Dubai-based Indian couple hosts ‘drive-by wedding ceremony’
Dubai, Nov 15: In the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a Dubai-based Indian couple hosted a ‘drive-by wedding ceremony’ for their loved ones outside their residence, according to a media report.
Hailing from Kerala, Muhammed Jazem and Almas Ahmed first had their ‘nikah’ ceremony, after which they stood under a flower arch outside their home in Jumeirah for a socially distanced wedding reception, reports Khaleej Times.
Close family members and friends who could not be part of the ‘nikah’ stopped their cars outside the couple’s home for less than two minutes as they wished them well and clicked some photos.
“The rules were simple and we communicated them to our guests through a video invitation,” Khaleej Times quoted Jazem as saying.
“We asked our guests to stop only for a few moments, give us their best wishes, take a picture and then they could drive away. We instructed them not to step out of the car, to keep moving to avoid traffic, and not pull over,” he added.
Jazem, an aeronautical engineer with Emirates Airline, further said their parents and many of their relatives are elderly, which is why they “did not want to have a big event”.
Although the Dubai government has given the green signal to host socially distanced ceremonies, the couple decided to stick to their drive-by reception plan. (IANS)
Egypt unveils ancient coffins, statues found in Saqqara
Cairo, Nov 15: Egyptian antiquities officials on Saturday announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and around 40 gilded statues in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo.
Colourful, sealed sarcophagi and statues that were buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
Archaeologists opened a coffin with a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth inside. They also carried out X-raying visualising the structures of the ancient mummy, showing how the body had been preserved. Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany told a news conference that the discovered items date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years — from around 320 B.C. to about 30 B.C., and the Late Period (664-332 B.C.).
He said they would move the artifacts to at least three Cairo museums including the Grand Egyptian Museum that Egypt is building near the famed Giza Pyramids. He said they would announce another discovery at the Saqqara necropolis later this year.
The discovery at the famed necropolis is the latest in a series of archaeological finds in Egypt. Since September, antiquities authorities revealed at least 140 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara. Egyptian archaeologists found other “shafts full of coffins, well-gilded, well-painted, well-decorated,” Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters on Saturday. (AP)