Ever since Netflix came up with its reality show – Indian Matchmaking – it has been at the receiving end of a lot of backlash. From sexist, regressive to misogynist; all sections of the audience criticised the show. While for many it was a reality check, many even agreed that something similar had happened with them. And latest one to come out and speak about her own 'arrange marriage' is the viral Sima Taparia from the show.
Sima's love story
In an Instagram post, Sima Taparia, now popularly known as 'Sima Aunty' has bared it all out about her own love story with husband, Anup Taparia. "It was December of '82 when we got engaged. Anup was still in his final year of graduation and I was residing with my family in Gulbarga, now Kalaburagi. Our families arranged for the match via a familial acquaintance and we met only once before saying yes to each other. It was only after the engagement that we began to have proper conversations on telephones."
Those calls
"In those days, you'd have to dial 180 to book a call out of the station. The operator would connect the line after few hours only. We'd often stay around our telephones sneaking from our family's forever teasing eyes, waiting for the call. However, in January 1983, our romance on telephonic calls was cut short owing to the huge fire in Malabar Telephone Exchange. PCOs would take hours of waiting to get on a call. And the telephone at Anup's house was going to be dead for months until the line was fixed," she further said.
The secret meeting
Talking about the first time they secretly met, Sim confided, "Soon after, our whirlwind romance took another turn when Anup wanted to meet me. I was visiting my aunt in Pune those days. He made an excuse at his house under the pretext of going on a college picnic and came over to see me. I was ecstatic. We sat over in one of those premium hotels by the station, probably Blue Diamond. We had our breakfast and spent some quality time together until the time came for him to leave. I was a bit teary-eyed to say goodbye to him."
Sima aunty concluded her love story by saying, "We continued exchanging letters until we got married later that summer. It has been 37 years since then but he still makes me feel as if we have just started all over again."
