Love Story
Blasé of reading the same old love stories; the overwhelming tragedies and display of passions, the unmatchable sacrifices and lachrymose parting scenes had long back stopped yielding any emotions. I often wondered what love was. Was it something beyond all these tickling love stories? I knew there was more to it….a lot more.
It was the summer of 2007 when I went to see my grandma who is now 75. My visits to her always meant loads of anecdotes. We shared our experiences; I intended to learn from hers and she seemed to enjoy mine. She in a way tried to see how the world had changed through my eyes. That evening as we chatted, I dint know that I was about to witness (virtually) a true love story - Love story of a girl who was married at the age of 11 and that of a 16 year old boy who married that naïve girl. Love story that was subtler with no romantic proposals, no candle light dinners and no scintillating exhibition of emotions. A love story that stands tall and strong and is still going on…the story of my grand pa and grand ma.
As she narrated me her story that day, she reckoned, "I was very excited about my marriage. Marriage for me was nothing more than beautiful dresses, loads of gifts and the liberty to ask for anything I liked! I had not seen your grandpa. No girls were allowed to do that. I was different. I was my father’s darling and was brought up much lavishly. I was inquisitive and outgoing. I wanted to know who the man was. Not because I was getting married to him (I didn’t really know what marriage meant) but because I was told that he was going to be the most important man in my life thereafter."
I saw her eyes travel to some distant land as she spoke again, "Your grandpa’s family was very traditional and conservative. Those were the most difficult days of my life. There were no friends, no books and no games. There used to be a lot of work and practically no entertainment. Moreover, during the initial days we were more like two strangers tied together for no reason. I discovered him as a person much later.
My Grandpa was a maverick much ahead of his times. He knew that my grandma had potential so encouraged her to study further. It was his efforts that grandma became the first working lady in her society. It wasn’t easy at all. Both had to fight the old customs and ideas of not just the society but their families as well. They stood firm on their decision unaware that they were kindling a revolution. She became an inspiration for the many young ladies of her clan who stepped into the outer world to explore opportunities and stand on their own feet.
Struggles and predicaments are a part of life and they inevitably make the bonds grow stronger. My grandparents too faced their hard time when he succumbed to paralysis and then coma. The only parts of his body which showed movement were eyes. We didn’t know if he recognized us. We didn’t know what rolled down his eyes were tears or plain water. We weren’t sure if he wished to speak something when he coughed. But, there was one thing that we all inevitably noticed. The moment she entered the room, his eyes would fix on her. The moment she held his hand, his breath would calm and when she sang for him, he would instantly fall to sleep. According to the doctors, he had lost the power of hearing and perception. What was this then? What else would you call it…if not love?
My grandpa is no more; he left us 13 years back. Death is invincible and nothing stops for it. For granny too life didn’t end. Most amazingly their love story too didn’t!
They say couples sharing a strong marital bond for a while start resembling each other in thoughts, actions, idiosyncrasies, ideas and wisdom. They almost become interchangeable. I strongly believe that both of them were in resonance with one another at a spiritual level. I believe they still are. My granny is content with life today and there are many instances when we find her avowing, analyzing situations and dealing with issues in a manner my grandpa did.
I ask her, what was it that made their relationship so strong? She puts it simply, "It was loyalty and selfless love."
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"We are living in an era where marriages and relationships have ceased to be the ‘bonds of love’ and are fast becoming ‘bondages and contracts’. An era which has lost the essence of love and selflessness altogether. But, there are hundreds of ‘Life Stories’ waiting to be discovered and can teach us to share our achievements, our failures, our struggles, our shortcomings and our whole life with that one person we love."
Lost in these thoughts I boarded my bus back home. As I sat, my attention was drawn to a septuagenarian couple sitting right beside me. They sat quietly holding hands. A smile crossed my face as I was on my way to unveil another love story.
- Vagmita Joshi