Finding love is a goal many of us have tucked away in the inner most reaches of our hearts.
Jione Irava Jimione and Natasha Verma, on the other hand wear the love they have found for each other in the smiles on their faces.
The giddy couple tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony at the Pearl Resort in Pacific Harbour on Saturday, December 5.
Jione and Natasha have been touched by destiny. Their story is a heart-warming one and it all began once upon time at a New Year’s Eve party.
“We met through his cousin, who I did my postgraduate studies with. It was New Year’s Eve and she planned a little get together. It was an intimate crowd; we didn’t know who was going to be there,” Natasha said, smiling with all the excitement in the world as reminisced the meeting that brought her to her big day.
“As fate would have it there was an empty chair next to him. I sat down and we started talking and just never stopped talking.”
“She fixed me!” Jione interjected teasingly.
“We’ve been together for about three years now and he proposed last year,” she said.
“She has everything I look for in a woman – a very good heart. She’s kind and just happens to be a beauty,” said Jione.
“There have been a lot of times when I was down and needed someone to lean on and she was there for me.”
“I said yes because he mirrors what he saw in me,” Natasha said when asked why she said yes when Jione asked her.
“I have a very fast paced life, I’m very career oriented, study oriented and he grounds me. He provides balance for me, I’m always reaching for the stars and he reminds me to keep my feet on the ground.
“I think when someone really cares for and loves you it makes you feel really warm. He feels like home to me.”
They were in agreement that from the start they knew they were very serious and we would end up at the alter one day.
The wedding followed the usual format of a Christian wedding, but with a twist the colourful richness of a Hindu wedding. The reading, sermon, and the exchange of vows and rings were conducted by a Methodist minister, but tied in were the mangalsutra and sindoor ceremonies performed by a pandit.
Mangalsutra is the adornment of a bride with a black and gold necklace, strung with a gold or diamond pendant. A pundit chants a blessing and the groom adorns the bride with the necklace. Sindoor is the red line drawn down the part in the brides’ hair with a reddish orange powder. It’s placement is a rite of passage from girl to married woman, but it also grants her new status as an adult with the competence to run a home.
“It symbolises our marriage, good luck, love and friendship,” Natasha said.
“Our wedding was a fusion of both our cultures.” Jimione said.
As a young couple living in an age of polarised and cultural misconceptions, Jione and Natasha stand firm in the belief that differences do not necessarily have to divide. They can unite.
“It adds value to our lives, we do not just practice one culture we practice two,” Natasha explained.
“We fast on Thursdays because that’s when I do my prayers and we go to church together.”
Holidays definitely have a deeper meaning because they don’t celebrate one or the other, They celebrate both. For them it’s not Diwali or Christmas it’s Diwali and Christmas.
“It’s not something that divides us, it actually makes our lives that much more interesting and doing all this with the person that I love just makes it that much more special,” Natasha shared.
“We’ve been very lucky and blessed because our families have been very supportive of us.
“Our families have accepted that we wanted to be together and they never made us feel bad for wanting that and that makes this more joyous, it’s not the differences it’s the union.”
