2 States: When Maharashtra met Delhi

We had asked you, our dear readers, to tell us what it is really like for a south Indian to marry a north Indian and have been inundated with your responses.

Here are more real-life 2 States stories:

Ketan Vaidya writes in:

We are a Mumbai-Delhi couple married for the last four years.

We met on Shaadi.com.

My wife Aditi Khurana is a Punjabi and I am Mumbai-bred Maharashtrian.

It was a little difficult convincing my parents.

But with a little help from one of my Bengali friends who spoke to my mother, I managed to convince them.

The next challenge was the meeting of the families.

Aditi's family was nearly convinced but wanted us to come to meet her Punjabi aunts to Delhi.

On the day of the meeting, there was a Maratha conquest of Delhi :-)

There was a roka and lot of hugging which my father was not so used to.

But all went well and we are happily married.

I have now shifted from Mumbai to Delhi.

Next we have Pallavi Hebbar's story:

I come from Chickmangalore in Karnataka and my husband Ashok Kumar is from Banaras, Uttar Pradesh. We got married on September 16, 2007.

I met him in 2004 through a common friend in Bengaluru. Gradually we became friends and began liking each other.

By that time my family had already begun looking for a match for me.

But I was in love with Ashok and I could not bear the thought of getting married to an unknown person.

I decided to tell my folks at I wanted to get married to someone I liked (as against someone they chose for me).

Ashok however said that he wouldn't marry me if my family wasn't convinced.

And so I went back to Chickmangalore to try and convince them.

I was scared; I was sad that I was about to hurt my parents' feelings.

My dad asked me if I had someone in mind.

That was when I told them the truth -- that I was in love; that he was not from our caste; that he couldn't speak our language (Kannada) but also that I would not marry anyone else.

My parents were sad; they cried and they were worried about reactions from our relatives and neighbours.

I returned to Bengaluru.

It took them some 3-4 months to agree.

After they met me, my husband's family didn't have any objections.

Our north Indian style marriage took place in Banaras; only 13 people from my side attended the wedding, three of them were friends.

My grandmother attended too, despite opposition from my uncles.

Our families could not communicate with each other but they manage it very well with sign/ broken language. :-)

My relatives are still upset with me.

By God's grace my husband got an onsite assignment in 2009.

We have been in the USA for the last four-and-a-half years.

We have a beautiful three-year-old daughter.

Both our parents have visited us in the last couple of years.

And my daughter? She speaks both Kannada and Hindi!

Are you a north Indian who's married a south Indian or vice versa?

How did you two meet?

How did your families react?

Was there enough drama for a Bollywood movie or a bestselling book? :-)

Tell us!

Email us the stories of your inter-cultural marriage!

Write to getahead@rediff.co.in (Subject line: 'My 2 States story') along with a picture of you and your spouse, and we will publish the best stories right here on Rediff.com!