Dr Sasikala Kola, obstetrician and gynaecologist and businessman Narendra Paruchuri got married in 1977.
“I met him through my mother-in-law, she was my teacher in school,” says the gynaecologist. They fell for each other the moment they met. “I really liked her the first time I was introduced to her,” recalls Narendra, who has now built an impeccable name in the printing industry during his 35 years in the field.
For a family full of doctors, “falling in love with a person who was not into medicine”, was a condition to avoid. “My parents were against the wedding because they wanted me to marry a doctor. That’s why they kept delaying our marriage,” says Sasi. Narendra adds, “There was+ a lot of rejection from her side as I was doing my engineering. They wanted a doctor for their daughter.”
So they married against the wishes of her parents. “There were no preparations for the wedding, it just happened. My parents were gracious enough to come and bless us; and they accepted him into the family,” she says. While he adds, “One fine day, I came from Bengaluru, where I was working, and decided to get married at the Arya Samaj.”
“I was in my first year of medicine, preparing for my anatomy exams and suddenly, one day I find out that we are getting married in the afternoon. Though it was well-attended by both sides, I only came to know about it in the afternoon. I just got dressed and went for it,” recalls Sasi. Narendra says, “The only thing on our mind was that we were finally getting married. The moment I tied the mangalsutra I was relieved.”
Sasi adds, “It was such a hurried marriage and in the Arya Samaj they only perform the ceremony for an hour.” “These days so much goes into wedding preparations, people spend crores, but the actual essence of the marriage gets diluted in all these masalas,” she says and adds, “It’s not important how you get married and what you do, what you wear, who is there around. Those things don’t really matter in the long run. All that matters is your commitment and your willingness to share. I have seen weddings, in which crores were spent, going sour within a year. It’s not the elaborate event that makes memories; it’s the lifelong journey that makes memories.”
“When we got married both of us were struggling, he started with a small family business. From a small printing press, to one of the best presses in the world, that’s something amazing. I believe, it’s the divine grace that comes from the previous generations and our parents,” feels Sasi.
It’s the values that helped Sasi choose Narendra. “My father always told me: ‘Do whatever you think is right’; that’s why I went against my father’s wish and got married to Narendra. I knew he was the right person for me. He said, ‘If you love someone, even if you have to go against the tide you should do that’ and I did exactly that,” she says.
With marriage and joint families, come more responsibilities, but you will have more fun and the children will also imbibe more values. “We think when we get married we will be in a nuclear family but it doesn’t happen that way.”
What’s the secret to a lasting marriage? The couple, who has two sons, Hemanth and Harsha, says, “We care and love each other more now, than 39 years ago. We try to be generous with each other — to give each other a break, to do small kind things.” Sasi adds, “The simple things in life. When I come home from work tired and my hands are aching, he gives me a massage.”
