09/10/2020
"I was married to her when I was 5 years old. She was 3. In those days- the Britishers or the outsiders would mo**st unmarried women. So, they'd get us married while we were kids!
Beta, there was no choice we had. I had to like her & she had to love me back. It is like a 'mohar', we were stamped for a lifetime for one another at the age of 5. Whoever it would have been, I would have loved. This is what marriage is for, to love & bond.
In 1961, they officially handed over my wife to me. I was so happy. I picked her up in my arms & got her home. We both moved to to Delhi from UP at the age of 21, seeing an ocean of possibilities Delhi held for us!
We stayed across Yamuna & later on shifted here. I first started with a fruit stall. But as we aged & our kids matured, we decided to do better with our life. We opened 'Babe da dhaba'.
But for years, the work was slow. I ran it for 30 years making ends meet. But yesterday when I sat at my stall, I saw queues of people from NGOs, actors, people who just came to meet me. It was so overwhelming. I used to dream this when I was 21. I saw my dream coming to life yesterday. God listens to you, beta. Not now, but may be at 30, 40,50 or even at my age-80.
But one day whatever you had wished for, with honesty would come to life making you dream further. I want to live more. Much longer now, with my wife as my pillar smiling like this. She learnt quickly how to pose for the camera, I took some time!
But now we want to go to shop, have someone work for us like the rich people do & I will take her out for a 'chai' like our younger days!
This seems just the beginning."
