Miss Deaf World Vidisha Baliyan’s Wedding Was One For The Books

To say that Vidisha Baliyan is a multi-hyphenate would be an understatement. The retired tennis player is not only a motivational speaker and a social activist, she is also the first Indian ever to be crowned Miss Deaf World. No biggie!  The talented NGO founder won the title back in 2019 and has gone on to use her platform to inspire differently-abled people like her. A few months ago, Vidisha found her ‘Happy Ever After’ with her partner of seven years Shankar Jyoti Das and it was beautiful!

The couple got married in a grand ceremony in NCR and while their wedding was what Bollywood dreams are made of, their love story is no different. According to Vidisha, she had always developed a secret crush towards Shankar from the moment she had set eyes on him but was really shy about expressing her feelings. A text from him on a social media app, however, set things in motion…

“When I received a random text from him on Facebook, I remember running to my mother, dancing with joy and telling her that my crush had messaged me,” she says, “From the beginning of our dating period, Shankar never made me feel uncomfortable because of my hearing issues. He is blessed with immense patience, and to date never gets tired of explaining things when I don't understand what regular people have to say. He still sits down for hours and explains it to me without showing any tinge of irritation. His relentless efforts to keep the relationship going and not giving up on me made me fall head over heels in love with him”, she says.

“I first met her in 2017 and my first interaction with her happened when I wished her ‘Happy New Year’. Our love for fitness is what paved the way for conversations to happen further and helped strengthen our bond over time. I am a morning person and she is a night owl. One day I came to wake her up for a 5km run, as she had promised to get up at 6 and accompany me. But, I ended up waiting for 4 hours before her gate to eventually get her out of the house,” says Shankar, laughing as he recollects their dating days.

The courtship period came with its own set of challenges and the pandemic posed a barrier as the love birds could not see much of each other, but again, this was one of those hurdles that they managed to overcome with ease. Late-night texts, messages, video calls and virtual meets on a routine basis coupled with unwavering trust kept the spark of their relationship alive. When Shankar proposed to Vidisha in Delhi one romantic evening during the chilly winters of December,  she was elated at first, but wasn’t sure and she decided to give it some serious thought.

After two whole years of serious deliberation, the couple eventually broke the news to their families. Shankar’s family was elated at the thought of having Vidisha in their family, but Vidisha’s mom was slightly sceptical about the same.

“Since her childhood, I have never made my daughter feel that she is different from others. I sent her to a normal school despite being asked to send her to a school for special children. Even after being the first Indian to win Miss Deaf World, she still faces discrimination and bullying. Marriage is a life-changing milestone and I wanted her to be with someone who really understands her and a family that accepts her wholeheartedly. When she told me about Shankar I was slightly sceptical because he is from Assam and we are from Uttar Pradesh. But then when I met him and noticed the little efforts he was constantly making to keep the smile on my daughter's face alive made me realise that she had made the right choice”, says Deepshikha Baliyan, Vidisha’s mom.

The wedding planning procedure was overseen by the bride's mother and her close friends. The couple chose to stick to the usual themes for their festivities, yellow for the Haldi ceremony and green for the Mehndi, however, for the main wedding, they eschewed tradition in favour of a peach-themed colour palette. The highlight of their wedding was the menu that had almost 121 dishes consisting of regional, Assamese, North Indian and Continental delicacies.

On her wedding day when the bride walked the aisle dressed in a maroon lehenga from the shelves of Asiana Couture, against the backdrop of a starry night with firecrackers the entire visual resembled straight out of a fairy tale.

“We were photographing Miss World and hence had to be extra careful with regards to the same”, says Sandeep Kashyap, photographer at Color Pictures Film, “With Shankar and Vidisha we did not have to work very hard because they were just having fun and trying to enjoy their little moments, which brought out the playful and loving bond they both share among each other. During the sangeet function, Vidisha’s hard-of-hearing friends performed a special dance for the bride and the groom and communicated a very special message using sign language which left almost everyone teary-eyed. The pictures we captured just like their relationship reflected the organic nature of the bond they shared between themselves which looked good even without implying any modern-day editing and improvising techniques.”

“One of my most vivid memories of my wedding day was when my mother and my husband danced together on the song ‘Damaadji Angana hai padhare’, that moment still leaves me overwhelmed when I think about it. Another heartwarming instance before my marriage was when I was sad at leaving my hometown and going to Assam and embracing an entirely new culture and people, but Shankar walked up to me and said " Don't worry. I will bring you to Delhi whenever you wish to meet your parents. After having met Shankar I realised that in order to meet the love of your life, you need to love, accept and be the best version of yourself. It’s ok if you don't get a partner, there’s nothing wrong with it but then you should remain committed to being the best version of yourself without having to compromise or ‘settle’ for something less”, Vidisha advises.

On being asked about their future plans, the former Miss World deaf says, “We are focusing on giving our attention and time to our NGO which works with specially-abled children. The aim and objective of our NGO is to give specially abled children a better life and train them in various skills that can help them lead a life very similar to that of a regular person without facing any isolation or discrimination.”

Photography credits- Color Pictures Film