Watch: Dubai-based Indian billionaire Anis Sajan of Danube Group reveals his love story with ‘Match No.39’

Dubai: Marriages, they are saying, are pre-ordained. And typically it might take as much as 39 match makes an attempt.

As Dubai-based Anis Sajan, vice-chairman of the well-known Danube Group, marked his twenty fifth wedding ceremony anniversary together with his spouse Rubina at their Emirates Hills villa yesterday (Could 16), the ceremony was as grand because it might presumably get amid COVID-19 restrictions. However that's apart from the purpose.

“I feel so blessed to have journeyed 25 years together with my wife,” says the 49-year-old businessman in an unique interview with Gulf Information, the primary a part of which was revealed yesterday.

Rubina echoes his phrases, however not with out including: “I was the 39th girl that he saw and the marriage took place within six days.”

Cornered into making a confession, a sheepish Anis admits that's the fact.

The throwback is candid, the revelations unabashed.

Like the remainder of his life, Anis’ love story too could possibly be straight out of a Bollywood flick. It begins with a heartbreak in Dubai. A time when the foot-loose-and-fancy-free Anis was profiting from his bachelor days at a shared lodging at Deira.

“I can never forget those glorious times. We were 12-14 of us sharing the flat. I am still in touch with many of them like Ilyaz Kazi, Nissar Naik and Musaffar Khan,” he says.

Unprepared to prepare dinner or clear the home, Anis’ contribution to the each day duties was to put the princely desk – a beneficiant unfold of previous newspaper sheets on the bottom – from which the boisterous group would dig into the day’s meals over a din of banter. Anis, thought-about essentially the most dashing amongst his friends, was the reside wire of the room. He additionally owned a automotive – a Station Wagon – which the roommates would refill in turns and paint the city purple.

And so it was on one such outing – to a Dandiya Raas (an Indian people dance occasion) at Al Aweer Grounds – that Anis ran into a lady - Match No.1 - with whom he believed he was head over heels in love. However the relationship obtained nowhere because the lady’s father, a fellow dealer in Deira, advised him to maintain off.

Anis knew what it was to be rejected as a salesman, however not as a suitor. ”It utterly broke my coronary heart, I used to be devastated and felt like Devdas (the spurned protagonist of the epic Bolllywood romantic movie by the identical identify).”

As he spent the following few days and weeks sulking, huge brother and Danube Group Chairman Rizwan Sajan was watching over him as all the time. “He was concerned and convinced me that I should get married. Like all traditional Indian families, he informed our relatives back home that I was ready to take the plunge. The next thing I knew, I was on a plane to my hometown with my brother and his wife to find the girl of my life.”

Phrase in regards to the Dubai-based eligible bachelor unfold so shortly within the household circles {that a} collection of proposals have been lined up for Anis.

The proposals got here from completely different quarters, the women from completely different backgrounds. We might hardly refuse our well-meaning kin and pals. So on daily basis, we might set out and find yourself assembly not one, however many prospects. Imagine it not, I used to be referred to 37 ladies and I met them throughout a interval of six days.

- Anis Sajan

“We could hardly refuse our well-meaning relatives and friends. So every day, we would set out and end up meeting not one, but many prospects. Believe it not, I was referred to 37 girls and I met them all over a period of six days. The proposals came from different quarters, the girls from different backgrounds. I remember one of them asking me about night clubs in Dubai. I had never heard of them, let alone been to one. Needless to say, she rejected me. Somehow, none of the other proposals too clicked as I could not make up my mind.”

Lastly, a typical contact took the Sajan brothers to Rubina’s dad and mom’ home. She was Match No.39 and the bride hunt ended together with her.

Anis says what struck him essentially the most about Rubina was her calm manner and her values about being a homemaker. “She was everything I was looking for – and more.”

Insisting until date that she was as floored by him as he was by her throughout their first assembly, Anis says the the marriage was fastened for six days later.

Rubina remembers the way it took a lot convincing by her father for her to see Anis. “I was just 22 and not quite in the marriageable frame of mind. But for my father’s sake, I agreed to be around when the Sajan family was invited to our home. The first meeting was casual and I must admit I found both Anis and his elder brother very nice. Anis and I were allowed to speak to each other by ourselves as well. He had a volley of questions but I patiently answered them all. The next day, another meeting was arranged at a common contact’s house and we got engaged there and then,” she recounts.

With the marriage going down in a rush, most of the conventional ceremonies have been both skipped or minimize brief, says Anis, however provides, “I made sure they were covered now, albeit 25 years later and with just close family.”

Having gone by way of the motions of an “arranged marriage”, a conventional observe the place dad and mom and households provoke and largely determine on matrimonial matches, Anis says he has no regrets. Ask him if he expects his two sons – Azhar, 23 and Sahil, 20 – to comply with go well with, and he quips: “Times have changed. Call it what you want – arranged marriage or love marriage – I would respect their choice either way. I can tell you one thing though – my arranged marriage became a love marriage. So it’s how you want to see it.”

Requested if there was something that he would really like Rubina to alter for him, he says: “In my 25 years of marriage, I have understood that if you love someone, love them unconditionally. You have to accept the person as he or she is. Asking the person to change does not amount to love, it’s like a deal.”

Whereas the 2 boys draw back from sharing their views with reference to an organized marriage, it's clear that the traces of communication between them and their dad and mom are open. Not simply that, the bonding that the foursome share is deep.

In my 25 years of marriage, I've understood that should you love somebody, love them unconditionally. You must settle for the particular person as she or he is. Asking the particular person to alter doesn't quantity to like, it’s like a deal.

- Anis Sajan

“I give full credit to my wife for this. She has ensured that our two sons are as close as I am with my brother. They have a special relationship, and Inshallah, it will continue to be that way,” says Anis.

Now as sons of the Danube household, how do the boys really feel? “Danube is a big name and it makes us proud. But we are like anyone else. Our parents have taught us the importance of being humble, respectful, kind and caring,” says Azhar.

Provides Sahil, “I play it cool. I am a normal kid my age. And Anis Sajan is just dad to me.”

Rubina lets on that the 2 brothers are like chalk and cheese in the case of their pursuits, however share widespread values.

Anis says he's very a lot a household man. “At the end of the day, all I want is to come home to my wife and children. I spend as much of time with them as possible.”

His hectic work schedules and keenness for cricket does take up quite a lot of his time, however the household is knowing.

“My wife has been extremely supportive and stood by me through thick and thin. I must confess I was a bit chauvinistic in my younger days, but not any more. For any marriage to work, both partners must have a ‘we’, rather than a ‘me’ focus. This applies to every little aspect of daily life. I am glad Rubina thinks the same way as I do which has helped our marriage blossom with two smart boys who are now matured men.”

Because the 25 years together with his spouse roll on, Anis hopes he'll proceed to depend his blessings.