Murthy and Jyothi who fell in love 10 years ago and later got married hail from Telangana and Seemandhra respectively
Ugly battles in Parliament and outside between Seemandhra and Telangana politicians have created schisms and distances between people of the two regions. Still, there are a few speaking the language of love and acting as bridges between the two factions.
Murthy and Jyothi met 10 years ago and fell in love. The chartered accountant and college professor got married three years later. No one raised the issue of the couple being from two regions of Andhra Pradesh that are virtually at war today. Murthy is from Karimnagar district in Telangana; Jyothi hails from the coastal belt.
Jyothi says neither she nor Murthy actually found out where they originally were from. Even between their families, the issue never came up. "For instance, cooking styles in Telangana are different from the coast. The rituals, the celebrations are also different. And yet, the differences never became evident in our day-to-day life," she said.
The couple says they became conscious of their so-called native identities only after the Telangana controversy. It affected them too. Earlier, Murthy says, he was reluctant to speak in the Telangana dialect because popular culture projected it as inferior to Telugu spoken in the coastal belt. That has changed now.
"There was this popular notion that Telangana Telugu is impure whereas Andhra Telugu was pure, more scholarly and correct. So I was actually shy about speaking in Telangana dialect. Now I am proud of it. Mother tongue is mother tongue," he said.
Instead of quarreling about which side is better, the couple decided to embrace and enjoy their differences.
"My mother-in-law for instance taught me so many Telangana recipes that are so tasty. Like savouries made during Sankranti. I am so happy I can make and eat them," says Jyothi.
She says politicians who are trying to get electoral benefits are trying to deepen the differences. But Telangana or Andhra, the language of love is always the same. "If you are married or co-existing, regions don't matter. What is important is that the chaos should be resolved before families start fighting on these issues and love marriages across the so-called divide become really difficult," Jyothi says.
One can only hope the Telangana-Seemandhra love story extrapolates to the larger society at a time when the two groups only have distrust and apprehension towards each other.