Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnu and the new Raja-Rani

Clock was ticking and she was waiting but he never moved. She waited without uttering a word and she did this every time when he did that. He stared the TV continuously and she never complained. She sat on the floor and he was sitting on a chair. Then a cute model came on the TV singing “Santoor, Santoor” and I glared the TV but he looked down at her but she was dozing. He lighted the torch and she woke up, both of them didn't speak but moved out slowly to their house. He never knew her and she saw him for the first time when he tied the knot. They spoke less but understood the silence the better. It was almost 40 years of marriage and they still seemed strange and silent. They lived alone in a corner of the village and came out rarely. And when they came out, they made sure that they went back without disturbing anyone. Every day they visited my house and watch TV serial. Every time I visited my home back in native, I saw the same and they did the same. This gave my idle brain lot of food for thought. I doubted their happiness and felt they have been the victims of forceful marriage. I wondered for years and one day I finally got the answer. I was speechless but surprised!!!

                                                      It was early 70’s that they got married, arranged by their parents wishing them to lead a happy married life. But then everything was not in their hand and she fell badly ill. She never moved for days lying on the bed expecting some remedy which would cure her disease. He was devastated but then he was determined to save her. It was the golden ages for herbal India where herbal medicine played a major role in rural India. English medicines were completely ignored may be because of its non-existence in rural parts or for the higher costs. People knew all sorts of medicinal plants which could even cure the deadliest of all the diseases. Around 70 kms from my native there lays a hill called Siddara-Betta. A natural spring that streams out from the top of the hill is believed to have a great medicinal value. The name Siddara-Betta is named after Sadhus who lived there practicing medicine and achieving great feats in the field of medicine. In turn people started recognizing the place by the people who lived there. Sidda means Sadhu with a great deed and hence Sadhus’ hill was eventually called Siddara-Betta in Kannada.

                                                            Some people advised him to take her to Siddara-Betta for the cure and he decided that he would take her there the next morning. It was then Bi-cycle era yet and the hero didn't own one. He went to the village head and leased a Bi-Cycle from him by keeping his land as the security. Then he cycled all the 70 kms in a day along with her. He rested in in the foothill for the night and the next morning he carried her all the way to top of the mountain. He met a Sadhu who advised him to stay in the hill for a month. He stayed with her, he cooked for her, he gave bath to her and he did everything she couldn't do for herself. After that month full of his hard work, determination and sacrifice, she had recovered and he had won the battle. But the God had different plans for this couple. God never wanted them to share their love with anyone and not even with their kids so he had snatched the strength from her to deliver a kid. They never had kids and they never repented. They never fought and they never cried. They are happy and relaxed. They are surviving their final phase of the life but the love they have for each other is eternal.  

                                                                                                                     How many of us disagree that two people in a married life will never fight?? And believe me that they never had a single fight in their 40 years of marriage!!! The journey so far from the day she was reborn has been smooth, compromised, determined and nonstop. How many of you agree that this couple sets an example modern day husband and wife who break up marriages for the silliest reasons on the earth? Though I do not have any authority to judge the modern day couple, it’s that natural feeling that comes to your mind if you meet this old and lovely couple. Even today this retro couple walks together and works together. One day they may not be anymore but the love lessons they leave back to our village will live for few hundred more years. We have heard of Laila- Majnu, Romeo-Juliet but they are the new love birds in town and I call them the new Raja-Rani of our village. May god give this couple a few hundred more years and let them spread their love all over the world.

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