Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Monday requesting that the Minister contact German and French consulates in Edinburgh to issue Schengen visas for them, so that they could travel by ferry from Glasgow to a European city where flights are operating intermittently.
The volcanic eruption has also had an impact on the travel agencies.