Former Hereford city student’s big day sparks media scrum (From Hereford Times)

Former Hereford city student’s big day sparks media scrum

7:00am Wednesday 25th November 2009

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A FORMER Hereford schoolgirl has married her fiance during a mass Hindu wedding ceremony in India.

Harriet Lowe prompted a media scrum when she arrived in Hyderabad for the service along with around 160 other couples.

The former Cathedral School pupil and husband-to-be Kranthi Chaitanya were the only mixed race couple tying the knot and were met by a host of television reporters and photographers.

“We really didn’t know what to expect,” said Harriet’s father, former Hereford Cathedral Junior School headteacher Tim Lowe.

“Theirs was the only mixed culture wedding and it was just a media scrum when we arrived. I did nine television interviews.

“I think Harriet felt a bit awkward because all the focus was on her. It was certainly a day we shall never forget.”

The pair met in Birmingham when 30-year-old Kranthi, from the Guntur region of India, was a student. He is now a computer technician.

Harriet, who lived with her family in Hereford while at school, is in the Royal Air Force and has just returned from service in Afghanistan.

She represented Herefordshire at hockey and also played for an England development team at cricket.

Mr Lowe says the Hindu wedding was a gesture to Kranthi’s family to show her love for him. He said the pair will marry in the UK next May and will soon set up home in Leicestershire, where Harriet will be stationed. The Hindu wedding was part of a mass marriages festival, which saw about 5,000 happy couples tie the knot across India.

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