impression wasnt encouraging saranga who is not a fan of male facial hair recalls not liking his beard and moustache obsession the businessman who had to leave in a jiffy in turncould only catch a faint glimpse of his phone companion but he was now aware of the smart girls real name age stream of education and a bit more i knew she was the one i would eventually marry he saystwo months later mehta requested saranga to meet him outside her college in andheri on his birthday 15th of february saranga whose final year exams were approaching said she would be busy on the day and asked him to meet on the 14th instead that valentines day in 1998 at what some would call first sight mehta proposed to the thin shy innocentlooking girl with permed hair a visual he now laughs about you are destined to be my wife and you have no control over it if you think you can refuse it go ahead he said in a matteroffact tone the threatening proposal confused her at first but almost two years of relentless phone conversations had adapted her to the astrologers ways she didnt answer immediately and decided to buy time till her final exams meanwhile though she continued to meet him on the sly under the pretext of group study where her friends were instructed not to call her landlinethese meetings where she made sure he had no problem with her career or beliefs convinced saranga that he was indeed husband material i knew he would never let me starve says saranga though they belonged to the same caste she knew love was then a family taboo and would spring some opposition so in may when her final year results in which she stood second in the university arrived and her father asked what she would like for a gift saranga pleaded for permission can you meet the man i want to marry she asked him taken aback at first her father obliged nonetheless and was quite surprised when mehta spoke like he had known him for years and had even easily convinced sarangas father to say yestoday about 15 years and two kids later not much has changed for the couple from their first meeting though he still continues to predict major events in their life while she still doesnt approve of the beard obsession of her husband who recently entered the limca book of records for sporting 54 styles of beard he loves attention and i like to be inconspicuous says saranga thats perhaps why her family members still do not know the entire story i told my parents that we met through a common friend while mehta revels in relating their quirky beginning to everyone he meetshis narration almost unfailingly ends with the same line and the wrong number turned out to be the right one indeed sharmilaganesantimesgroupcom follow us on twitter for more stories