Hyderabad: A match made in heaven and a wedding destined to happen!
In what can best be described as love in times of war, a Hyderabad man and his Ukrainian fiancée went ahead with their plans to tie the knot in Ukraine — even amidst tension of an impending Russian invasion.
The couple then managed to fly out of Ukraine and landed in Hyderabad on February 23. And though Vladimir Putin announced military operations against Ukraine the day after that, it didn’t deter the duo from hosting their wedding reception in Hyderabad, India Today reported.
Meet Malikarjun Rao and Padmaja’s son Prateek and Lyubov, the couple who may well inspire a filmmaker to adopt their story soon.
Prateek and Lyubov took the vows according to Indian rituals in a temple popularly known as Visa Balaji, as devotees believe the shrine grants their wish of obtaining an overseas visa.
Chief priest of Chilkur Balaji temple CS Rangarajan, who officiated the wedding, said he was praying for the war to end soon.
“This war has brought bloodshed, turmoil worldwide and impacting the COVID-19 devastated world further,” he was quoted as saying.
The Indian government has started evacuating around 20,000 Indians – mostly medical students — who were in Ukraine when Russia invaded its neighbour five days ago.
