Falling in love is always easier than making it work. Love has its own ways of testing us and landing us with partners we are destined for. Yet there are people who do not take love for granted and do not go for alterations as well. They battle the test of life and time to come out as winners. Such is the tale of Padma Rashesh Modi and Rashesh Pranlal Modi from Mumbai.
In a recent post of Humans of Bombay, Mrs. Modi opened up about her life and struggle for her existence. Going candid, she revealed that she and her husband were in love since they were teenagers. They even went against their parents to marry each other.
“Rashesh and I are high school sweethearts who eloped! Growing up, I’d often run over to his house, under the guise of playing with his sisters, but secretly it was to be around him. At 15, I told him ‘I love you!’ and ever since, we’ve been together. But when it came to marriage, our families weren’t okay as we belong to different castes. When I told dad, he said, ‘I like the guy, but you can’t get married to him.’ So on Dec 26, 1986, we went to court, got married, and moved to Mumbai. Neither of our families took it well back then, but eventually, they came around…” shared Mrs.Modi.
In a city of million dreams, life was initially hard for the newlyweds. They had to rent a little kitchen to start out in Mumbai. All they could afford was food and rent.
“Rashesh began working and earned Rs.490 a month. So we rented a kitchen at a friend’s apartment and slept on a broken bed. 2 days after our wedding, I started working as an architect and earned Rs. 500. With our incomes, we could afford rent and groceries, but that was it. I remember, we bought our first piece of crockery when my in-laws finally visited us. The only luxury we had was movie date nights– we’d go to the cinema once a week; I’d literally wait for that one day!”
Taking baby steps, Rashesh and Padma bought a single room in the apartment they lived in. They worked tirelessly and soon their daughter was born. With this, their responsibilities increased and they toiled even harder.
“6 months later, a room in the building was on sale, so we borrowed money from friends and bought it. It was the first place we could call ‘home’ and although it was just one room, our entire world fit in it! For 6 years, we worked tirelessly and saved up as much as possible. We paid back our friends and in 1993, after Mansi was born, we both got promoted but that meant more work. We had to put Mansi in a creche and soon, the comments started– ‘Why don’t you quit?’, ‘How can you be such a mom?’ But I knew what we were going through, and wanted to give our child everything– which came with sacrifices.”
Padma received the utmost help from Rashesh to build their little world. As both of them had to work, Rashesh would often lend a hand in the household responsibilities. He was very caring towards Padma and listened to all her worries.
“Juggling between work and home was difficult, but Rashesh and I split the chores– he’d do the laundry, cut vegetables and drop her to school. Then the comments got worse– ‘How can Rashesh do housework?’ So I’d shut them up with, ‘Isn’t this the least he can do?!’ In fact after our son was born, he did more– he’d get the kids ready for school, cook, and pack their tiffins in the morning. Once, he made pizzas from scratch for dinner, but they never cooked, so all we were eating was dough. I still tease him about it, but it was so cute! Even today, he makes us tea every morning and if I’m having a bad day, he’ll make me a ‘special chai’ and listen to my rants.”
All that hard work paid off and within a span of 25 years, Rashesh went on to become the VP of his company and Padma is about to become the technical officer at her workplace. Padma says that for her love was in all those little things that Rashesh and she experienced and shared together.
“Today, he’s the VP at his company and I’m about to become the Technical Officer at mine. For our 25th anniversary, we went to Saputara– we didn’t do much, but that’s the thing about Rashesh. For him, love isn’t in grand gestures, it’s in the little things. For him, love isn’t in the words you say, it’s in the things you do – like treating your partner as an equal and really building a life together.”
“Rashesh and I are high school sweethearts who eloped! Growing up, I’d often run over to his house, under the guise of…
Posted by Humans of Bombay on Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Love is all about understanding your partner and being together when the tides are high. It blossoms when you care about the small precious moments that come your way instead of waiting for the grand occasions to celebrate.
If you loved their story, share it and spread more love…