Vows exchanged, HIV-free certificates too

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">PUNE: He''s a parking-lot manager and she doesn''t work. He has passed his ninth standard and she, her twelfth. Together, they have taken a more daring step towards AIDS awareness than most highly educated, wealthy youngsters would have done.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Instead of horoscopes, Fakruddin and Nazneen Tamboli, who married recently, exchanged HIV-negative certificates before finalising their match.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Despite years of propaganda by rationalists and health activists, thousands of families rely on horoscopes for match-making and take it as a personal insult if a physical fitness certificate or HIV-negative certificate is demanded, especially in arranged marriages.In fact, the mere mention of the ''H'' word threatens to derail matrimonial talks in most ''enlightened'' circles.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">"I''ve been a member of the voluntary agency, Dilasa (Reassurance), for the last four years. We have been conducting AIDS-awareness streetplays and rallies. I realised that unless I set a personal example, our work will not go forward," says 26-yearold Fakruddin, a resident of Gopi chawl, Bopodi.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Interestingly, the match was made by the parents, not the couple. "I set three conditions — my parents should like the girl; I will not accept any dowry; I will get my HIV test done and the bride should follow suit."</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Fakruddin is largely inspired by his father, a state transport (ST) employee, who has been a social worker for the last 40 years.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">"Since we were willing to offer my son''s HIV-negative certificate first, there was no reason for the bride''s family to get angry. Nevertheless, her father was upset at first. However, my son convinced her brother, a young engineer, and he and the bride, in turn, convinced his father," relates Rehman Tamboli, Fakruddin''s father, who is also active with Dilasa, a group of part-time volunteers working for AIDS awareness, orphans and leprosy patients.</span></div> </div>