A Union that required the courts to step in could not have been easy. But Priyanka Wadhwani says she stood firm when she faced protesters and had to leave her home in Bhopal. “The entire process of falling in love, running away from home, marrying and getting over the hurdles of an inter-community marriage was like hypnosis,” she says. “I was hypnotised by just one thought: how to spend the rest of my life with Umar.”

Priyanka (22) today is elated that the Bombay High Court has not only confirmed the legality of her marriage to Mohammed Umar (22) but has also ordered the Mumbai Police to protect the couple from Hindu groups opposed to their matrimony.

She is sad at having to leave behind her parents, who disapproved of her relationship with Umar because of his Muslim faith. And though her parents sent the Bhopal police on Umar’s trail for “kidnapping” their daughter, Priyanka claims that she was prepared for the ordeal. “How can you explore a relationship and then give it up just because it is politically incorrect for you to be with that person? Or because the social ethos does not warrant your love?” she asks.

In the name of love, the pair had to make compromises. “I missed two papers of my BCom examinations. So did Umar. Love is all about compromises,” laughs Priyanka. Their religion, which had created the hullabaloo in the first place, also became a symbol of love’s give and take. Umar converted to Hinduism and underwent shuddhikaran and called himself Umesh. “We had a Hindu marriage. Umar said, ‘Jab tum itna kar sakti ho, to main nai kar sakta?’” she says.

... contd.