Happily ever-after tales

CHENNAI: The cafe at Fabindia showroom in Alwarpet was packed with audience eagerly waiting for the first of its experience series to begin. The session for the evening was — Freewheeling conversations that explore dynamics of love and relationships. “This is an extended celebration of Valentine’s Day. Next week, we have a cultural programme comprising music and art at our other showroom in Besant Nagar. There will be a new topic of discussion every month. It’s an opportunity for our patrons to have a touch-and-feel experience,” said Charu Belle, market region head of Fabindia for Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Three couples, three backgrounds, and three life stories. We sip on our cup of mocha as the couples take us through their journey of ups and downs, and what held them together.

When sci-fi met historical romance

Thirty years ago two medical students fell in love while preparing questions for an entrance exam. Little did Dr Jayashree Gopal, a physician, and Dr Paul Ramesh, a surgeon, know that they’d be taking an off from their busy schedule to give us an insight into their story that began 30 years ago. Being doctors did not spare much of leisure time for the two — life demanded sacrifices and hardships.

“Right from sleep timings to job demands, everything was different for us. Now that we’re in senior positions, we get to choose our slots whereas that wasn’t the case during training days. It’s true that when two doctors get married, they tend to empathise better with one another. Doctors have a sense of failure with patients that cannot be articulated to anyone else but a doctor. While I’ve always been futuristic, it was Jayashree who taught me how to live in the moment,” said Paul.

The couple has two sons. Their parenting rules are simple — health and safety come first. “While I enjoy historical romance, Paul loves sci-fi. He was shocked to know that I haven’t watched Predator. Having said that, we respect each other’s taste and privacy. Lower expectations and having separate restrooms worked the best for us,” jokes Jayashree.

Living life like a movie

Dressed in Kanjivaram sari, sporting a bindi, and jasmine flower, dancers and activists — Narthaki Nataraj and Shakti Bhaskar — were a talk among the audience. The two have been holding hands for 35 years since the day they eloped from a village in Madurai. As kids, the two were ostracised by friends in the neighbourhood, and so they decided to stick around. “With a few bucks, we would go for night shows of films revolving around dance. We were die-hard fans of veteran actresses Padmini and Vaijayanthi Mala. We would take turns and impersonate each other and Narthaki would perfectly imitate the dance moves. One day, she eloped from her home to escape from troubles and came to my verandah where I was resting. Like always, I felt protective and decided to accompany her in the journey then, and I still do,” says Shakti.

The two trans-women came to the city on August 15, 1984. After a long struggle, they found a dance master. While Narthaki decided to pursue her dream and is an active dance performer, Shakti decided to sit back, motivate and cheer her up as a confidante. The duo stands for what they believe and never let sympathy for their identity from people get in their way.

“Shakti is naive, her world is small and she blindly trusts me. Despite our hardships, we’ve managed to come this far in life. But, she continues to remain the same — prefers old movies over outing and home-cooked meal over five-star dinners. I attribute my success to her sacrifice. She’s the reason I wake up every day and she knows me better than anyone else,” says Narthaki.

Love at first sight

The fact that celebrity couple Preetha Raaghav and Raaghav Ranganathan were the youngest among the previous two couples was evident from the way the two were pulling each other’s legs. When a 20-something Preetha met Raaghav for the first time, she was apprehensive about developing feelings towards him. While Preetha believes it was love at first sight, Raaghav thinks that it was the universe that conspired and brought them together. “We learned to respect each other’s perspective and sort out any differences through conversations over the dinner table. Preetha helped clear the clutter in my life,” shares Raaghav.

Preetha credits Raaghav for helping her shape up her life and personality at a young age. “Love is a serious business for me. The first few days of our relationship was challenging. I had difficulty accepting Raaghav’s past but somehow we worked through it. He’s been a huge support and my partner in crime,” says Preetha.

Dynamics of love

Three couples from different backgrounds participated in the session on ‘Freewheeling conversations that explore dynamics of love and relationships’