She is a Tamilian and he is a Gujarati. Having grown up in the Andaman Islands she loves non-vegetarian food, he can choose to skip it altogether. She is a stage performer; he, a professor.
Despite their differences, the duo have been together for 12 years now.
Vibes of India spoke to Preeti Das, academician and stand-up comedian and Jay Thakkar, a professor at the CEPT University find out more about their love story. The two met at Ahmedabad International Film Festival and instantly hit a chord, when Thakkar asked why there were no women on the fest’s jury panel.
Das made sure that she embraces her choices without letting any external forces – like convention – come into play. “I don’t wake up early and get on with household chores. I need my sleep. Jay brings me my coffee. We didn’t start with the idea of breaking gender roles, but we evolved,” says Das. Their son Kabir is definitely being brought up in an environment of awareness and equality, starting with his name.
Thakkar is usually always supportive of her decisions – like when Das went on stage to perform political stand-up or address social issues. “I love the fact that she finds her comfort on stage. We don’t give each other ‘permission’ or ‘freedom’ to be ourselves; it’s a given thing in our relationship,” says Thakkar.
“Marriage is a bit of a struggle, every single day. Once you commit, you stick to it and that’s what we do. But love is the catalyst in everything we do,” he adds.
Do your differences come in your way? “Marriages with cultural differences are interesting. Our child is growing up eating different kinds of food, speaking a few languages and having a wider worldview than we did,” Das explains.
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