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When 17 year old Aboli fell in love for the first time, she couldn't have begun to imagine what life had in store for the both of them. Praful and Aboli didn't get to choose if and when to marry, because of the rules around Part 2 Order in the Indian Defence forces. Armed forces personnel are only allowed to cohabitate with a legally married heterosexual spouse. So, they obliged. At 23, she got married, quit her investment banking career temporarily, moved to a remote location in Jammu and Kashmir to be with the love of her life.. Then life unfolded.

In her thirties now, Aboli Moharkar lives in Pune by herself, has pivoted her career to mental health and grief coaching along with being a certified mountaineer. She defines love on a new spectrum now. She looks back at the few years of being married and has zero regrets. She has also come around to accepting the dual reality of Indian society - one where they shower her with flowers on a stage for giving the ultimate sacrifice for the nation (her spouse) and the one where she's subtly expected to maintain distance from religious ceremonies because widows bring bad luck, as per Hindu beliefs.

No matter who you are, from Aboli's story, we hope you learn to be a little more grateful & mindful about the present, a tad bit more resilient about the past, a little less demanding of war and a lot more patient towards grief - which is different for each and every person.

Love,

Your Prickly peers

Find Aboli's grief and mental health support group here and her amazing research article, on the realities and struggles of Indian war widows here.

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Priyanka and Manisha grew up as conventional childhood best friends not knowing the future of their friendship when they got old. It turns out, whenever life got tough, through their twenties and thirties, they gravitated towards each other geographically moving cities, states and even countries to find solace with each other. Now as they enter their forties, they have decided to introduce a lot more accountability into this partnership which is much more than fair weather friendship to the both of them- they share a home, co-own furniture, a dog, a joint account and function like any other cohabitating family unit. Have they thought about what happens when one of them finds romantic love, do they have a plan for old age? What are the challenges of this unconventional partnership in day to day life and how do they overcome them.. . Find out as you tune in!

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"Hi, I am Natasha and I am divorced" was how she introduced herself to Bob the first time they met at his band's concert. Bob told her the same day, "I snore". That became the stereotypical 'love-at-first sight' beginning of this everything-but-stereotypical relationship based on honesty and mutual attraction. It quickly grew into a romantic co-living companionship! It's been 7 years and there are no wedding bells on the cards. Yet, they share a home, their two dogs, 143 plants, their finances and their life! How did they come to this decision? Do they want children? How do they deal with the "society", being in this unusual partnership. Do they fight and argue on the same stuff as a married couple would? Is anything different than a marriage or is it just a piece of paper? Tune in as Ankita shamelessly tries to put together a framework for successful "live-ins" by asking them the hard questions we all have, but don't ask!

Fun fact: someone in the relationship snores even louder than Bob 😀

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