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2 States: Our wedding has stood the test of time

We invited you, our dear readers, to share your 2 States stories with us. Rajeesh Ravi shares his story:

My wife and I met when we were studying for our graduation degree in Chennai.

She is from Uttarakhand and I am from Kerala.

Our cultures and family backgrounds could not have been further apart.

What brought us close was our initial dislike for the life in Chennai.

We spent a lot of time together complaining about the city and that brought us close.

The fact that her family lived in Delhi and she in the hostel helped our cause too.

Since I had lived all my life in the Middle East, Hindi came naturally to me and that made communication a breeze.

I first introduced her to my family and all hell broke loose as they wanted a Keralite Nair daughter-in-law.

But when they realised that I was adamant, they gave in.

My dad was our biggest support and when the relatives learnt that we had his blessings, they couldn't really do much.

Then came the two years of separation when I moved to Australia for higher studies.

Those were testing times for us because we had to keep up with our studies and still find time for each other.

The different time zones did not help either.

But the fact that she was accepted into my family helped as she could come to my house over the weekend and we could talk and see each other on Yahoo Messenger.

Both of us used to wait for the weekend to be able to talk to each other without worrying about telephone bills.

Then she moved to Delhi while I was still in Australia and this made life difficult for us.

Even though her elder sister knew about our relationship, we found it difficult to be in touch.

Meanwhile, her parents had started looking for a suitable match for her.

I realised that the only way to be able to win over her parents would be if I returned to India.

So I dropped a lucrative job opportunity and joined one of the Indian IT majors.

The day I joined, my wife informed her parents about me.

Since her mother had seen me once before, she had a good impression about me and things were not too bad.

But the usual questions about cultural differences followed and she had to fight her battle alone as I was not around.

Within a year I found a job in Delhi and moved close to her family.

That helped me build a good rapport with her family and relatives.

The first time I met her dad was when he came to the airport to pick me up.

The drive back home was agonising as he drove quite recklessly and I kept thinking 'He is making it clear to me that he hates me and wants me out'.

It was only much later that I realised that this was his normal driving style :-)

We got married in 2007 in Delhi in traditional Kerala style.

We have been together since and I can safely say that our wedding has stood the test of time.

There are moments when we reflect on our past and the uncertainties we had to go through but we both know it was worth it.

ALSO READ More heartwarming stories like this one!

Are you a north Indian who's married a south Indian or vice versa?

How did you two meet?

How did your families react?

Was there enough drama for a Bollywood movie or a bestselling book? :-)

Tell us!

Email us the stories of your inter-cultural marriage!

Write to getahead@rediff.co.in (Subject line: 'My 2 States story') along with a picture of you and your spouse, and we will publish the best stories right here on Rediff.com!