This is a rare snap of precious lovebirds Ram and Kamala a.k.a. my parents! Actually it is one of the very few where Papa is smiling. They would have celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary today. Actually they celebrated only 41 together.
They may not have been your regular loving couple as Ram had a terrible temper and could blow a fuse at the drop of a hat. Kamala on the other hand was calm and rarely showed her anger. At best she would retreat to a corner waiting for the storm to blow over. It would with Papa often making a treat for the one who had been the object of his wrath.
My memories of them are countless but somehow they all seemed linked to me their child. I cannot recall any lovey-dovey ones barring those I triggered!
They remained discreet almost to a fault.
So it was a surprise and also reassurance to know that they had been madly in love when I discovered a bunch of love letters. Somehow I never read them to honour their memory. I guess and hope my kids will.
Theirs was a unique love tale. Kamala was reconciled to die an old maid as she was determined no to marry unless her country was independent. In those days 30 was considered old. Ram was entering his forties and still a bachelor. Both lived thousands of miles from each other and the likelihood of their meeting was close to non-existent.
Met they did courtesy a family connection. He courted the small town girl with European flair and she fell for his strange but loveable ways.
They would leave for unknown lands and he would make her discover new sites and experiences all coloured by his own passion.
She followed him and imbibed every thing.
Together they bore the pain of losing a child and the joy of having one. Their love for each other was demonstrated in unique ways: if Ram managed to grow vegetables for his vegetarian wife in the dead of Prague's winter, Kamala would surreptitiously learn French and surprise him on his birthday.
This would go one till the end of their life when Kamala in the throes of cancer would swallow the fish he fed her as he had read that fish could beat the dreaded C and Ram at the age of 80 would sit up the whole night on a tiny stool holding her hand and waking her up every 45 minutes as she dreaded dying in her sleep.
He let her go one sizzling June night, honouring the promise she had extracted from him on their wedding day: that she would die before him.
He outlived her by a year, the time needed to ensure that their only child was strong enough to carry on.
