American “Granny” Flies To India To Marry Facebook Friend

NEW DELHI – Saying goodbyeto all worldly comforts, alovelorn US-born woman cameall the way to Haryana’s Popravillage to marry her Facebookfriend and play the role of a dotingIndian wife.Adriana Peral, 41, is 16 yearsolder to her husband MukeshRor. The couple got in touchwith each other over social networkingwebsite Facebook inFebruary, 2013 and reportedlygot married in November.Peral, who hails from California,was a grandmother back in theUS, when she decided to marryMukesh. Now, the couple wantsto fly to the US to see Peral’smother, daughter and twograndchildren.”With tears in my eyes, I used topray in the church to have a caringlife partner. I am happilymarried and want to see Mukeshjoin some profession and have anice house in a town,” saidPeral, adding that she is stilladjusting with the limitedamenities at her new house.Meanwhile, the US embassy inNew Delhi has refused to entertainRor’s visa application.”On January 3, I appeared at theembassy to get a tourist visa butit was turned down. The officialat the embassy did not evenopen my file. Parel’s visa forIndia will expire on February 10and she wants to take me alongto introduce me to her family inthe US,” said Mukesh, a postgraduatein mass communicationfrom the KurukshetraUniversity.But Peral sees nothing wrong inthe rejection of visa application,saying it was the US policy tomaintain an eye on theunscrupulous elements trying toenter the country using unfairmeans. “I hope that Mukesh willsoon get a permit to visit or settlewith me in the US. But I amnot averse to stay back in Indiato lead a peaceful married life,”she said.Mukesh had worked for variousHindi news channels and newspapersfrom Assandh sub-divisionof the district, but now, hesaid, he was busy with his newlife and working on his visaclearance. Mukesh’s mother Bimla Devi also stays inthe house and family leads a comfortablelife from whatever they earn from theireight acres of farmland.Peral, who studied till Class 8 back in theUS, said that she was a receptionist at aclinic in California.”We became friends on Facebook and ourrelationship ended in the marriage. Afterinitial hesitations, I grew faith in Mukeshand decided to marry him. I came to Indiain August, 2013 and I do not regret mydecision of marrying in a land which has acompletely different culture,” said Peral.Now pregnant, Peral is firm on deliveringthe baby in the US.Clarifying that she was not a typicalHaryanvi housewife doing all householdchores, Peral finds the ongoing chillyweather as completely unbearable.”I chop vegetables and unsuccessfullytried my hands at making ‘chapattis’.Though the living conditions are differentthan I used to have in the US, but I amenjoying my life here,” she said.Quoting Bible that “a person without truelove was a dead”, Peral said that here shemissed the church and gymnasium themost.”I used to spend up to five hours ina gymnasium. Here, I have no place to jog.I go to Assandh or Karnal for shoppingand I enjoy becoming a centre of attractionin the market,” she said.When told that marrying an elder womanand that too from a different religion wasstill considered a taboo in the Haryanvisociety, Peral said that she didn’t care aslong as Mukesh loved her.”I have seen women in the village coveringtheir heads, but no one objected my wearingthe western dresses. I also enjoy wearingsalwar-kurta stitched by my in-laws,”she said.