Surat: A man from Saudi and his lover from Russia united in the bond of marriage in Surat, accepting seven vows as per Hindu traditions.

That is surely one ‘secular’ union, which was organised by their common fried named Kishan Dholiya.

The couple- Hamid Al-Hamad and Juliana Smirnoff had come to Surat to attend Dholiya’s marriage and were impressed by the rituals and the entire process of Hindu marriage. They soon decided to get married as per the same tradition. After understand each and every ritual performed and the hymns chanted during Kishan Dholiya’s wedding Hamad and Juliana tied the knot on December 30.

Hamad is a software engineer while Juliana is into textile business. Both of them have been living in China since last few years and came in contact with Kishan there who had gone to the country for higher studies.

Upon his invitation, both of them came here to attend Kishan’s marriage and fell in love with the culture.

“Indian culture and traditions caught our attention. One cannot ignore such traditional values, which are many years old. Thus, me and Juliana took a quick decision to marry as per these traditions,” media quoted Hamad.

While Hamad wore a traditional sherwani, Julinana was dressed in a saree.