It was December 16th, 2007, when I got married and moved to live with my husband and his family. It was an arranged marriage, but I felt too connected to him right from our first meeting that I hardly felt it too be a “purely arranged marriage”. I thought I was in love with him!

I was living the early days of marriage, struggling to sort out what really was I doing in this new place and new family, believe me it was worse than all my board examinations. As I was managing to know the people I was living with a little, my husband as always, shocked me with the news of his onsite assignment, but all with a smile that carried a message like “just three months”, what is the big deal! This was his style - cool head style! I was too shocked to react and things did not sink in me even when my friends warned me of living with in-laws without my husband around is going to be “impossible”. The day came and he departed after we shook hands, which I really wished could have lasted for some more minutes. But even before I could feel the warmth in his hands, he disappeared from my sight, and heaviness sank in me as I returned to our room alone. With the thoughts of “Did I really have a life without him for twenty five years?”, I fell asleep. Strange but true, away from him, I got close to his family! Life went on over phone calls and instant messengers. Believe me distance kills!

After three months, which seemed like years together, it was one day before his arrival that I planned to surprise him. I ordered a cake that said “I Love U“, bought lots of stuff to decorate our bedroom, got gifts for his birthday that I missed celebrating when he was in US, and lots more. I was supposed to decorate the house the next day as he was arriving in the night. With all sorts of imaginations running in my mind, I was having dinner with my co-sister. My heart suddenly felt something…it said he was around! But he was supposed to come tomorrow??? As the thoughts were taking form in my mind, the phone rang, and yes…it was him, standing outside the main gate! I was again too shocked to react, all my surprises went flat, but still he is here, and shouldn’t I be excited about it, after all I was pining for a glance of him! As my heart toggled between these thoughts, there he was, at the door, with his hair grown long and looking as handsome as he was always! Though I could die after a hug from him, I kept my posture as my in-laws were around… after all we live in India you see…we cannot get excited!!! After the dinner and some talks about the travel and few other things, we managed to slip away into our privacy. I started hitting him, for he spoilt all my surprise plans. But he stood there still, looking deep into my eyes. I looked back into his eyes, “I did not want to make you wait that last long day and wanted to get back to you”, saying that he hugged me. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes shed all the tears that they had stopped for whole three months!

The distance had taught us what we meant to each other. After five months of marriage, we fell in love with each other all over again, and I was reliving the first day we met. May be as the say, Love is magical!!!