They.

I am told that it was Love. You could have your own definitions for it.

He came into town after he fought with his parents on some issue or it could also be that he wanted to be independent. Got a job as a typist in a reputed Plywood Factory (a town near Mysore) in those days. It was big break for him. Being a smart man that he way, he had this charm in him which made him quite know in the new town & the work place. He made good number of friends, out of whom my uncle became the closest to him.
I think being a quick learner runs in the genes I guess; there is an old story that his dad learnt Tamil in 3 days flat with the help of a book when he got posted to Madurai (which is in Tamilnadu) from his native in Kerala. He picked up Kannada really well & mastered it to perfection; but with close observation you could catch the Malayalam influence behind it.

She was the 3rd child in the family; a very orthodox Brahmin Family should i say. If you knew me i wouldn’t survive a day in there. But that’s where I came from. She was a beautiful looking girl in a huge family of theirs. She went to school, college & did her masters in her 40s. Very talkative & naughty among her friends but well mannered in her house. She had to be; having a strict, ex-military, disciplinarian father like hers, it would be crazy to think that any child of the family could break out of the traditions it bound them. Some say she was a pillar of strength; this smart girl who held the family together, in crisis. She studied music & to play Veena (traditional musical instrument, similar to Sitar); she still plays it. She was in college then.

I do not know when exactly they met. But I do know he used to visit home along with her elder step brother (my uncle). During one of these visits is when I guess it struck to him that he found the woman of his life. Now, that was just half of the journey. Coming from a different background as he is, the major hurdle was to convince the family esp., her father, who was completely against the idea that his daughter getting married to some outsider who is not even of the same cast. They got married against all odds.

That was Mom & Dad.