STORY 3: ISHNEHA & RUMESHWAR Jul 05 2023

Rumeshwar saw Ishneha for the first time at a prayer ceremony. She immediately caught his attention and he asked his uncles and cousins if they knew who was that girl. Rumeshwar later told his religious guru about his love interest, and the latter enigmatically told him: "You can go anywhere you want in any country in the world, but it is near a river here in Mauritius that you fill find your destiny."

Ishneha's family happened to live close to a river in Rose Belle, indicating that she was the one for him. Rumeshwar's family were overjoyed to learn about this. They knew Ishneha's mother and were pleased that their son was thinking of settling with Ishneha. They went ahead and made an official marriage proposal to her parents.
However, when Ishneha was informed about this, she unexpectedly rejected the proposal. She remembered seeing Rumeshwar at the ceremony. The latter had smiled at her, but she did not return his smile because she did not know him. She was still studying and was serious about her studies. She wanted to later set up her own business, be successful, and make her parents proud. She believed in her dreams, and falling in love was not in her plans.
This setback was hard for Rumeshwar to deal with because he had grown to develop feelings for Ishneha and envisioned a future with her and nobody else. Rumeshwar has had a troublesome childhood. After completing his SC, he was preparing for his HSC when his father fell sick. The family business went through a tough phase as his father had fallen victim to people he trusted, causing him to incur heavy losses, including the loss of property. Rumeshwar had to drop out of college to look after his father's business, take responsibility of the household to help his mother, and allow his elder brother to pursue his education. Instead of attending classes like his friends, Rumeshwar attended court to settle family matters. One of his aunts helped him run the business and he employed someone to speak to suppliers and partners on his behalf because he did not yet have the skills to do it. He regularly went to China to bring clothes and electronic toys in bulk and went door to door to sell them in the neighbourhood.
Rumeshwar was able to successfully save his father's business but was left deeply scarred. He constantly felt like his life was draped in a dark shadow. He started spending his nights in pubs, drinking, driving, and riding motorbikes as an escape. When he travelled to other countries, instead of staying in hotels, he roamed the streets talking to people, getting to know about their lives with a view to find meaning in his own. That was until he saw Ishneha at the prayer and felt that, for the first time, some of the darkness had been lifted from his life. Thanks to his business, he had saved money and built himself a house; now, his dream was to make it a home by getting married and having someone by his side.

It was hard for Rumeshwar to deal with rejection from Ishneha when the news was brought to him. He thought about it and told himself that if the words of his guru were true, then Ishneha would come to him someday. He decided to wait for her.

The family, in the mean time, was confident that Rumeshwar and Ishneha would be together. Rumeshwar's uncle, who lived close to Ishneha's place, went to talk to her, but she politely explained to him that she was keen on pursuing her studies. One day when Ishneha came home, she learned that the two families had talked and come to an agreement. Not willing to go against her parents' decision, she asked for some time to talk to the guy and get to know him. Even though she was initially hesitant to get to know Rumeshwar, she thought that maybe they needed to meet in person and form an opinion about each other. This gave Rumeshwar the chance to express his feelings to Ishneha directly rather than through other people. This meeting, however, did not go as planned. Ishneha found that Rumeshwar did not understand her dream and would thus not be able to support her the way she wanted. She felt that their lives were too different: she was a homely girl who loves spending time with her family, while he enjoyed going to pubs with his friends and travelling. She became more convinced about her priorities and did not want to compromise her goals for the sake of a relationship. She proposed to Rumeshwar that they remain friends, but he was not willing to accept that. He felt terrible being rejected a second time.

Since they were in disagreement, Rumeshwar wanted to bring Ishneha back to her home at the earliest, so he could be alone with his thoughts and sort out the turmoil in his head. However, when they arrived at Ishneha's home, her family thought everything went fine and suggested that Rumeshwar stays for dinner, making things even more uncomfortable for both of them.

When the family learned that things that Rumeshwar and Ishneha had not clicked, they kept working behind the scenes to bring them together. Ishneha rejected the proposal for a third time. Rumeshwar started feeling really uncomfortable with the constant pressure the two families were putting on Ishneha. He finally went to meet Ishneha's family and explained to them that Ishneha and himself were not going ahead with the relationship and that they should stop intervening to force them to be together. He wanted Ishneha to be free to choose her path and pursue her dreams.

The successive rejections by Ishneha were devastating for Rumeshwar, who had grown up facing so much hardship. He went back to his old ways, riding motorcycles, visiting pubs and enjoying himself with his friends. After some time, he realized that this was not filling the emptiness he felt inside him and wanted to be away from the pressures of his family and society. He took a drastic decision and bought a plane ticket to leave the country for sometime, hoping it would help him find peace.

Two weeks before his departure, Rumeshwar unexpectedly came across Ishneha at the mall. He could not hide his disappointment at the way things had turned out between them; the annoyance was visible on his face when he looked at her. Curiously, seeing him this way caused Ishneha to feel terribly bad. Her reaction was so intense that she actually had a panic attack.

Later that day, Rumeshwar was surprised to receive a message from Ishneha her asking to talk to him. He called her, and she finally admitted that she actually had feelings for him. She told him that deep down, her feelings had been growing, but she denied it to herself. She wanted to say yes to his proposal, but she could not bring herself to put an end to her dreams of completing her education and having a career. However, each time she rejected him, she had a feeling of anxiety and anguish. She was not able to focus on anything else. And now the thought that he was leaving for good gave her a panic attack. She asked him how he still felt about her, and he told her that since the first day he saw her, she had been the only focus of his life, and there had never been another woman for him. He stayed around even though she rejected him three times because he could see that she had not moved on and was indeed focusing on her studies that were important to her.

After that, things started to flow on its own. They texted regularly and called each other. From voice calls, they moved to video calls and from video calls to meetings and dating. Rumeshwar progressively realized that he needs to be more understanding of Ishneha's goals and must not try to force her into a relationship. When Ishneha prepared for her exams, he stayed constantly in touch with her, waited for her and assisted her during her revision. Even though Rumeshwar had to stop school at an early age to support his father's business, he could appreciate how important Ishneha's studies were to her, and he truly wanted her to be successful. He was there for her and gave her his full support when she finally set up her business like she had always wanted.
Alongside this, Rumeshwar made some major changes in his life. He had been a smoker since he was 11 years; since meeting Isneha, he has learned to control his smoking. He also stopped riding motorbikes and going to pubs. He no longer feels the need to travel to find solace in some faraway country and only wishes to travel in the company of Ishneha. Rumeshwar waited more than 4 years for Ishneha, but his heart always knew that it was going to be her.

As for Ishneha, she realized over time that Rumeshwar truly cares for her. She is now convinced that a relationship with someone who truly understands and supports you is not a hindrance but a blessing. Together they have come to an understanding of each other's perspectives, which has helped them surmount the many challenges they faced because of their different personalities, lifestyles, goals and dreams. With Rumeshwar by her side, Ishneha has someone who will fight for her, no matter what. This has enabled her to overcome her anxiety and trust issues. She has come to see that love is sometimes found beyond all your expectations.

Then came the issue of informing the parents that after breaking up three times and having vehemently asked to be left alone, they had found that they were actually made for each other. After some hesitation, they finally went ahead and revealed their relationship to their respective families. Both sides were overjoyed, and the two lovers got engaged in November last year.

Rumeshwar and Ishneha will getting married and uniting their souls on February 2024.