Passion Food- Femina

Foodie Marut Sikka and designer Anusuiya lead busy lives, but make time to rekindle the spark.

She thought he had ‘‘unne-cessary attitude and was being cheeky’’; he thought she was snob-bish. They met at a friend’s place and going by that meeting, Marut Sikka and Anusuiya Sahdev seemed, well, not made-for-each-other. But Cupid did not think so. And he was right. They’ve been married for ‘‘four years, two months’’ and are still going strong.

Love Finds A Way
An impresario turned foodie, Marut is director with the food company JKFSL and Bawarchi Tolla, a hotel and restaurant consultancy company. He is also consultant to The Chancery, Bangalore, and above all, he’s just launched his own Indian food restaurant ‘Seven’ at the Crowne Plaza Surya Hotel, Delhi. Anusuiya, on the other hand, is involved in a field where food is not top shot. An upcoming fashion designer, she has designs on ‘Myra’, a store that retails her label of the same name.

Impressions, they say, change with familiarity. Anusuiya says she realised that Marut was not really trying to be Casonova ‘‘with this other girl I thought he was interested in, while flirting with me at the same time’’. Marut came to the conclusion that Anusuiya was not really snobbish, but shy. Misconceptions cleared, the two got talking and before they knew it, they were headlong into a relationship. As for who proposed formally, the issue is a ‘touchy topic’ best left alone. A Sikka secret, they chorus.

Together Now Forever
The more reticent half of the duo, Anusuiya has a little regret: ‘‘I really wish now that I had played harder and made Marut do all the fancy wining and dining before agreeing.’’ Her idea of romance and her way of keeping love alive in the relationship is a little different — they fight. ‘‘I fight with Marut all the time, because the making up is very romantic,’’ she’ll have you know with a laugh.

Anusuiya also believes in ‘together-ness’. Trying to spend a lot of time together is important to her to keep their romance going. Especially after she honestly admits that settling into marriage had entailed some major adjustments on both sides. ‘‘For two new people to live together is tough. Add to this the fact that Marut travels a lot.’’The Sikkas have now reached a ‘point of balance’, togetherness being the most important factor to maintain this balance.

Anusuiya describes togetherness as companionship — ‘‘With someone with whom I can be completely myself, someone who will wake up with me, sometimes even at 1.00 am to look for the cat and someone who will blast me for not returning phone calls.’’ In simple terms, Anusuiya’s way of keeping the romance going is in trying to be together, doing things together, fighting and making up. And nagging too! ‘‘I can’t imagine not nagging Marut or Marut becoming totally disciplined.’’ However, she’s not going to give up the former, while saying she is determined to achieve her second goal. No wonder then that sparks fly when they are together.

All In The Game Of Love
Love and romance, Marut maintains, are vital to keep the spirit of any relationship alive. It could be his wife’s influence, but like her, he too, believes in togetherness and spending time with each other. ‘‘I think the essence is in doing as much together as you can — you never know when a romantic moment could spring up,’’ he offers by way of explanation. The doing-things-together extends to watching movies, playing an occasional game of Scrabble or cards.

If a foodie is involved, can food be far away? Food has its role in their love games too. Marut achieves this by giving their maid a day off often; they cook together, open a bottle of wine and have a candlelit dinner at home.The foolproof way of keeping romance alive and thriving, Marut claims, ‘‘is our annual holiday, which Anusuiya insists should never be less than 15 days.’’ The annual holidays give the Sikkas a lot of quality time together that cements their bond further.

With a relationship quotient like this, any wonder why the Sikkas are thick together into this? Bonds only grow stronger when you forge them with sincerity. They seem to have got the formula right.

Anusuiya’s idea of romance and her way of keeping love alive in the relationship is a little different — they fight. ‘‘I fight with Marut all the time, because the making up is very romantic’’

The Sikkas: At home with togetherness
Photograph: Bharat Sikka