We live in the era of speed dating and dating apps, with love supposed to be just a tap away. Old school love seems to have faded. Which is why actor Suhasini Mulay’s love story comes as a breath of fresh air! Deciding to take the plunge at 59, actor Suhasini Mulay broke a lot of societal norms. “I met my husband on Facebook! I didn’t have an account till then. A colleague once said I should open one, usse kaam milta hai. She did it for me,” recalls Mulay, who became “cautious” upon receiving weird responses.

One day, she found a suggestion on her feed about a particle physicist, Atul Gurtu. “I had some interest in science. He was working on an experiment; there was then this whole business about the God particle. I wrote to him, asking if he was working on that; he said yes. I sent another question, and we got talking,” shares the National Film Award winner, 70, adding, “He was looking for a change in life; he was a widower. He once asked if he could have my mobile number, and I wrote back, ‘Good girls don’t give mobile number to strangers’. I checked out his photo, the website of his institute; the name and face matched, so he was not bullshi**ing about that!”

Marriage wasn’t on the cards, she asserts, but Gurtu made her think. “He wrote, ‘You are happy busy running around, but if you want change, it won’t happen automatically’. I thought baat waajib hai. I was going on 60 then, but then I thought ‘Kya jata hai...’ We met, and had a long conversation,” the Jodhaa Akbar (2008) actor adds.

One of her friends, who had also married again after losing his wife, helped her make up her mind. She was told that if the other person is rational, and if things don’t work out, one can say it. “You commit because you want to, not because society is pushing you. There is enough pressure from friends... luckily not from my mother, who I wanted him to meet first. We got married within a month and half of meeting. It has been 10 years now,” shares Mulay, who recently came back from a vacation in Hampi with her husband.