Biratnagar, June 6 :

Forty-year-old Nirmaya Limbu shed tears of joy when she got reunited with her parents and other members of her family after 20 years.

“No member of my family expressed their concern till I gave birth to my sixth child,” said Nirmaya, adding, “I had thought that my relation with my family had ended forever. However, my parents’ hearts melted eventually.”

Nirmaya was out of contact with her family after she married Krishna Bahadur Danuwar 20 years ago. “My inter-caste marriage with a man from lower caste (Danuwar) kept me away from my family for two decades,” she said.

Niramaya, a resident of Kushal Chowk at Pathari, Morang, married Danuwar after they fell in love. She has been staying at Jhagadtole of Vaudaha-9. She has five daughters and a son now.

Her elder daughter has already got married.

Krishna Bahadur’s family held a formal marriage ceremony five years after they eloped, said Nirmaya. “My family accepted our marriage after so long.”

She said, “I was informed that my father Ashishram called me in April. I could not believe it. I telephoned home and knew that the information was correct. My happiness knew no bound.”

“When my father saw me after a long gap, he scolded me saying that I eloped with a person of lower caste; I wept and realised that I had made a mistake,” said Nirmaya. However, her parents pardoned her.

Twenty days after she returned from her maternal home, Nirmaya’s parents organised a marriage ceremony on May 22. “There was a huge crowd of villagers to watch my marriage ceremony 20 years after I eloped,” said Nirmaya.