As drums beat, their silence was eloquent

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There was merry-making everywhere. Drums and crowds added to the festive wedding mood. After all, it was no ordinary wedding.

The bride and the groom neither heard nor spoke anything. But their silence was eloquent. And happiness was writ large on their face.

It was a special day and a special occasion for the deaf-mute couple Robin and Lissy as they were declared man and wife at Ochanthuruthu, on Wednesday.

Their story has a touch of romance in that, the deaf-mute Robin was marrying his childhood friend, who is also challenged like him.

Robin, 26, son of Jacob, Mukrukatt House, Malipuram, and Lissy, 25, daughter of Paul, Parayil House, Njarackal, were childhood friends who went to a special school in Thalayolaparambu till class 10.

However, they got separated when the boy went to the Thiruvalla CSI Vocational Higher Secondary School for the Deaf and the girl stopped her studies.

“Both the families lost contact with each other though they were under the same church. I also think the two hadn’t met ever since they’d gone their separate ways.

We were finding it difficult to get him a partner because of his disability,” said the groom’s uncle Paul Mukrukatt.

It was then that Fr Patrick Ilavinckal of the ‘Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour’, Ochanthuruth, who knew both the families, took the initiative to get them married.

“When both of them met after a long gap, they immediately recognized each other and were happy at the thought of being together for life. We too made all arrangements and now all of us are happy for them,” said a beaming Paul.

Robin, who had cleared a course in ‘Hospital Rehabilitation and Workshop Assistant’, now hopes to find a government job that will make their life more secure.

“We’d given an application to the district collector to consider him for the post at government hospitals,” the uncle said.