A 1944 wedding invite resurfaces to throw light on a life and times in Kanjirappally, a small rural town in Central Kerala

A Karippaparampil family wedding in 1944 at St Dominic’s Cathedral began a trend of pilgrims to board and lodge at the family home before proceeding to the Sabarimala temple

Rosamma Chacko received a rare photograph of her father’s wedding invitation, from 1944, on her WhatsApp late last year. The 62-year-old retired counsellor who lives with her husband, a doctor at Vazhoor in Kottayam district, was delighted by the sudden resurgence of a nugget from the past. The printed invite, an inland letter with two stamps of the Kingdom of Travancore (Thiruvithamkoor: 1729-1949), might be of high value for a philatelist, but for Rosamma, it was “pure delight”. “How can I express my joy? I am very excited that a rare piece of my family history is preserved. Though I don’t have the physical copy, the knowledge that it is safe with a [stamp] collector is very satisfying,” she says.