I respect Gauri, because she is a woman and mother of our two children. I love Gaurima because she is so honest and she complements me. Gauri teaches me how to be diplomatic. She keeps telling me that I say too many things that I should not. Because people don't know me well enough and then they completely misconstrue what I say. So, it's better to keep shut. She taught me to switch the lights off before going to bed, to have dinner at the proper place, to put my clothes in the proper place, she has taught me how to dress up well too. She has turned me from an animal to a man. She spoils me a lot. She is the stabilising factor in my life. Without her, I would go haywire because I am an extremist. And it’s not my achievements for which she respects or likes me. She likes me because I make her laugh. And as long as I see a smile on her face, I know nothing can go wrong between us.
Before we were married, even when there was so much tension and chaos surrounding our proposed wedding, I'd tell her that ten years down the line, we'd be laughing about all the trying times. And that's just what we do today. Sometimes in the nights, we sit and think about all that had happened and have a good laugh.
Gauri's parents were dead against the wedding. Her mother had threatened to commit suicide. Her father called me over and said it wouldn't work out. For six years, we carried on our relationship clandestinely. Once, I even went to her birthday party incognito. I used the name I was called in Fauji - Abhimanyu. Her parents innocently remarked that I looked like a distant relative of Mr. Dilip Kumar. But when they got to know my identity later, all hell broke loose.
They're a typical Punjabi family. I was told that one of her uncles is very aggro. And that he kept a sword hidden in his underclothes. But when I got to know him he turned out to be a lamb. I managed to patao all her relatives one by one. I would take Gauri's cousins to the disco. Gradually everyone liked me and all her mamas and mamis kept assuring me that her parents would come around.
But even then, things weren't working out. Gauri was locked up at home, she would keep on telling me, “Shah Rukh, you don't know my parents. You take things so lightly.” And I would tell her that things would be alright. But at one point, the pressure did get to Gauri. She felt that I was stifling her with my possessiveness.
And she was not wrong. I would fight with her if she wore a swimsuit to the pool or even if she left her hair loose. She looked very pretty when she opened her hair and I didn't want other boys to look at her. It was basically insecurity because we couldn't talk about our relationship. We didn't meet so often. But I was extremely and insanely possessive.
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