Happily Ever After | Exclusive

Deepesh Kishore Bhattarai and Suraj Singh Thakuri are both famous in their own rights. Deepesh has managed to serenade us with his voice and the later tickles us with his wit in his show Call Kantipur. Besides the popularity, these gentlemen also share one more thing in common: their inter-caste marriage. In this issue, we bring to you the details of their love lives that successfully evolved into happy married lives.

CARZY LOVE
Chanda Lama was a great fan of Deepesh Kishore Bhattarai. She would listen to his songs Hosh Haraayepani and Malaai Maaf Garideu over and over again and would also show up at his concerts wherever possible. During one of the concerts at the then Royal Nepal Academy Hall, six years ago, Chanda finally met her favorite singer.

"As any other fan, she came to me and introduced herself," recalls Deepesh, "and also asked for my number," Chanda adds, "Surprisingly he gave it to me." The celebrity-fan relationship then continued over telephone until one day when Deepesh says Chanda asked him out on a date.

They met at Ringo in Lazimpat with cards and flowers. Slowly, the frequency of their meetings increased and Chanda asked him to marry her. "I hesitated in the beginning, as I was just starting my career, and wasn't prepared for the responsibilities, so I sort of said 'no'," he tells us. Also Deepesh thought their castes would be problem and the relationship would go nowhere.

Chanda was a crazy fan; she would write his names on her hands. She still has both arms tattooed with Deepesh's name. She loved him more than anything else. And Deepesh says, "I was won over by her love."

Deepesh told his dad about this. "He didn't have any problems with the caste." After getting the approval, they got married. "It was a simple marriage at one of my friend's house on Saraswati Puja," says Chanda, who is about nine years younger to Deepesh. They went to Delhi for two weeks for honeymoon. "It was fun," says Chanda and Deepesh agrees.

But his grandmother didn't quite approve of the idea of her grandson's inter-caste marriage. "So, we rented a house after the marriage to live separately, but moved back to my home when Den, our son, was born a year later," says Deepesh.

SOUL MATES

The love story of Suraj Singh Thakuri is quite different than that of Deepesh and Chanda's. He and Reshma Amatya were in the same class in AVM and were friends since grade four. And their friendship started developing to a higher level when they were in grade ten.

"But I had feelings for her since childhood and always believed that she is the one for me," says Suraj even though he admits that he used to flirt with other girls. Reshma laughs as she tells us that Suraj at times even used to pass her love-letters and cards sent to her by other guys "But I knew she would reject them." Meanwhile, he was also looking for the right time to formally express his feelings. So, in 1999 when he was doing his bachelors in Xavier Academy, he said what he had to say.

"But I didn't get the kind of response I had wanted; she thought our caste would be a problem," he says. Considering her response, he took a bold step and said, "Call me only the day you realize that I'm the only man for you." It took Reshma seven months and seven days to finally dial his number.

"One of our common friends was leaving for abroad; I saw Suraj at the airport; he looked sad. I just couldn't help myself from calling him the next day," confides Reshma. All it took was the phone call for their relation move forward. They thought of getting married but Reshma's dad was in coma and they couldn't tell him about their relationship. "Instead, I went with Reshma to the ICU, where he was kept and bowed down on his feet, promising him to keep his daughter happy," he says. He also helped her family perform the last rituals after he died.

"By then my mother had started appreciating him, and it became easy for us to get married," says Reshma. After their six-year relationship, they got married this year. "I never wanted to be married as a typical 'dulaha,' so we went to the court instead," says Suraj. Since March, they've been living in a house, that's decorated by Reshma, who is a professional interior designer. They haven't gone for a honeymoon yet but Suraj says, "Everyday is a honeymoon."

BEST PART OF BEING MARRIED:
Deepesh: When I return home, we share jokes. Sometimes, if I am sad, she even dances for me, and I like that.
Chanda: The best part about my marriage is I've got a son, and an understanding hubby.
Suraj: When I return home, I know that she is waiting for me.
Reshma: Sometimes, when I'm not at home, he calls me up and says, 'come home, I'm starving', I like that. And, he is the one who taught how to cook.

Suraj likes sports; Reshma likes serials.
Suraj is aggressive; Reshma's more aggressive.
Deepesh says Chanda is possessive about him and gets suspicious but Chanda denies it.

Deepesh and Chanda bought a treadmill to do some physical exercise. But after using it for a few days, packed it in its box and never reopened it "At least I do some yoga, but she doesn't do anything, which is why, she's putting on weight day by day."