It's a love story that had to overcome quite a few barriers -- be it religion, cultural differences, family pressure or even regional politics, for that matter -- but that did not stop Rajasthan's urbane leader Sachin Pilot and his wife Sarah Abdullah to pledge their troth.
The young gun of Rajasthan has been a popular figure in regional politics ever since he decided to foray into the world of politicking. Prior to that, Sachin worked with the Delhi bureau of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) followed by a stint at the American multi-national company General Motors for two years.
As political analysts and media houses keep guessing whether Sachin Pilot would take over the chief ministerial role of Rajasthan, it is indeed his wife Sara, who has clearly stolen his thunder.
Sara, the daughter of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, has been more widely searched on Google than the enigmatic Congress leader, media reports say.
Sachin and Sarah married on 15 January 2004 after they met while pursuing higher education at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Following their relationship, the couple decided to tie the knot despite constant objections from Sarah's side of family members. Considering Sachin hails from a Hindu family and Sarah is a Kashmiri Muslim, the disapproval over their relationship was always in the offing.
However, all's well that ends well and the Abdullahs accepted Sachin Pilot as their son-in-law. Now the couple has two sons, Aaran and Vehaan and they reside in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Sachin took the plunge into politics at the age of 26 and earned his electoral stripes after he was elected as MP from his father's constituency Dausa in 2004.
Sachin was handed over the reins of a rather battered Congress state unit following their thumping defeat at the hands of BJP in 2013 assembly elections. However, this time, the young leader decided to step up by putting his weight behind Congress' high-voltage campaign.
Today, Sachin has been credited for re-building the Rajasthan Congress unit from scratch and for spearheading the humiliating defeat to the well-oiled machinery of BJP at the recently-concluded state elections.
Here is an interview of the young couple on Rendezvous with Simi Garewal.
