Edakkad (Kannur, Kerala): On a quiet Sunday morning at the Sri Mahavishnu Temple courtyard in Nadal, 85-year-old Chandran and 65-year-old Rema did something simple yet deeply moving — they chose each other.

There were no grand decorations or elaborate rituals. Just Tulsi garlands, intertwined hands, and smiling faces in the crowd as the couple promised to walk together for the rest of their lives. Relatives, neighbours and well-wishers blessed them with warm smiles.

After the ceremony, Chandran gently led Rema home, past the Nadal library, to the house where he had lived alone for years. His younger daughter welcomed the newlyweds by pouring water over their feet, and a lamp was lit — a symbolic beginning to a life they thought they would never start again at this age.

Chandran had lost his wife six years ago. Since then, loneliness had become a quiet companion. Rema, who had never married, was also living alone at her ancestral home in Meppad. Months ago, the two met at a bag-making unit where Chandran works after retiring as a dye master from a Kannur textile firm. Friendship grew slowly and naturally into the comfort of being understood.

When Chandran and Rema decided to marry, his children stood by him. Of his six children, one has passed away, while the other five are settled with their families.

The ceremony, led by temple priest Sankaran Namboothiri, was attended by around seventy locals who helped organise and witness the union.