I see the answering spark in his eyes and anticipation for what’s to come, but then suddenly my dad starts laughing loudly.
“You better watch out son, you have chosen a spitfire. You will need all your wits and patience to handle her. Trust me I have been doing it for years.”
I think that was dad’s way of letting him know he was welcome in our family. Seeing that pat on Rahul’s back and dad’s advice to him made me feel content and happy.
There is love and laughter all around me. Now where I was expecting the typical Indian parental drama and anger it turned out to be a total anticlimax. I was shocked but super happy to have everything sorted so easily and beautifully that nothing else mattered now (not even having dad witness my very first kiss, winkie wink).
Well, as one says all’s well that ends well. Our relationship had the blessings from both families.
Rahul’s parents came down that weekend to get formally introduced which was awesome. Both parents clicked and bonded on another level altogether. It was like two lost families finally meeting. Silly I know but that is how it was.
In fact, as our relationship continued it became clear that my dad shared a much more closer relation with Rahul than he did with me or even with mom for that matter (could be the man thing or the son thing, after being with three women). Whatever it was they shared a very unique bond which made mom super jealous in a cute way but then she also really liked Rahul. It was kind of wonderful seeing them all 52
so closely knit together (very perfect and dream like). My sister too had a major crush on Rahul but she was soooo in love with him that it was kind of cute. She would start blushing whenever he would call her or try to talk to her. It was adorable watching those two together. But with time she developed an amazing relation with him. A huge credit for that went to Rahul’s patience and TLC. He was always understanding and sensitive towards Aashi’s feelings and made sure he never embarrassed or made her conscious. He was simply amazing.
I also met his parents on a one on one basis before both the parents met. Rahul took me home to meet the parents before the dinner that day for the first time. He wanted to make us all feel comfortable with each other especially me. But on meeting Rahul’s parents I was super happy because they were a totally chilled out and a super cool couple just like my parents. In fact, Rahul’s parents had an inter-caste marriage, his father was a sardar Mr.
Gurmeet Singh Kalra (a cool boisterous Sikh dad) and mother Kavita Lokhande a charming Maharashtrian lady. They were the cutest couple I had ever met (after my parents of course).
My mother-in-law to be was very homely and super interesting. Whenever she spoke in her Maharashtrian accent it was soooo adorable, especially when she tried speaking in Punjabi. We formed a bond so strong in such little time that even Rahul was taken aback (hey, if he could why couldn’t I).
I could say just about anything and everything to her without hesitation just like I did with mom. But as his parents lived in Pune, I got to meet them only a few times a month, but 53
I spoke on the phone practically everyday. Overall things were going smooth.
We had been going around for more than three years.
Each of those days were one better than the other. We lived these days getting acquainted to each other’s vices and loves.
We spent those 1100 days loving and learning about each other’s families and strengthening those bonds. We worked on making two families merge into one. Ohh, and did we fight? Yes, like cats and dogs. There was this one time when we got sooo loud and crazy that our parents in the other room shriveled up in fear and got nervous. They sure were listening to us fight thinking that it was the end, but when we ventured out we were the normal happy duo, as always.
In fact later we all laughed, teasing the parents for being more scared for themselves, wondering how our tiffs would affect their friendship more than Rahul and my relationship.