Bolangir: One is an ardent devotee of Ram and the other a follower of Rahim but their hearts knew that while their faith was man-made and would last till their existence, their love for each other was destined by the almighty and would last long to inspire generations to come.
Much like the story of Laila and Majnu, an epitome of true love, a couple from Bolangir has conquered a seemingly impossible with their love. For KS Rasool Khan and Sunita Kumur, love is God who created all and is the highest form of faith that unites all, be it Hindu or Muslim.
The cupid struck the couple in the year 2004 when the duo met for the first time inside a school bus. Their eyes met each other making their heart to lurch and struggle to find a rhythm, it was sweeter than anything they had ever experienced.
It all started with friendship which soon transcended into exchange of letters, sharing of feelings, loads of appreciation and even before they could realize they became inseparable.
Later came the proposal part, but as Sunita narrates, it was nothing like the conventional sort in which people do something different to sweep off their beloved’s feet rather it was utterly simple.
“My first love was my mother and now it’s you. Rasool said when he confessed his love and the emotion was too much for me and I instantly gave in,” Sunita says while narrating the lovely memories, as warm tears of love rolled down her cheeks.
While love was one thing, staying together was completely different because of their religious divide. But after nearly 14 years of struggle, a silver lining appeared in the cloud of uncertainty in their lives and both got hitched in 2017 and the rest is history.
Rasool is a good singer and Sunita is a proficient Odissi dancer who teaches classical dance to students at her own school. The couple now has a son and in order to ensure that faith never comes in between their relationship, they have found a good way to successfully unite their individual religious practices under a single roof.
Sunita worships Ram with as much devotion as Rasool offers his Namaaz every day and their three-year-old son who wears a locket of Lord Hanuman gifted by his maternal-grandmother and a tabeez of his grandfather, is a perfect example of how true love unites two persons against all odds of religious divide.