Our little wedding party in the Ipoh Swimming Club, Apr 2008
This month marks the 15th year of Anu and I starting our
lives together. 15 years since we eloped from the hills of
Mizoram, never to look back. That was the best decision of my life. Looking back to that time, it was nerve-wrecking scary, full of uncertainties (I dunno how many packs of cigarettes I smoked just planning and carrying out that move). So many people discouraged me from doing what I was planning to do, but luckily there were a few supportive friends and family. As a friend said at that time, this is India, do it the Bollywood way! And so, with divine help, we did it. Thank you God for helping us and looking out for us. I’ve told the story of how we escaped from Mizoram before, you can check it out in this earlier post written for our
10th anniversary.
But God did not stop there. Everything somehow worked out the way it was supposed to be. I could leave my job immediately right after we eloped, because I had submitted my resignation 3 months earlier due to reasons which were not connected with our relationship (my notice period was coincidentally 3 months, at the time of submitting my letter, I hadn’t even planned on getting married!) That gave us a chance to immediately disappear off the grid. India’s huge. Who would know where you are? I switched off my phone and we started on our
grand tour of North India, place by place, state by state. If we liked a place, we stayed longer. At the same time, I found a new job which would start a month later, how lucky could that be? After a month of travelling around, we moved to Mumbai for the new job, and the new employer put us up in a 5-star hotel, the
Marriott Lakeside Chalet, for 40 days! If that ain’t called a honeymoon, I dunno what you’d call it! In Mumbai, after 5+ months of being together, we finally managed to legalize
our marriage in a court of law. (We first tried this in a court in Gurgaon (near Delhi) right after we eloped but were unsuccessful).
Anyway, to cut the story short, everything worked out in the time that it was supposed to work out, first,
reconciliation with Anu’s family, then getting Anu a passport (in record time, that girl has a talent for talking her way through in getting things done – she spent a whole day in the Guwahati passport office, going from officer to officer, and walked out of it at the end of the day with her passport in hand, without paying a single extra rupee). And finally
visiting Malaysia. Here’re some photos of our little marriage ceremony we did in
Malaysia in 2008. It’s a walk down memory lane, as so many of my loved ones who were around then, had left us.
Here’s our tea ceremony – For
Mama, my paternal granny (1917 – 2010) we love you
For
Pho-pho, my maternal grandma (1925 – 2020) rest in peace
For Tua-kor, my dad’s eldest sister – she’s still with us and healthy. Thank God
For Tua-pek, my dad’s eldest brother and Ah Mm. Tuapek is still strong and healthy, thank God.
Ah Mm left us at the end of last year, may she rest in peace
This is Sanh-Kor (meaning third aunt). She too has sadly gone home to the Lord
After the list of aunts and uncles, came the cousins older than I, this is Kok Leong and missus
And then it’s our turn to sit, for those younger than yours truly to serve us (that includes all my siblings coz I’m the oldest, hehe) – this is Keat (Alan). Thank you, here’s an angpow for you!
Now for the group photos – family pic, say cheese!
Mom (1955 – 2016),
Jipek (1938 – 2021) and Mama have all gone home to be with the Lord, God bless their souls
My mother’s side of the family – Apart from Pho-pho, my natural mom’s younger brother (whom we call Ah-Ku), have also left us a few years after this photo, RIP. What about my natural mom? She passed away a long time ago, when I was 15 years old. She would have loved to see this
With Jikor’s family! – We miss you
Jikor, RIP
Jipek looks dashing in this pic, doesn’t he?
Another cousin, Kok Seng and wife
A few close friends were also here
And here’s one for the girls! Kim and Jamie went out of the way to come in Indian attire, way to go!
Anu, I hope to spend anniversaries with you till the end of time. I love you. I put our story here so that we'd remember it when we're grey and old. Mmmmmuahhh!
