ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE
Widowers remarrying much younger wives
Though by and large, the changing marriage norms have turned up winners, there appears to be a more sinister side to the easy marriages. With some widowers remarrying to much younger wives, only time will tell if the plight of these girls will indeed turn out for the better.
According to villagers, many of these girls lost their families in the tsunami. Lonely and defenseless, they have accepted marriage as a ticket to a better future and purged all thoughts of dream husbands.
Six months after the tsunami, Mr Kanapathipillai Neminathan, a 35-year-old fisherman from Navalady - where according to villagers 24 of 112 widowers have remarried - remarried to a 20-year-old woman.
Nearly a year has passed, but he still dwells on his former wife and how she died.
Sitting on the sand under the shade of 15m-tall coconut trees, the fisherman related how he courted and won the hand of his first wife, Kanagamarie, 15 years ago after dating "numerous times".
"When I caught a big fish, I'd bring it to her house. I was very much attracted. She was always on my mind," he said with a sheepish look.
He recounted the morning of Dec 26: "Before I left home to go fishing, she told me: 'You come home immediately after your fishing.'"
He did as he was told. But while he was away, the tsunami came and swept his wife and house away.
He has not found her body to this day.
No such talk of romance and poignancy for Mr Kanapathipillai about his new wife though, who he claims he is starting to love.
"She treats me well. She cooks for me and my two children and sends them to school. She is good for everything," he said about her.
He claims he has gotten to know her well too.
But when asked for her name, he said he only knew her by her first name, Nithi.
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