‘Love’ the essence of life

If there’s one thing we all enjoy reading, it’s an authentic love story. One that fills our hearts with joy and hope but also teaches us of possible despair when involved in human attraction. One that inspires us with wonderful characters and their beautiful actions of selfless love. Love stories that take us into the characters’ world and sometimes make us fall in love.

This blog post is a tribute to those lovers and beautiful souls who love beyond boundaries.  Sharing the 10 most vibrant and memorable love stories with real love life experiences of the people portrayed here.

My husband always cries over little things for me; last week I was sick and went for an injection in the hospital with him. Suddenly he started crying loudly while the nurse was preparing to inject me; I was feeling very shy because the nurse started laughing seeing him crying like a child. You know yet this man left me in my parents’ home the day of our wedding and never went to see me for the next 3 months.
It was his fault. He saw my younger sister with me and it was her that he wanted to marry.
My younger sister is the beautiful girl in our family. My husband sent a proposal to my father and never went to confirm who the real bride was! My parents mistakenly thought he liked me and they prepared everything for our marriage.

During our time it was prohibited for a groom to see the bride before marriage. On the wedding day, after our wedding ceremony he saw me and became faint because I looked ugly and he left the wedding ceremony but then he came back to his senses.

Now even if I mistakenly say that I am ugly he gets very angry with me. he says “maybe in my life I have done something good and that’s why God gave me the most beautiful wife in the world. I am lucky that’s why I got you!” We have children but we are now everything to each other. For the last 50 years I could not leave him for a day to go without him anywhere. He loves me so much._Sayad Mia and Safia Khatun

I spent that whole afternoon swimming in our abandoned pond like a crazy woman. No one knew what was happening inside me; my whole life was crushing inside my chest. I saw them together in my own bed. I can’t make you understand about that deep, burning pain in the chest if you have never gone through the betrayal of your partner who you once trusted the most and to whom you promised to live your whole life with in any situation.

My husband betrayed me, he betrayed me with my own blood whom I was upbringing all her life as if I was her mother. I never thought in my worse dreams that even she could do this to me: my only sister who was with me after the death of our mother. My only sister, whom I loved as my child, seized everything from me. She fell in love with my husband and took my nine years of married life and my future, my dreams, and all my beliefs that I could never rebuild again as a human being. Our family tried a lot to make her understand but she was in love; no one could make her understand. My father hit her miserably, tried to lock her in my parents’ home but she escaped again and again and came to my husband. I couldn’t say anything to her. She was my child, my sister. It was very tough for me to accept that situation. I wanted to kill myself several times in order to make the situation easier. I was finding a lot of ways to kill myself; to leave this life but I could not because of my son and maybe I am not brave enough. I handed my love to my sister and wished them luck the night I flew from our town and never retuned again. Last year in the middle of the night without thinking where I was going, where I would go, how would survive with my four-year-old son, I left everything. Nevertheless, I am alive. But inside me everything has died: my soul, my love, my every single dream, all my beliefs. I lost all my trust of everyone; I am just alive on the outside. I forgot to smile brother. Nowadays, even my smile appears as if I am crying.- Hasina Akhter

He has been making me laugh a lot by calling me ‘Robocop’ for the last month. It hurts when I laugh heavily because this month I will be on my ninth month of my pregnancy and he has never let me stop laughing for a minute. This last month he has been mocking me by calling me ‘Robocop’ because I can’t move very fast with my eight-month pregnant belly. I walk slowly, turn slowly, sit slowly, and for him I become a Robocop. I have never seen a Robocop before and I don’t even understand it but he watched that movie and for my better understanding he sometimes acts like a Robocop in front of me. He looks so funny that I can’t allow myself to laugh standing up.

We have already decided our child’s name; if it will be a boy, we will call him ‘Sagor’ (Ocean) and if will be a girl, we will call her ‘Nodi’ (River). I am expecting a boy but my Hero is expecting a girl because he says, “after we will become older, you can’t laugh like this anymore so I will be able to see your smile on my daughter’s face.” He loves my smile; that’s why he tries to make me laugh all the time.

