Marriage proposal

"I WANT to marry you". Nothing unusual in this marriage proposal right! Many a men say this to many a women everyday and somewhere; someplace someone is professing their love to their special one. But young Kailash Yadav, 23-year old auto rickshaw driver in Delhi discovered that he had fallen in love with Jyoti, a slim and wide-eyed timid 18-year old during a pleasant train ride from Patna to Sirsa within three hours of meeting her.

Again what’s so different with this love story except that he took only a few hours before proposing to her? The answer lies in the fact that Jyoti is a handicapped woman affected with polio since childhood. Kailash who has decided to marry the girl explains on how it all happened –"We both belong to Bihar and I’m from Sirsa and was on same train to Sirsa from Patna. She was standing without a seat. I felt bad and offered her mine and we got to talking getting over formal introductions. I found out that she was appearing for her entrance examinations in a Polytechnic in Sirsa. During our conversation I realized the girl was shy but of strong disposition who wanted to be something and not letting her condition come in the way. Her will and determination won me over and I decided that she will be my wife."

Next came opposition from friends and family. Nobody agreed to this strange union and his village folks, even his own relatives ridiculed him for what seemed such an unheard of match. He bore jibes and taunts from his own friends who thought that he had gone mad. But his father was the only person who stood by him though he sheepishly admits to have hidden the fact from his father that Jyoti’s side could give only half the money for the wedding an amount of Rs.70, 000 and the rest came from his savings. All in the name of love. He says- "they made fun of me and called me crazy for wanting to marry a handicapped girl.
There were villagers in my wedding who were laughing at us when we were taking our wedding vows as Jyoti had difficulty in walking properly but I shut their mouths when I took her in my arms and supported her through all the pheras."

Now settled in married life he says-"Life has turned all rosy and I feel I made the best decision of my life. Now I work hard for my wife so that I can support her through her computer course. I’ve done only matriculation but I want her to get the best education possible so that she can peruse her dreams. I feel every person in the country should give a conscious thought that physical incapabilities do not make a person but it’s their personalities that hold and they should understand and value this about a person while choosing their life partners."

Thus this sweet love story is neither claiming to span time or space nor does it have the sheen of a Diana and Prince Charles affair but what it does is to teach us that true love transcends physicality of being human or loving people because they are beautiful inside out outside.

Sourced www.merinews.com