When God said AMEN

This is the true story of one of my closest friends and confidants. I tried narrating it in the third person but I felt that stole its charm. So I have narrated this sweet love story in the first person as if she was narrating it to us.The beauty of this story is that it inspires us to dream and believe that someday our dreams will come true.

Having been born in a typical Indian family, I was brought up with a healthy dose of Bollywood masala movies.  By the time I was 10 years old I was already living in a rosy dream world which was full of filmy possibilities. Some of the things I believed in were:

• When you grew up your looks changed drastically and you became very beautiful.
• Having a best friend who would follow you blindly like a side kick was important for anybody.
• Even if you are about to sleep you should always be dressed up and look like a million bucks.
• Every joyous occasion had to be graced with song and dance in which everybody had to participate.

Needless to say with the passage of time, I realized how wrong I was. Apart from all this there was one more thing which I strongly believed in and prayed each day for it to come true. It was in the year 1995 when I had watched Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. For me it was love at first sight. I don’t know what made me feel like that but from that day I wanted my life partner to be just like Raj. I would talk about him for hours together and in my mind had already pictured my would-be husband around him. Raj had become the epitome of undying love for my teenaged heart. I still remember I would even start blushing in some of those romantic scenes imagining myself in place of the main heroine Simran.

The movie is definately magical!!! [Source : Google Images]

Years passed and I continued watching loads of movies. But my fascination with Raj refused to die. No one could match the level of romance he had created in my mind. By the time I was 20 I had watched the movie almost 300 times and all the dialogues and songs were on the tip of my tongue. This movie was a true masterpiece according to me which had defined love in the true sense for me. Day in and out I would pray to God to bring my Raj to me. I could not imagine any other person as my husband. You could actually think I was obsessed with something which never existed at all, as Raj was just a character portrayed as written by the writer of the movie.

Throughout my school and college days I came across guys who were interested in me and I was in them. But that was it. Things never worked out beyond that. I am not too sure about the exact reason for that but maybe my fixation with Raj had got something to do with to a very large extent. It was then when the realization dawned upon me. I realized till now I was living in a dream world and the reality was much harsher than this. There are no such romantic guys who would fly all the way from London to Punjab without knowing whether you love them or not. They will not jump walls and be on your terrace only to ensure you break your karva chauth vrat properly. And nobody would be able to catch you in running train at all :)

I reluctantly surrendered myself and left it on my parents to find a groom for me. My parents managed to find a decent guy and I settled down without any questions. I believed that maybe God wanted me to dream when I was a teenager but today as I have grown up He wanted me to grow up and come out of my dream world. I accepted my new world with open arms and gave my 100% to it. Very soon Raj was a distant memory long forgotten just like those teenage crushes which we have.

Today it’s been 5 years of sheer bliss being married to my husband and I could not have asked for anything more. Though I never felt that he was my Raj, I knew I had a dependable partner and that’s what mattered. My fascination with Raj had ended long back as I crash landed into reality but my love for that movie was eternal. I would never miss to watch it anytime. By now I had lost count how many times I must have watched it. I even own a CD of it to watch it just to revive old memories sometimes.

It was one such Sunday when my husband was busy on his laptop and I was flipping channels when I saw this movie on one of the channels.  I started watching it with all my eagerness when it was turn for my favourite scene. Now before I move ahead I want to describe my favourite scene here. It is that scene immediately after the song Na jaane mere dil ko where Shahrukh (Raj) is wearing a white and red striped T shirt smiles and waves to a sweet looking Kajol. I simply love the innocence in this scene. The look on both of their faces is priceless as you feel the joy of first love in their smiles. 

Just when this scene came on screen, I don’t know what happened for one moment I thought I saw my husband there. I shook my head vigorously thinking I was hallucinating when I actually realized I was not. I saw him once again there as he folded his hands on his chest and kept staring with all his love. This is what my husband does when I am jabbering off something excitedly. He listens to me very patiently with a cute grin on his face just like this.

At that moment something clicked inside my brain with a huge TONG!!! OMG… I have been living with my Raj for the past 5 years without realizing it. Ours was an arranged marriage but still he had managed to do all the wedding rituals as per my parents’ wishes which was very much unheard of in our community. He had come all the way from Canada to meet me without knowing my thoughts about him. And yes he did jump walls to. I thought as I smiled about that day. 

Just few weeks after our marriage I was still not used to this change in time zone and one afternoon I was feeling very tired and dozed off completely unaware about anything. My husband came from office and started knocking the door. When I did not answer for too long even after numerous attempts at the door bell, thumping at the door and calling out my name, he freaked. He actually climbed into our balcony through our neighbour’s balcony to reach our bedroom window just to ensure I am safe. Did I still need more reasons?

My Raj… I thought fondly as I reminisced about the times when he had actually done things to show his love for me but stupid me I kept on looking for the typical signals of flowers, heart shaped balloons and all that crap. ‘I am so stupid… ‘, I cursed myself for not having recognized him till now. Tears filled up my eyes when suddenly I saw my husband entering the room. Looking at the television he said,’ Arre….you are watching this again. Please put that movie Ek main aur ek tuu na… It is coming on some other channel. I have heard it is a wonderful movie and I want to watch it. I have a strong feeling it is based on my life.’

I changed the channel as I  stared at him with a puzzled look,’ What??? I did not get you.’  He smiled, ‘ The story is about two people who get married in a drunk state and then want to get it annulled when they come to their senses. Something similar happened to me. I was in a state of daze and by the time I came back to my senses I was married to you.’ I asked in a choked voice trying hard to stop my tears,’ You should have also opted for annulment in that case…’ He took my hands in his, ‘Ya… I did think about it. But by that time I was madly in love with you. There was no way out you see I was trapped.’ As I heard these lines I took the pillow on the couch and started thrashing him. His loud guffaws were drowned as the song ‘ Ek main hu aur ek tuuu….I wanna be with you. Tere piche piche main…mere aage aage tuuuu…..’ played in the background.

I am sure now every moment I was praying for my Raj throughout my growing up years there was atleast one moment when He simply smiled at me and said AMEN. And finally I got my Raj…