He is working so hard every day making a gold chain for our child. I feel so blessed that I found my love and found this man in my life. I never hesitate to give thanks to Allah for his kindness upon me. I wish to die beside him._ Shahin and Jhuma

I was 12 years old when I got married to him. I still remember. He came with a horse cart to marry me. No one got married in my entire village with a horse cart. I was so happy and proud! My husband paid 10 taka at that time for it. He could have bought a very big paddy field with that money!

After our wedding my husband used to call me ‘Ranga Bou’ which means ‘beautiful wife’. He said I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his whole life. But my husband had such dark skin colour that the village people always made jokes about him. They used to tell him he was like “a black stone wearing a pearl necklace.” But my husband never minded; he seemed happy and smiled when people told that joke! He always said to me, “See how beautiful you are!”

For the last 75 years we have been together. Two years ago, I went to visit my elder son and his family. I left my husband with my younger son and his family. My daughter-in-law said he used to call out every 10 minutes, “where is my Ranga Bou! Has she called? When she is coming back?”

He becomes crazy without me. We have never been separated in our entire married life. We wake up together and pray our morning prayers together. He cannot eat if I don’t cook the meal with my own hands! But when we sit down to eat he gives me the biggest piece of the fish!

If I ever got mad at him and stopped talking to him, he always sat beside me and never moved to anywhere else until I smiled at him. If I disappeared for a few minutes from his sight, he used to look for me everywhere and started calling, “where is my Ranga Bou?” I can never go anywhere because of him.

Maybe we will not see each other much longer. We are almost near our last age! I don’t want to go before him. He will become crazy without me. He will look for his Ranga Bou everywhere! My wish is for God to take me after him! – Mosir Uddin Sarder (105) and his Ranga Bou 87

My parents are very poor. I was the main reason for their stress. When I grew up everyone around me wanted to settle me soon. They said otherwise it would be too late to get any groom for a short, black girl. My main tasks were putting a lot of powder on my face and wearing shoes that were too difficult to walk in. Those potential grooms and their families never liked me. It was difficult to express myself when they questioned me about things like how well I could cook or how much I was earning. More awkwardly was when they asked me to walk in order to check if my legs were okay, or touched my hair to check if it was fake or real. When I met my husband we met outside in a nearby field. I felt disgusted when I was going to meet him for the first time. I wanted to go back and never meet him; my relative forced me to go and asked me to talk to him alone.

We were sitting silently; I was looking at my shoes and expecting to hear the same questions. He pointed at my shoes and asked me how I could manage to walk in those. His face was so genuine that I started laughing. Then he told me I can ask him anything that I wanted to know. I paused for a while because that had never happened to me before. No one ever asked me if I had any questions for the groom. I asked him what kind of girl he wants to marry. He told me, ‘I want a wife who can laugh just like you. I earn very little and have no great qualities to share. Only sometimes I can cook very well and sing old songs. If you think I am worthy of you, I will bring my mother.’

It’s been six months that we have been married. I did not wear those shoes again; he only buys slippers for me. After work we return home together. At that time, we buy vegetables and laugh at silly things. But we never talk about love. We feel very shy to talk about it and have never said ‘I love you’ to each other. On this path it takes more time to reach home, but we love to walk the extra miles together.

– Textile worker Saheena Begum (19) with husband Mominul Islam (21)

Every day it was my task to wait for my father in the evening. I waited, and waited for him to arrive home from our village market. When he returned with his happy face, my first question was “what did you bring for me today?” As always the reply was with another question, “who will bring you sweets every day when I won’t be here anymore?” I used to always laugh at his questions and replied “who? You don’t know who my husband will be!” I don’t remember my mother; I lost her when I was only two years old. My father is the only one who took care of me the last six years of his life. After that my aunty took me with her as a servant.

How time flies! We have been together for the last ten years. People say we are a very happy couple. We were actually very young when we first met. This is our love marriage. I met him first at my aunt’s house when he was there for a job. I first saw him when I opened the door. He was looking at me and unintentionally I smiled at him and fortunately he smiled back. I can’t explain that heavenly moment when I fell in love. From that day on he started coming in front of our house every single day. I could see him waiting at the grocery shop in front of our house from our veranda. After a month I managed to talk to him with my cousin. I could not stop myself from asking him why he came every day in front of our house and waited looking at our veranda? He didn’t answer my question but rather asked me another question, “will you marry me?”

