How does one write a love story in a world where relationships break every day? Human beings are designed to cheat, lie to, hurt and manipulate each other. This is most true for heterosexual love relationships where one person tries to control the other. Lovers fall out of love. The euphoric feeling that gives butterflies in the stomach gets replaced by contempt once you start to know your partner better. Most relationships are those of convenience where you stick to a person because of the benefits that accrue. Slowly ego issues raise their ugly heads. One partner tries to demonstrate their superiority over the other. They try to control their partner’s behavior and decisions. I think this is too much a price to pay for being in a relationship. 

Despite my pessimistic rant in the paragraph above, I narrate a love story here to you. It may be an unusual love story but nevertheless a love story. 

Riddhi reached the court on time. Her dad accompanied her. They anxiously waited outside the judge’s chamber for Siddhesh to show up. It was the final hearing of Riddhi and Siddhesh’s divorce. Siddhesh belonged to a business family and so did Riddhi. However, Riddhi’s family was more affluent than Siddhesh. This fact had created a lot of complications in their relationship. Siddhesh’s parents viewed Riddhi as a money-making venture and Riddhi was fed up with their unrealistic expectations. She was qualified as an educationist and had dreams of getting a University job, but they wanted her to be at home and spend most of her time cooking for them. They left no stone unturned to make her uncomfortable in their house to the point that Riddhi had to walk out of Siddhesh’s life and file for a divorce. Siddhesh had turned out to be a spineless husband and never took a stand for her or defended her from his family’s vicious attacks. Instead, he called her names insinuating that she was imagining things in her head. 

 Riddhi checked the list of cases outside the judge’s chamber. Her case was listed at number 10. It meant that she had to wait for another two hours outside the chamber for their turn to come. Riddhi was worried for her father. He was diabetic. Her lawyer suggested that she bring him some food and water from the cafeteria. 

Outside the judge’s chamber, she noticed another couple waiting anxiously for their turn to go in. She noticed that the man looked perplexed in the presence of his wife. She was wearing a one-piece red dress with high-heeled shoes, she had blonde hair and wore dark red lipstick, her sunglasses were perched on her head. It appeared as if she had come for a modeling assignment rather than a divorce hearing in the court. Her partner on the other hand bore a forlorn look. The young woman’s parents were standing next to her and smiled victoriously at her. Her mother looked like a senior version of her and had blonde hair too. She wore dark-colored make-up on her face. 

Riddhi looked at her own plain salwar-kameez and wondered how a woman and her parents could be so upbeat about coming to divorce proceedings? They looked dressed up for a party. She gestured to her father that she will be back in some time and walked towards the cafeteria to buy some food. She sat on a table sipping her tea, lost in a trail of sad thoughts as the scenes of her rotten marriage flashed past her eyes when she heard a voice asking her 

“Can I sit here or is this chair taken?” 

She looked up and saw that it was the same man from the couple she saw outside the courtroom. 

“Sure,” she answered. 

“Are you here for your divorce too? How long have you been married?” Riddhi asked. 

“Yes, all the couples you saw there are waiting to officially separate. Me and Mona too. We were married for three years” he answered 

“What went wrong with your relationship? If I may ask?” 

“Well. Mona and I are very different people; as different as chalk and cheese. Her priority is to have a luxurious social life with high society partying every night and I prefer to watch TV after coming home from work. I told her early on that she was free to go partying every night if she wanted to, but should not expect me to accompany her. She was seldom at home and my parents and I never saw her at the dinner table. She spent long hours at the salon, doing her hair and make-up for the parties. We hardly got to spend time together. We were clearly drifting apart” he explained. 

“Was it an arranged marriage?” asked Riddhi 

“Yes, it was arranged by our community’s matrimonial agent. Three years ago I had completed my MS from Massachusetts and returned home to join my family business. I was supposedly the most eligible bachelor in my community and Mona’s parents who also run a business were looking for an affluent son-in-law for their daughter. So here I was. Recently, a family friend of ours told us that he had seen Mona leaving the party with a man in his car.” 

“I asked Mona, who the man was? She said he was a friend. I asked her if she would like it if I made girlfriends outside our marriage. She laughed and replied that I was incapable of making a woman happy and would never find one. She also said teasingly that the other man showered expensive gifts on her and had told her that she was the prettiest woman that he had met. I was devastated. I hadn’t signed up for this! I decided that it was best to separate. I didn’t tell my parents about what she had done or said to me. I just told them that things weren’t working out between the two of us. Luckily, they understood without probing further. 

