Lorena only needed to get from Madurai Airport to her hotel.
She got into Rabeek’s taxi without knowing that the three-hour journey through India would change her entire life. They talked the whole way. They became friends, then traveled together, and at some point along the journey they realized they no longer wanted to be apart. She was Catholic, he was Muslim, and their families did not approve. Neither of them let that decide for them: they got married under India’s Special Marriage Act, which exists precisely for unions like theirs.
When their daughter Maryam was born, Rabeek could not be there. Visa procedures kept him away from the delivery and the first few weeks of his daughter’s life. It was only almost two months later that he held her in his arms for the first time. Today, the family remains divided between Australia and India, counting the days until a piece of paper finally allows them to live under the same roof.