I have no regrets even though we are very poor. We have almost nothing except a bed. Together we earn a very little amount of money but we are never hopeless about our earning and our life. We understand each other completely. The most valued part is that we love each other unconditionally. We help each other in our tasks. He helps me even with my household work. He takes cares for our daughter when I work. When I go to take bath in our nearby river he always comes with me for my safekeeping. He always pays attention for us even if I do something silly. He helps me in every possible way. Our slum’s women are surely jealous of me. I am certainly blessed with him.

My only regret in my whole life is that my father could not see how happy I am with my husband. I cry almost every night going to sleep that my father could not see my happiness. How lucky I am finding a husband who cares for me like parents care for their child. Our God is so kind that he gave me my husband. You know what? He always brings sweets for me and puts them under my pillow. When I cry for my father in the night, he gives me one in my hand like I am a child crying for sweets. This makes me cry even more. I love this man more than my life. _Sonia and Arif.

Falling in love is one of the most beautiful, rewarding and scariest things you could ever do. When you fall for someone, you can’t think of your life for a second without them! I met him at the bathing-place on the bank of the river near our house where I used to bathe since my childhood. He was the new shopkeeper of the shop beside the dock where we go. The first moment I saw him, I fell in love. It was not as if I just liked him, I was sure that it was love and he was the man I wanted to be with my whole life. I was shy and confused to let anyone know about the situation I was going through. But always inside of me there was something missing. It was like I was missing him every moment, everywhere, whatever I was doing.

Without any reason I started visiting the nearby road where the shop was located. I started buying unnecessary things from the shop or taking baths two or three times a day so that, while going or coming back from the river I could see him. I remember, one day while having lunch after coming from the river, my mother said to me, “I think you are sick and I am thinking of taking you to the hospital. Why are you taking so many baths a day? I don’t think this is normal!” Those words made me laugh so hard that I could not finish my lunch and she became confused again. I was thinking to myself, yes I am sick; sick for that man I love. I have no idea; how time passed by. Those six months felt just like a dream. Besides him, everyone knew that I loved him. I was wondering how this could be possible that he doesn’t know how much I love him. One day while returning from school, I was searching for him inside the shop but he was nowhere. Suddenly from behind me he asked, “are you looking for me?” I didn’t answer. I just smiled looking at his beautiful face.

We had to fight a lot and for a long time in order to be together. My father was committed to his younger sister to marry me with her elder son. But I fell in love with my Shaiful and we were both in love. He told me several times to fly away with him. But I didn’t want to fly with my father’s reputation and everyone’s belief in me. I was the elder daughter of my parents. Though I was intensely in love I didn’t forget the responsibility of my family. I promised him that I will be with him no matter what but I could not fly. I told him, no one can be happy without their parents’ blessings. He kept faith in me. I wanted to marry him with my father’s permission and blessings on us. We waited to manage our family for 2 years. Finally, after a lot of storms proving our dedication and honesty, they allowed us to marry and approved our relationship.

We learned in our lives, if you wish for something, God will give it to you. You have to believe in your hope and stick to it. That’s why we named our daughter; ‘Iccha’ (wish). She is only 25 days old. We are very happy because of our daughter. We wanted a daughter from God and God granted our wish. God is always with us. We are so grateful to him. -Bilkis and Shaiful

Every time I see my gorgeous wife I fall in love with her again. Every single day for the last 14 years I have fallen for her. Every day I told myself how beautiful she is. I like every single thing about her. How she talks, how she looks, how she smiles, her hair, her nose, her smell, her hands, everything! I like her feet most; but she never lets me see her feet nor let me touch them. She thinks her feet are not as beautiful as much as I would like them to be. I can’t explain how much I like her a little more every day. I keep looking at her all day. But she never trusts my opinions of her. She always works under sun light with me and she keeps telling me that she is not beautiful anymore. She says she is getting dark; she is getting ugly.

This makes me very angry sometimes. I wish I could make her understand how very beautiful she is and how fortunate I am to get her as my wife, as my best friend, as my soulmate.