“What number is your case listed at?” asked Riddhi. 

“It’s number 12” 

Riddhi spent a couple of minutes telling her story to him. 

“All the best for this case and for the future,” she said getting up. 

“Ah! Yes - same to you. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Riddhi. And yours?”

“Amit,” he replied. 

“Riddhi, I know the road ahead will not be so easy for either of us. We will take time to recover from this setback. I have already joined a support group of divorced people. There are both men and women in this group. Here’s my card. It has my number and email id on it. If you feel like you need a friend to talk to and want to meet people who had a similar experience in life, just drop me a message, I will add you to the support group.” 

“Oh thank you so much. This is helpful” replied Riddhi. 

Back in the corridor outside the courtroom, Riddhi handed over the snacks and water to her father and they chatted away. She noticed that Amit was back too, but had avoided sitting close to Mona and her parents. 

Back home Riddhi felt light as a sense of relief filled her being. The judge had granted her the divorce today. It was divorce by mutual consent and Riddhi and her father had not claimed back the huge dowry that he had shelled out at her marriage. It was the price they had paid to get her freedom and peace back. Riddhi wondered what had happened in Amit and Mona’s case. 

She searched her handbag for Amit’s business card and messaged him:

“Hey, how was your hearing? Was the divorce granted?” 

“Hi, Riddhi! No not granted yet. It’s going to be a long struggle. Mona wants our farmhouse and a factory in the alimony” he replied. 

“Oh no! So what are you planning to do?”

“ Well. I am not giving her any of that. She is the one who cheated. But I have no damn proof of that!” 

“Yes, you don't. I am sorry to hear that this misery will continue longer for you” she texted. 

“Hmm yes. I will figure out something. Meanwhile, should I add you to the support group?” 

“Yes, thank you”. 

Over the next few months, Riddhi started working as a lecturer in a college and kept in touch with Amit. She asked him how his case was progressing. Amit informed her that he had succeeded in negotiating the alimony at Rs 3 crores. Riddhi felt it was still too much. But Amit told her that he was glad that he had saved the family assets - the factory and the farmhouse and that he would earn the money back with his hard work. 

Riddhi admired Amit for his hard work and dedication towards his work and family. Amit too expressed his admiration towards the fact that she had started a new life with confidence and was striving to be an independent woman. 

They decided to meet for coffee over the weekend. 

On Saturday evening, Riddhi felt excited at the prospect of meeting Amit again. She was surprised at her excitement. She decided to wear jeans and a T-shirt with light make-up for the meeting. 

She spotted Amit as she entered the coffee shop. He got up and received her with a gentle hug. 

“So, Congratulations on your freedom. How does it feel?”

“It’s a mixed bag of emotions,” Riddhi replied. 

“I was married to Siddhesh for six years, I was attached to him despite all his shortcomings. A part of me still longs for him, but another part is very happy that I can now pursue the dreams that I had seen for my future and I don't have to live up to the unrealistic expectations of a man and his family. And how about you? How do you feel now when the divorce day is so close by?” 

“Well! I feel a sense of relief too. Finally, I will cease to be an ATM card for Mona and her crazy lifestyle. It is now time to focus on building myself and fulfilling my own dreams - just like you Riddhi” he replied. 

They both agreed that unless they loved themselves, they would find it hard to get the love of another. They also agreed that marriage should only be about companionship and financial gains should not come in the way of relationships. 

They marveled at how alike they thought about relationships and marriages but had both ended up getting married to people who were their opposites by nature. 

Three hours had passed in a blink and Riddhi realized this when her mother called her to check when she was going to be back home. 

“I need to leave,” said Riddhi. 

“Oh yes. We’ve been sitting here for three hours. It feels like you came in just 30 minutes ago.” said Amit. 

“Time flies when you are having fun,” said Riddhi playfully. 

“Yes, that's true. We have so much more catching up to do. Let's meet again next Saturday. I will text you the time and place” 

“Sure! I’ll wait for your message” smiled Riddhi. 

My grandma and I were watching Riddhi and Amit as we had our coffee. We had overheard their stories as well since our table was so closely positioned to theirs. My granny remarked “Mark my words. This is the beginning of a beautiful new love story!” 

I looked at her surprised. “But grandma, they can just end up as good friends too!” I retorted. 

“No, they will be lovers. Just look at them! Their views and value system are similar. They admire each other; soon attraction will follow! At my age, my dear, we know in a glance whether a romance will bloom or not” Granny winked.

“Wow! Cool granny. I hope what you said comes true!” I thought as we got ready to leave.