Ceremonies begin at Sania Mirza’s house

HYDERABAD - A day after Sania Mirza’s marriage with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, wedding ceremonies began at the residence of the Indian tennis ace here.

The bride and her bride-groom arrived at her residence in Jubliee Hills Tuesday, formally kicking up series of ceremonies. The couple stayed at Taj Krishna hotel after their ‘nikah’ Monday afternoon.

Since Sania and her husband were paying first visit to the house after the marriage, they were given a traditional and warm welcome by her parents. Imran Mirza and his wife Naseema along with other family members came out of the house to receive the newly-wed couple.

‘Mehendi’, a pre-wedding ceremony, began Tuesday with the arrival of relatives and close friends of Sania and family members of Shoaib at Sania’s house, which has been decked up and illuminated for the occasion.

‘Sangeet’, a ceremony with musical programme, is scheduled to be held Wednesday while Sania’s family will host a gala wedding reception at the hotel. The bride’s uncle and Gazal singer Talat Aziz is set to perform at ‘Sangeet’.

Sources close to the family said since the two families advanced the ‘nikah’, the pre-wedding ceremonies like ‘mehendi’ were being held after the wedding.

Sources said the ‘nikah’ was advanced to avoid further controversies. Islamic scholars Sunday issued a ‘fatwa’ terming as un-Islamic the proximity between Sania and Shoaib before the marriage.

Sania’s family earlier stated that ‘nikah’ would take place April 15.

Shoaib, 28, wed the 23-year-old Sania at a brief and simple ceremony held at the hotel. Under ‘nikahnama’ or marriage contract, the former Pakistani skipper agreed to pay Rs.61 lakh as ‘mehr’ to Sania.

The Pakistani batsman last week divorced his first wife Ayesha Siddiqui after a bitter row surrounded the three families for a fortnight.