Lucky Lady Saira (Old interview, which was published just after AR Rahman's engagement with Saira , Thanks to AM Arvind and anything for arrahman
This is from Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan dated 2nd Feb 2011. Ananda Vikatan has a section called pokkisham in which they publish articles, photos, interviews from old issues of their magazine. In the 2nd Feb issue, they published an article from 12th Feb 1995 (just after ARR's engagement with Saira ma'am)
Here's the scan of that article
Translation :
Is this a love marriage? We posed our questions to Rahman's mother.
Oh, not at all. This is not a love marriage. Where does Rahman have the
time to fall in love? Moreover, he's not that type of guy!, she said.
So, you found a bride for him?, we quizzed.
Yes. Since Rahman is so popular in films, several girls have an eye on
him, she laughs, and continues, Every day, Rahman gets loads and loads
of letters. More than half of them are love letters! Most letters even
go one step beyond being just love letters, and are actually requests
like i'm Ready to marry you. Please say yes. A few college girls have
come home and approached me with proposals. I want to marry Rahman,
aunty. I'm willing to convert to Islam for him, they would tell me. I'd
send them off advising them to focus on their studies.
If it is
college girls one one side, on the other, we have parents of wealthy
Muslim VIP families. This is not restricted to just Tamilnadu or or even
India. But, parents from other countries too approach us. One family
wrote to me saying We'll mail you the flight tickets. Just come here,
see our girl and give your approval. I was overwhelmed. Not knowing what
to do, I left everything to God. And, He gave us a good solution!
Ok, from where did you find Saira, we asked her.
Once when we went to the Dargah which we visit regularly, we noticed a
beautiful, homely girl praying so devotedly and we instantly liked her.
We inquired about who she is and then went and met her parents at their
home. We were told that the girl who we saw at the mosque has an elder
sister, and that she's as beautiful and pious. Since there is a norm
that the elder girl should be married off first, we met Saira, the elder
sister. We spoke to her and we really liked her.
She fulfilled
all the criteria which Rahman looked for “ a little beauty, a little
education, lots of humility, willingness to talk socially with outsiders
“ she had everything, she said.
So, as arranged by their
family, Rahman went with his family, to the bride's house. That's when
the bride and groom met for the first time. The wedding is slated to
happen after Ramzan.
Advance wishes from us to the couple.
