To celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on March 26th, Ramendra Kumar takes to verse to revisit the enriching journey of love he has shared with his soulmate and life partner Madhavi over the years.
A scorching romance, a run-away marriage It was truly a baptism by fire
A gossamer fabric of memories
Stitched together by time,
A thirty year journey
Which was often a pantomime.
A scorching romance, a run-away marriage
It was truly a baptism by fire,
We stumbled along tethered by
The melody of love, the symphony of desire.
Jobs, mama-papahood and a zillion chores
We seemed to be clutching at ephemeral moments,
Our togetherness was soon falling prey
To a clutter of bonsai events.
We pledged to renew our connect
The stress and strain of living
Began to take its toll,
We were now responding
Each day to a tough roll call.
Egos reared their nasty heads
Love started seeking space,
Romance which had been a bookmark
Was now merely a fading preface.
We were losing each other
In the chaos called living,
We pledged to renew our connect
Which had always kept us going.
We both dumped our I’s
In our recycle bin,
Armed with We and Us
We clawed back to a state of win-win.
Of course we had our fights and hurled
Often at each other some grievance,
But we never ever unleashed
The brutal violence of silence.
The kids have flown the nest
We are back in the honeymoon phase,
From the frenzied, frenetic life
We have set a leisurely pace.
The kids have flown the nest We are back in the honeymoon phase
With more time for each other
There is more to seek and lot to share,
To make each day count,
And treat every moment, as a treasure rare.
To live with our faults
To ‘love’ our many flaws,
To look beyond the wrinkles
The heartache and the loss.
Nothing else seems to matter
As long as we have each other,
On every blank canvas
We can splash a new colour.
When we move towards oblivion
We shall leave behind a treasure
Of love, laughter and connect
In, I hope, equal measure.
Finally in the photo-shopped portraits
On the walls when we rest,
Everyone who looks at us
Will only see two ‘buddies-best’.
Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an award-winning author, performance storyteller, and TEDx speaker whose 54 books span fiction for all ages, satire, biographies, and inspirational non-fiction. Translated into 33 languages and recipient of 41 All-India awards for children’s literature, his works — known for their wit, warmth, and emotional resonance — have touched readers across India and beyond. His titles with the National Book Trust (NBT), India alone have sold over 1.5 million copies.
Ramen has participated in international literary festivals and marquee Indian events, including the Jaipur Literature Festival. He has served as a jury member for The Times of India’s Women “AutHer” Awards, a mentor for the Scholastic Writers Academy, and was named “Author and Storyteller of the Year” on Talking Stories, London.
His arduous battle with cancer was featured on Humans of Bombay, one of India’s largest storytelling platforms, where his story garnered over four million views. In October 2025, he won the ‘Mr. India Cancer Warrior’ crown at a unique competition for cancer survivors held in New Delhi!
An alumnus of the prestigious Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, Ramen is an engineer and an MBA who left his role as General Manager (Corporate Communications), SAIL, to pursue his true calling — writing, storytelling, and inspiring lives.
Ramen’s website is www.ramendra.in and he has a page devoted to him on Wikipedia.
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