8th December, 1999

Today, 8th December, has a lot of significance in my life! Twelve years back, on this day in 1999, we both had our first and only major so called “fight” with each other – so much so that he was ready to walk off from my life! I won’t bother you with the reasons for this fight but it was quite a drastic and should I say dramatic one? – It was kind of make or break day of our relationship and by the grace of Mother Mary, it ‘made’ our relationship and strengthened it further! This ‘fight’ took place at Mahim Church while we had gone for our novena that day and that’s why I say Mother Mary ‘made’ the relationship strong. While battling with the bitter situation in the church, we hadn’t realized that within the next twenty days we would be lawfully wedded husband and wife! So 8th December, 1999, was the founding stone of our relationship and by the grace of Mother Mary and her son Jesus Christ, we are still going strong. There have been trials and tribulations in these twelve years which could have been detrimental for this relationship but again by their blessing and guidance, we have been able to face everything. Praise be to Lord Jesus Christ!

So, after this ‘fight’ we had a very unhappy day and decided to meet each other again in the evening and sorted out everything between the two of us. We both went home happy knowing very little that destiny had something nice in store for us in the next twenty days!

I went to Borivali (his home) for Immaculate Conception Feast on 12th December, 1999. I just don’t know what went into his mind and in the evening, we went to the church to ask for the marriage procedure. He said that he wants to get married on 30th December. The priest there, Fr. Hugh Fonseca (who’s no more) wasn’t too happy about it and said that he doesn’t encourage “rushed marriages” as it isn’t long-lasting and moreover, I wasn’t a Catholic. But then he cooled down a bit and advised a Marriage Counseling for us at Bandra. As luck would have it or should I say it was divine intervention, two more couples were undergoing Marriage Counseling on 16th December. So the priest suggested that we join these two couples. We were more than happy. So on 16th December we attended a whole-day Marriage Counseling course at Bandra. Till that time our wedding date was fixed for 30th December. Let me add here that everything was like a dream.

Then we had to face financial crisis as well as family pressure. There was no money with me and none in my family was happy with this marriage; so nobody was trying to do anything about it – my father simply refused to sign my affidavit wherein I declared that I was getting married on my own free will. I feel his change of heart was again a divine intervention which came at the very last moment (which is a different story altogether and so some other time). In short, the affidavit was signed by my father, produced in the court and duly submitted at the church. Then we did a bit of shopping, hired my wedding gown and booked a van to take us to the church, etc etc etc……………

But since his sister was getting married on 28th December, his father asked us to pre-pone our marriage. So our wedding was pre-poned for 28th December.

So to cut a long and unhappy love story short, we finally got married on 28th December, 1999, at IC Church, Borivali East, at 5:30 in the evening!

Back to the present – today is my most favorite actor Dharmendra’s birthday. So here’s wishing him a very happy birthday. Sadly, another of my favorite actor, Dev Anand, is no more who’s birthday was on 26th September.

Today happens to be the wedding anniversary of someone very dear to me; so a very happy anniversary to the lovely couple. God bless them both!!!

PS: Congrats to Aamir Khan for the baby boy…!