Sherbir Singh Gill and Mecca Gill have been married for over three years, but it most certainly was not love at first sight.
31-year-old Gill who arrived in Australia from the northern state of Punjab in the year 2014, on a student visa, met his future wife "by chance" when he moved into a shared accommodation in Melbourne where she was staying with another friend.
“For the first few months, we literally didn’t speak to each other at all despite living in adjoining rooms,” Mr Gill told SBS Punjabi.
“I would stay locked up in my room and do my path, while Mecca would be out there chilling with her friends.”
A love story which most certainly was 'not' love at first sight Source: Supplied
So what changed?
“What really broke the ice was a cup of tea that I would make for everyone in the house every morning before heading out to college.”
“So one day, she stopped and asked me, “Why do you go to such lengths when you know that I don’t drink tea at all?””
“I told her that our Guru Nanak Dev ji taught us to ‘share what you have’ and that’s exactly what I follow,” recalled Mr Gill as what he told Mecca at that time.
And that is all it took Mr Gill to melt Mecca’s heart but the picture was far from complete. The climax came when he decided to introduce her to his parents.
“I just took her to a beach, facetimed my parents, flipped the camera towards Mecca and told them ‘she is the one’.”
"All hell broke loose at my family home in Amritsar", reminisced Mr Gill who said that his parents were initially "shocked" but it took a little “sister meddling” to pacify them.
“It was my younger sister Preet who came to our rescue. And gradually my parents softened to Mecca and accepted our match, but not without conditions.”
“They asked us to solemnize the marriage according to the Sikh tradition before continuing to stay under one roof,” Mr Gill told.
Now Sherbir and Mecca, who have recently shifted to Perth are “happily” married and proud parents to their one-year-old boy, Gursehajbir Singh Gill who is learning to fold hands and say Sat Sri Akal.
The Gills have been happily married for over three years Source: Supplied
“He will get there,” hopes Mr Gill who feels he has lucked out to get a partner like Mecca who is trying hard to endorse his way of life.
“I feel so lucky. Mecca is endorsing Sikhism, she is learning Punjabi, my son has started to wear a patka, what more can you ask from life,” said an emotional Mr Gill.
When we asked Mrs Gill how life has changed after marriage, pat came the answer-“life is beautiful,” she said with a smile worth millions.
There are some undeniable differences, the couple agreed, but they have found their own way to bridge the gaps, with love.
“For instance, he likes parathas, I like Vegemite, so we have invented the ‘Vegemite parathas’,” said the proud Mrs Gill who claims to have mastered the art of Punjabi cooking while Mr Singh does what Punjabis are best at-no points for guessing, “eating.”
“I was a healthy 83 kgs when we got married, now I am lurking somewhere at a 114 kgs,” shared Mr Gill who is almost “regretting” the fact that Mecca has discovered the secret passage to his heart is indeed via the stomach.
The ‘happy family’ has become quite a star on social media and their pictures often garner hundreds of likes within hours of being posted.
The family of three is now looking forward to visiting Punjab, later this year to reunite with the extended Gill clan and visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
But until that time, the couple is hoping their son learns to say a little more than “nahiiii” (no) in Punjabi which happens to have become his favourite word, of late.
“There’s only one Punjabi word that Sehaj has picked up and that is ‘nahiiii’ (no) or if I say “aaja put” (come here, son) he understands that this means papa is calling me,” said Mr Gill.
