Sania Mirza gets engaged
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Tennis sensation Sania Mirza [ Images ] looked stunning in her specially created green and gold coloured dress, as she got engaged to her childhood friend and a family acquaintance Mohammed Sohrab Mirza at a private ceremony held amid tight security at the Taj Krishna hotel in Hyderabad on Friday night.
Sohrab wearing a black Armani suit was accompanied by his parents He presented Sania with a Rs 10 lakh worth 2 carat diamond solitaire ring at the ceremony, marked by the Muslim traditions with a touch of Deccani and Iranian culture.
Sohrab Mirza’s family originally hails from Iran and the same was evident both in the ceremony and the impressive dinner laid out for more than 300 guests, mostly relatives and friends.
Though the list of invitees included big names like Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh, they were not among the guests present at the occasion. Mahesh Bhupati, Sania’s mentor as well as mixed doubles partner, Telugu film star Vishnuvardhan and his wife Veronica were present to witness the grand occasion.
The families of both the girl and the boy came with loads of gifts on trays covered with the red coloured satin cloths with gold embroidery work in purely Hyderabadi style. The trays were loaded with the dresses, jewelry, fruits, dry fruits, bangles among other gifts.
While Sohrab’s family gifted Sania 11 dresses of different styles that were designed by different designers, Sania’s family presented six dresses and a diamond watch to their would-be son-in-law.
Interestingly the famous anchor and film personality Rakhshanda Khan accompanied Sania as her bridesmaid.
After the ceremony was over, the guests enjoyed the delicacies including several varieties of famous Hyderabadi Biryani.
The police had a tough time to keep away the huge contingent of media as well as a motley crowd of local fans.
Media, which was kept away from the ceremony, literally laid the siege on the entrance of the hotel trying to shoot the occupants of every car entering the hotel. While Sania sitting at the backseat of her car ducked to avoid the camera glare, some other important guests used the back entrance of the hotel to avoid media attention.
Meanwhile, the fans and admirers of Sania flooded her home with cakes that had various messages expressing their feelings written on it. “Congrats Sania and Sohrab” was one of them.
July 10, 2009 at 2:57 PM
If I hadn’t been told I wouldn’t have recognized her in this picture.
July 10, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Really? She looks quite Sania-like here…
July 10, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Good luck to the couple. Sania’s career is not going anywhere these days. May her personal life be more successful. BTW, saw a couple of her Wimbledon matches and she indeed has good ground strokes but is let down by a non existent serve and lack of a fire in the belly.
July 10, 2009 at 4:40 PM
I think she’s currently seeded 85. Right time to get married!
July 10, 2009 at 4:41 PM
LOL.
July 11, 2009 at 1:38 AM
I am intrigued by this seemingly universal view of marriage as something to be undertaken when one (a woman, that is) has failed at something or everything else. Would one of you gentleman care to explain what lies behind this thinking? Why isn’t anyone speculating on the career status of Mr. Sohrab Mirza? Is it because marriage is thought to be the “default” occupation for women, but not for men?
Please do explain. I am very curious.
July 11, 2009 at 9:29 AM
SM: speak for myself and the 85th seeding I brought up it was just humor on my part. Obviously Sania Mirza is very young and could wait years before she got married, irrespective of her career. What you say is quite right though to the extent that perhaps even such humor reveals certain ‘biases’ and cultural conditioning. At the same time I think the big ‘issue’ faced by women in this sense that is not faced by men is the one of the biological clock. One need not twin marriage with child-bearing, nor even the latter with more general notions of women. But inasmuch as the urge to have children is a rather common one (!) I find it unfortunate (blame nature!) that women are far more hindered in these choices than men. In cultural terms (any culture) this becomes very significant for all sorts of reasons. In this sense the pressures on women are often greater by many fold in just about any society or culture. Take a much more high profile example. That of Aishwarya. Her career has never been in better shape. The idea that she’s getting older and that younger actresses are taking over is so far not borne out by the evidence. She attracts the kinds of prestige projects consistently that her younger peers do not. But now she faces a bit of a decision for the very reasons I’ve been referring to. I think this is a great pity. Abhishek can make career decisions that are really not impacted by when he has children but Aishwarya isn’t in the same position. It’s not just about having a child but ‘children’. I don’t have a problem with any woman who chooses not to have children. But the majority still doesn’t feel this way. So I’m basically just providing some contexts here. Unfortunately ‘nature’ (or God if you prefer) rigged the game! Perhaps bio-technology holds the prospect of altering this ‘deal’ at many levels though at a personal level there is much about this science that I find deeply disturbing and not only on this issue.
July 11, 2009 at 3:17 AM
SM – Part of concern is alright regarding marriage as the only option for a woman if she is not doing good in career. But Sohrab is not a public personality, so I don’t think he is subjected to same attention as Sania. But even the marriage comment is post her engagement, it would be offending if it was said before marriage (that she should marry as she is not doing good).
July 11, 2009 at 7:33 AM
SM,
Very valid points. While I agree with your point, you have misunderstood what I was saying. I think a premature marriage could have been a hindrance is Sania’s tennis career was thrving. Now that monkey is off her bag, she can concentrate on her personal life.