“Where is my gift?” I asked my newlywed husband when we got some time for ourselves after our wedding.

“Gift, Awww! How could I forget?” He got off the bed and moved to the study table at the corner.

The gift was linked with many sweet memories. “Here, it is!” He handed over “Two States” by Chetan Bhagat to me and we both broke into laughter.

Our version of “Two States” started five years ago.

One week had passed since my arrival in Ahmedabad. I was still super excited to have cracked the entrance exam for IIM, Ahmedabad. Except my parents, I was missing only one thing now, my life - my books.

I bought myself “Two States” just after unpacking my stuff at my hostel room on my day three in the city. The book proved to be my best buddy to get myself acquainted with the new hostel surroundings. Due to less study pressure at the initial phase of the course, I managed to get some time to curl up in the bed with my first book in Ahmedabad.

The book became close to my heart at the very moment when I read the “Act 1: Ahmedabad” which had IIMA mentioned with a south Indian girl complaining about the yellow stuff which her mess worker called Sambhar. Being born and brought up in Hyderabad, I could connect myself to Ananya who was also a south Indian. As the story developed pages after pages, I observed “She” was me. “Ananya” was just me. It was not only about Sambhar, but her conversation with her parents and her interests were also similar. Only “Krish” was missing in my story so far.

For a home sick girl like me, having “Two States” with me was having a friend from my hometown with me. I carried the book in my bag everywhere at least till I completed my first year at IIMA. By then, I also met my “Krish”- Manav. Yes, I was very sure by now that Manav was the one. Like “Krish” and “Ananya”, Manav and I were from different states, too. Manav was from Gujarat.

We helped each other in studies, shared our personal problems with each other. Our love grew every day. Years flied and we completed graduation. We informed about our relationship to our respective families in the last year of college. Like all love birds’, expectedly, our families also denied our relationship giving out many reasons. The very first of all the reasons was that we both were from different states. To learn the language, culture, food style of the other state would make the relationship difficult as per my family. “Many beautiful and intelligent Gujarati girls would agree to marry you, then why did you choose a non-Gujarati girl,” Manav’s parents questioned him as he kept pacing for an answer.

After all the melodrama for a year, our families finally agreed.

And, today was the day we got married.

Manav and Sowmya are a married couple today bringing alive yet another story of “Two States”. Thank you Mr. Chetan Bhagat for your book, it will always remain my fondest memory.