A fantastico love story

This post is about a fantastico love story that I had wanted to write about for a long time.

The 5th of June, 2015 marked the fiftieth anniversary of my grandparents’ wedding.

My grandpa was twenty-eight years old when the parents from both sides arranged a meeting. My grandmother was only nineteen years old; innocent as any other teenager in the old times. I must mention here that it was rather incredible that her parents chose allowing her to get a basic education first, before marrying her away; a girl being unmarried even at nineteen years of age was a pretty rare concept in those days. They were even allowed to speak to each other in private, the account of which is narrated very differently by the two of them today. My grandmother says that she couldn't believe how boring the man was; he wouldn't speak a word, or even answer her questions wholeheartedly. She hadn't even an idea of what to say to him! Probably he was just too shy. But my grandfather's side of the incident is the polar opposite. He says he'd never seen such a beautiful girl from that close up before, and he was awestruck. Never in all his life had he sat so close to a woman that was as beautiful as this one. He was lost for words.

It's interesting to know that my father doesn't remember a single fight between his parents throughout his childhood. Apparently the disagreements were settled quietly in private. To the world, they were always one. They didn't always understand each other, but they always tried. They cooperated with each other always, and didn't let their ego get in the way. One was always strong when the other needed, and it's that way even today.

Fifty years with the same person. Fifty years of coming home to look at the same face, day after day, month after month, year after year. Fifty years of eating food cooked by the same person. Fifty years of dealing with the same person's same quirks. Fifty years of the same fights, played on repeat mode. Fifty years of the same complaints; your own, and theirs, too. Fifty years of trying to mould a person to be the way you want them. Fifty years of changing towards the same direction.

Honestly, I don't think I could ever do it.

The ability of couples to stay together for so many years is underrated in India; I think it calls for a huge celebration. The reason to celebrate isn't just that they've made it through fifty years of the same story, but that they've even ended up happy!

They wouldn't prefer to be with anyone else, apparently. How fantastico is that? :D

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.