Keeping Bliss in the Marriage They Still Dance the Night Away on Allwood Road Story by Joe Hawrylko For Vijay and Joyti Bhatia, love is an adventure. New experiences are what keep things fresh. “Every three to four years, we add new things to life,” said Vijay. “First, we moved to America. Four years later, we had our first child. Four years later, we bought our house. Then, four years later, I started my business.” Staying youthful and trying new things is what keeps these two going. “We like to go to Bliss. We like to go to nightclubs,” said Joyti, who has studied Indian classical dance for over 20 years. She hopes their next adventure is opening a dance studio. The two first met nearly two decades ago as university students in Bombay, which is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Now called Mumbai, it is the most populous city in India, one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of about 14 million. “I got to know her in the last year of college,” said Vijay. That was back in 1989 at Mumbai University, where he was studying business. “We met at a rock concert. Europe [the band]; you know, The Final Countdown?” He had seen Joyti around campus and knew her through friends, but never actually spoke with her at length. But Vijay finally got to speak with the girl he had his eyes on, and the two began seeing each other regularly. However, at that time in India, dating wasn’t necessarily a precursor to a lifetime together. Arraigned marriages were still common in the country, even in the liberal Sindi sect of Hinduism that both Vijay and Joyti adhere to. “Boys were trying to break out of it,” said Vijay of the traditional customs, whose two sisters were wed in arraigned marriages. “And the girl is a brave girl. But because her parents and my parents were educated, it made it easy to see each other. We’re the youngest in both families. Our parents had seen it all.”
“I told my mom that I’m going to make my own mistakes,” laughed Joyti. With the blessing of their parents, Vijay and Joyti dated regularly, often heading to one of Mumbai’s many beaches. Eventually, the couple decided to wed in 1994. February 2010 • Clifton Merchant
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