Pankaj Tripathi and his wife, Mridula, have been married for nearly 19 years, but their journey together has not been without struggles. In a recent interview, Mridula opened up about how their love story was met with resistance from both families, particularly from her mother-in-law.
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Mridula shared that she first met Pankaj at her brother’s wedding, where love quickly blossomed between them. However, they knew their relationship would face challenges, as Mridula came from a higher social standing.
“In our culture, it is unacceptable for a woman to be married into a family of a lower stature, if another woman has already been married into a family of a higher stature. And because my sister-in-law had been married above her station into my family, I couldn’t be married into their family, which was considered of a lower stature,” she said, as quoted by India Today.
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Mridula was in class 9 and Pankaj Tripathi was in class 11 when the two fell in love. They kept their relationship a secret. But when Mridula’s family almost got her married to someone else, she opened up about her relationship to her father. Her father, on the other hand, had a surprising reaction.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I wouldn’t have wasted time looking for boys,” he had said.
Over time, both families began to accept the couple’s love, though her mother-in-law remains distant.
“My mother-in-law still hasn’t accepted me, for the reasons I mentioned. She’s still upset about the intermingling,” Mridula revealed.
Despite lingering differences, Pankaj and Mridula have built a strong relationship, raising their daughter, Aashi, who was born in 2006. While family tensions linger, they’ve found a way to live peacefully, embracing the ups and downs of their unique love story! 🙂