My parents were like my friends, but after I lost them my wife become my everything. I never hide anything from my wife and I always accept her opinion for anything and everything I do.

My wife means everything to me. She has been with me for the last 14 years. For the last 14 years I never needed any other friends. Once she went to her parents’ house for two days without me. Those two days I cried a lot and I was so lonely. I could not do any work and I even did not have anybody to talk to. When she came back, after seeing her I started crying immediately. Whenever I cry she told me, “You are a stupid man. I am not going anywhere anymore without my stupid husband”.

I am a very strong man. I had never cried in front of anybody. But when I have any little problems or sickness, I hold my wife and start crying and she always mocks me for that. In front of her, I become like a child. We didn’t have any children during these 14 years. We never complain to God for that. And we are happy. We are so grateful to God that he gave us each other. _Abdul sobhan and Raseda begum

Drying rice is very hard work. My whole family and I have been doing this work for the last 10 years. We are accustomed to this work. You have to work under this fire hot sun the whole day. This is almost impossible for people who are not used to it. The sun is out the entire duration of our work.

Last year Khadeja and her family had a migrant from Sylet to work here in this rich drying field. She fainted the first day when she started working. We all ran to see her. She was so beautiful, like a water lily. I never saw such beauty as hers. I fell in love with her the first time I saw her. But I never knew life is much harder than we think. I fell in love with someone who is three years older than me. Those first few weeks were really very tough for me to understand myself; how was this possible? Did I really love her? What is going on with me, and thousands of other unsolved questions. But it was love. I never felt like this before. I really fell for my water lily; I loved her and wanted to marry her.

We were living in the same field as well as working in the same field too for drying rice. She started avoiding me the first time she knew that I loved her. It was very difficult for me to make her understand that I really loved her. I started working her portion of the work after finishing my part. I started to be in the same group with her to help in her work so that sometimes I could touch her fingertips while picking up the basket together. For the next couple of months that lucky fingertip touching was everything to me. Finally, she fell for me after three months of my unconditional love for her. The hardest job was to manage our families for our marriage. Nobody wanted to accept this relationship. But we were determined. Because of our determination our families finally accepted our marriage.

We got married 16 days ago. I live with my parents and younger brother and sister all together in this tiny room. My wife and I sleep in the bed and my family members sleep on the floor. We are working extra hours for renting our own room. My mother left the bed for me and my new bride. We stay awake until everyone sleeps in order to at least hold each other. After finishing our work we go to the nearby river to pass some time together where no one can see us and smile on us. My Lily is very shy and I love her shyness the most.

_Moin Uddin -20 and Khadeja -23

I always call my wife crazy because of her mood fluctuations.

Usually when we go for a rickshaw ride, she always holds my hands or she rests her head on my shoulder. She never leaves my hands for a minute. But yesterday suddenly she was rigid for 30 minutes like mountain! This is not the first time for me. For the last 7 years I have been tolerant of her mood fluctuations. But every time after 15 to 30 minutes of being stiff, she becomes normal again and holds my hand with love and will tell me “I love you Moina Pakhi.”

I understand her very well. When she gets upset or feels down, I just keep calm and don’t make her angry.

She loves me like a child. She always keeps telling me “you are my best friend”, “you are my parents”, and “you are my life”.
We are like twins. We like everything the same. We talk the same way, we like the same color; we like to eat the same kinds of food. We both like to swim in the river. Every month I have to take her to the river to swim with her. She likes street food, so almost once a week, we have to walk on the street and eat street food. She likes villages, so almost every month we go to visit a village for the whole day.

She always makes fun of me telling me “you are not my husband, you are my girlfriend” When we are together we behave like children, we feel more joyful together. Also we fight a lot. But we cannot survive more than few hours without talking to each other.
I have to say I’m sorry to her every time to stop the fighting. Even if she makes mistakes I have to say I’m sorry. She behaves like she did nothing. But this never bothers me.
When I get angry I always tell myself, she is my life. How can I not support my life when she is in a bad mood? I feel when we fight, she needs me most. I know she keeps waiting for me; that moment when I will say I’m sorry to her and talk to her again. I know she would die if I don’t start talking to her_ Haq Mia and Bilkis Begum