Hello Love, Good to see you
As they say, you find love in most unexpected places, I met love in the eyes of two young birds in a place that is least expected. In an era, where love has been replaced by various other needs as opposed to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I met love in a tiny corner of an alley of Cuttack. Meet, Muna Murmu and Puja Murmu, two newly weds ( they have been married for less than a year) , smiling and standing side by side in front of their 10 x15 sqmt house, that they have called their nest.
I started talking to both of them quite unapologetically ignoring their initial reluctance of talking to a Govt official. But we clicked and talked like old friends. “ So, it’s a love marriage? I asked. The girl shied and blushed like a rose. Yes, she just nodded her head, while Muna sounded like a triumphant Prince with his prized possession. Both of them belong to the same tribe, i.e Santal tribe, one of the ancient ethnic groups of Odisha which has been instrumental in preserving and promoting the language and culture of Santal tribe.
Both of them belong to Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, but their villages are different. “How did you meet then? , I askeed again without supressing my childlike curiousity”. So, its during the summer holidays that Muna visited his Uncle’s village, where he met Puja. Muna smiles while saying this. He is doing his plus two Arts in Ravenshaw Junior College with Political Science, History and Education subjects. Apparently, financial crisis made him to take a break after 10th. So he only started going to College after their marriage, when his wife did some menial job in the near by construction site. Puja has studied up to class five and now aims to save enough so that her husband can do a Post-Graduation and take a job for that matter. “How much do you make in a month? Not more than seven/eight thousand rupees, she quips. Is it enough ? No, both of them reply unanimously, but then we have each other and that’s enough for us.”I can see the pride in the eyes of Puja, when she says her husband is going to College and she is funding his education. For Muna, I wondered, how does it feel to love someone, you won’t be able to see? Muna is blind by birth but quite smart and talkative. But he laments that not much literature is availabe in Braille.
I pondered, could I have ever fell in love with someone who won’t be able to see the same world as me. May be no, may be yes. Who knows. Love is always blind, as the saying goes. Both of them just fell in love and got married. And most importantly they are happy together. They were meant to be together.
I just wished, I could show Muna just once, the happiness in his wife’s face as pure as the morning sun rays. I am sure he can feel it.
