Karnataka Lovers Reunite 35 Years Later: No Right Age When It Comes To Love

Two Karnataka lovers reunited recently, 35 years after they were kept apart by their parents. It was love that allowed the bond between Jayamma and Chikkanna to remain intact, despite their lives taking different paths. But love found a way to reunite the lovers, this time, to remain together forever.

As previously reported, the duo and their families stayed in the same Devaramuddanahalli village and knew each other for many years. When they eventually expressed a wish to marry, Jayamma’s parents did not approve of her union with Chikkanna, who worked as a labourer.

Jayamma was married off to someone else in the neighbourhood. A heartbroken Chikkanna packed up and left his village. He never married.

Years later, when Jayamma came to Mysore to live with her son after her husband left her, Chikkanna, who was in the same city, reconnected with her. Thereon, the love that tied them all these years charged up again and the two are now married.

"We can be with each other just like how we used to dream once," Jayamma said about marrying his sweetheart. 

Bollywood films have people convinced that eternal love stories as Jayamma and Chikkanna's are not uncommon. They exist - the lover lies in wait for years for a relationship to return and it does, heavy on emotions and memories, and promises of infinity and beyond. But how many such stories do we actually hear of in real life?

Social stigmas riding on the back of convention have for long choked true love to death. Many relationships have died before they could truly blossom, only because the people in love were robbed of agency, citing familial norms. Society is content with people "adjusting" in marriage since the union is often seen as nothing more than an alliance of convenience.

Indian family trees are laden with such experiences, where grandparents or uncles and aunts "arranged" into marriage have lived entire lives together without love, with compromises.

And then when the weight of years takes a toll on a ">marriage, bringing with it tragedies like separation or the death of a partner, the fear of dishonour stops people from finding love again.

'This is no age to remarry' or 'Going back to an old lover is an insult to your partner who is no longer around,' is what those seeking love, companionship, partnership - the vitalities of life - are often told.

The reunion of Jayamma and Chikkanna has proved the futility of shame society attaches to love. So many years lost between the lovers who could have gained an entire life's worth of experiences and companionship in the period they were distanced. And yet, their story is driven by a powerful force of hope for people seeking and waiting and loving everywhere.

Love knows no barriers, no age, no shame. It may not be unconditional but it makes people resilient and gives them patience and strength to stand up to social stigmas, no matter how long it takes. Like Jayamma and Chikkanna, who, against all odds, are now hopefully looking forward to a timeless togetherness.

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