UAE newsboy fulfils honeymoon pledge to wife after 25 years

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UAE newsboy fulfils honeymoon pledge to wife after 25 years
THOSE SMILES! Jayaprasanna was recently able to meet her husband Bhaskar for only the twelfth time.

Jayaprasanna, a Kerala housewife was able to visit Ajman where her husband Bhaskar has been delivering newspapers for the past 35 years. Thanks to two UAE entities, her dream came true

By Suresh Pattali

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Published: Fri 26 May 2017, 11:07 PM

Last updated: Sat 27 May 2017, 1:13 AM

She came, she saw, she loved. Bhaskar, the amiable newsboy who has slipped the 'world' under many a door for 35 years, was bantering with his wife about her new-fangled ideas of happy living when she disappeared through the door I had just entered. It was a one-room sharing space they had rented in downtown Ajman for their 'sponsored honeymoon'.

Bhaskar dusted one corner of the bed and gestured for me to sit, but I stood there for a long while recollecting such familiar scenes from my village days back home. There was something innocuous and rustic about her sudden disappearance. Seated on a silky-soft floral-print blanket, I waited for the next moment of action to unfold as per my imagination. One, two, three... yes, there she is, making her re-entry with three glasses of tea.

Placing the steaming hot brew on a plastic stool that alternates as a centre table and seat, she rustled through a corrugated box of eatables brought from Kerala for her husband and friends. She fished out two half-opened polythene bags stuffed with jackfruit fries and banana chips.

The masking tape that was used to secure the carton hung loose with 'Jayaprasanna, Kochi-Sharjah' scribbled on it in red, a testament to her maiden flight that fulfilled her husband's honeymoon pledge to bring her here on a visit. "I heard on Club FM radio you have brought avilosupodi," I teased, suggesting she was hiding the special Kerala delicacy for her beloved. The ice seemed to melt. The emblematic smile she had carried all along blossomed into light laughter. "I'm not hiding it. Do you want some?" she posed a query that would ultimately convert the session into a high tea laced with fun.

For those who have not read about Bhaskar, here is a quick rewind. Having delivered newspapers for 35 years, Bhaskar is a household name in Ajman. His touching story of an unfulfilled promise to bring his wife here moved hundreds of Club FM listeners and Khaleej Times readers who, in an overwhelming respose, offered to help him.

Jayaprasanna has been busy ever since she set foot at Sharjah Airport on the night of May 16 at the invitation of Club FM and Cozmo Travel. From the airport she was whisked to a beachfront diner in Ajman where she shared her emotions hesitantly on FB live. And before she could get any sleep, the couple was in the studio to address their well-wishers on air and to cut 'A Dream Come True' cake live on Facebook. They were choked with emotion.

Battling reticence, Jayaprasanna said she was in awe of whatever sights she was able to grab in a few days. For a person who has never travelled outside her birthplace, this is a semblance of heaven on earth. The raajaveedhi (kingly street) from the airport, the mirror-glassed skyscrapers and different races of people have blown her mind. She is madly in love.

One night, Jayaprasanna dropped this bombshell on her husband: "I am not going back. This is the place to live." Her words hit him like a gust of 'shamal' winds. He laughed off her suggestion at first but the thought tickled his fancy and seemed to settle in his mind.

"But there are issues. The age, the rules, the call of the home country..." he said. In the 25 years they have been married, he has met Jayaprasanna only 12 times.

"Why not? You can give it a thought," I feigned siding with her for I didn't want that shimmer of hope on her face to fade. "The drawback is language, but at least I am healthy. So is Bhaskarettan," she said. And there are miles to go before they sleep. "Our house back in India is in tatters. It leaks badly in the monsoons. Getting a job is impossible for a Gulf returnee," she said.

"The copra (dried coconut) business he has been talking about is just a wild dream. The price of coconut oil is high, but copra doesn't fetch a good price in the market. It's a sad dichotomy," Jayaprasanna's pragmatism made better sense than her husband's romanticism. She looked at me as if with a silent request to read her mind. What she implied, with no shades of grey, was, "let's make hay while the sun shines in the Gulf".

However, she added in a quick second thought: "We'll go by Bhaskarettan's book. Let him take a call. When I see the lives of some blue collared workers here, maybe the other side is greener."

"He is a good man with no vices," Jayaprasanna poured her heart out about her better half. "I let him do whatever brings him happiness despite the low income. Delivering news and knowledge to people fills his soul. Period."

Even as the fear of the future gnaws at them, Bhaskar and Jayaprasanna are determined to make the most of the moments of togetherness gifted by good Samaritans. "The world is full of good people, who went out of their way to make our dream come true. We are thankful to them and to god."

The Bhaskars are sitting on a long list of invites from friends and decades-old subscribers, including doctors and engineers. "Everyone wants us to drop by. But our priority was a thanksgiving visit to my Pakistani friends who took care of me for free and for more than two years. The way they scrambled to host my wife brought tears to my eyes."

"These are the same Pakistanis we rush to stereotype. It's sad and unfair to tag good-hearted people because of a minority of hardliners living among them. People who don't want to see India and Pakistan live as friends, are minuscule in both our countries. Believe me," Bhaskar said.

As we wound up our conversation, Bhaskar revealed another wish he nurtures. "As a last link in the chain of newspapering, I've been reading a lot about how one man built the emirate of Dubai and turned it into a world-class city from the desert sands. Who wouldn't wish to grab a glimpse of him? I would like to see His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for making this place a model city of peace and harmony."

The word Honeymoon printed on the blanket stared at me. It was a reminder that it was time for me to leave. Forgive me Bhaskars for intruding on your cocoon of joys!

suresh@khaleejtimes.com (Suresh is Senior Editor. His philosophy is heavily influenced by Ulysses)


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