Participants at the swayamvaram. Telegraph picture

Hyderabad, Nov. 14: They live in a world where sound cannot enter. The silence broke last weekend.

Hundreds of deaf and mute men and women gave “voice” to their feelings as they chose their life partners at a swayamvaram in a city hall as denizens of the hearing world looked on, stunned by the speed of speaking fingers.

Those familiar with the sign language said the dialogues matched the speed of emotions. “It was impossible to keep track of their dialogue. Believe me, if all of them had voice, the commotion at the hall would be similar to that of a railway platform,” said Mahadevan, who came with his niece Madhavi.

Uncle and niece had come from Coimbatore to Hyderabad on vacation and visited the swayamvaram organised by Family Services and the Deaf Art and Culture Society.

“For a change, there was no scope for any middlemen in the wedding negotiations,” said T. Ramesh, president of Family Services, a marriage bureau for physically and visually challenged people.

The swayamvaram is in its third year. “In the first, we finalised three weddings on the spot. In the second, we succeeded in arranging five marriages,” Ramesh said. This time, it succeeded in formalising seven weddings.

The participants were clear about what qualities they expected in their future spouse. “We were baffled that our daughter had such clear-cut ideas about how her husband should be,” said Nirmala Rao, a schoolteacher who had come with her 20-year-old daughter Mridula from Nizamabad.

Mridula advised Gopalakrishna, the man she chose as her husband, that he should complete his graduation. “I will marry you only if you become a graduate,” she told the 22-year-old employee of a CA firm. She would wait for him, Mridula added.

Radhika, 26, told her fiancé, Karunakar Reddy, to consider setting up an industry and work independently. “I am a commerce graduate and also an MBA. I will manage your business,” she said.

For the nearly 25,000 deaf and mute people in Hyderabad, the swayamvaram is a way out of their silent, speechless existence. Nearly 17,000 have remained unmarried, either because of lack of family support or because feelings often have to be pushed deep down because there are no words to express them.

“These challenged persons chose to wed another challenged person so that they could communicate and understand each other,” said a relative.

Asked about future plans of the Deaf Art and Culture Society, Ramesh said they intend to set up an academy for training challenged people in theatre and dance.