She was a go-getter, eager to deliver and move up the corporate ladder. From the first month she began showing results. The monetary incentive she received from the company on the sales orders she procured was as much,if not more, than her salary. He was completely in awe of her although she hadn’t even noticed him !

It was at the staff picnic when he sang some songs that she looked at him for the first time, registering that he too was part of her workplace. Soon after, there was a sales conference which she had to attend and make a presentation. Her own typist was ill, so he was asked to help. Spread over a week, he laboured over her presentation, making slides, typing drafts and sitting beyond office hours. That is the time they got to know each other. From here began a relationship which may have appeared unequal to observers. It was,however, in complete harmony and synchronisation.

When they announced their decision to get married ,everyone called her a fool and predicted that within the first year she would have called it quits. Not only was she better educated, qualified and professionally placed but she came from a different community and from a richer family. Her parents did not accept the relationship and refused to bless the couple. Priya was angered by their reaction and by the fact that they were being almost unforgiving in their non-acceptance of their son-in-law. She passionately resolved not just to make her marriage stand the test of time but to fill it with happiness, laughter and sunshine.

Through a network of old friends in Delhi he got a break as an executive assistant to the CEO of an Internet start-up company. She got a transfer to Delhi and they moved home. Technically, he was drawing a higher salary than her although she was still senior in designation. Not that money or seniority was ever a hindrance in their relationship. It was people who pointed out the difference in their professional status and backgrounds but for them they were bound by love, understanding and,most importantly, respect.

By the time they had their first-born her parents hinted at a patch up. Only Priya was not so sure. When they kept pressing her to come to Mangalore so they could formally introduce her family to their community,she told them she wasn’t ready yet. Knowing her rigid and unrelenting relatives,she was sure they would belittle her husband and she was not going to put him through any scrutiny or comparisons.

She wanted him to be loved and respected by her entire family just the way she did. For five years she kept them waiting,without allowing them to come and disturb the rhythm that defined their home. He told her often to take a break and visit them offering to come along, allaying her fears of their insulting him. He reassured her that so long as she loved him their reaction didn’t matter. But she was adamant. She was willing to put her own feelings and hurts on the backburner. She would meet them only when she had the confidence that they would truly love and respect their son-in-law.

Meanwhile, the company he worked for folded up. For nine months he sat at home, scouting appointments pages of newspapers, making rounds of placement agencies, networking with ex-colleagues but there were no jobs for a generalist like him. Priya by now had become a deputy sales manager. Her big break came when she found she was one of four Indians selected for a fully paid, six-week training to the USA. Interestingly, there was no conflict in their relationship.

Again, it was people who questioned if her husband would allow her to go without feeling threatened or upset. She had stopped trying to make them understand that what she shared with him was much too intense and meaningful. That they had worked at making their foundation strong and now their relationship could stand these minor quirks of fate.

Just as her reluctance to leave for the USA was real, especially at a time when he was upset about his non-working status, his loving reassurance was not tainted with jealousy or even by the need to live upto the role of the perfect husband. He allayed her unspoken anxieties by telling her, "being at home at this time is a blessing for I can look after the baby and hold the fort till you return".

By the time she got back he had put a proposal together for his own venture and wanted her final seal of approval. Seeing the leaner , meaner set-ups in companies that preferred outsourcing a lot of mundane tasks he saw the potential of a one-stop agency which could meet these needs by offering secretarial and conferencing services, a trade he understood well. He managed to sell the concept to an NRI who made the initial investment. Within a year, he had added more functions to the agency, had more than 30 professionals working for him. Some of the biggest companies were his clients and he was embarking on selling franchises in other parts of the city.

Priya was expecting their second child and she now decided it was time to visit her parents. The family reunion added to their happiness.

All this while, the couple in question had known that they would tide over their teething problems so long as they loved, respected and had faith in each otheru