The best thing about marriage is that one realises what is the true meaning of responsibility, feels actor Ashish Shrivastav!

Director #AshishShrivastav and fashion designer wife #GurmeenShrivastav celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary in March this year. Their journey, according to Ashish, has been strong since the beginning, and these many years of togetherness has only made the bond sweeter. The fact that they understand each other’s personal and professional commitments well makes their relationship stronger.

“Gurmeen is a fashion designer. She totally understands my job, the erratic timing involved, the stress level etc because her profession too involves similar things. We have slowly learnt to balance our lives by being there for each other at every step. We give each other advises whenever necessary, we are each other’s best critic. I feel as a couple we compliment and complete each other,” he says.

The best thing about marriage is that one realises what is the true meaning of responsibility, feels Ashish. Marriage often gives direction to life.

“With marriage you get focused in your life and work. The industry I belong to is filled with uncertainties. We all work under tremendous stress of expectation of doing things that would work well with the audience/consumer. To handle that level of stress sometimes you need a friend or a partner to support you. In such situations if you have your life partner with you nothing can be better than that… For a healthy marriage the most important factor is trust. Listening to each other and understanding each other helps that trust grow,” adds Ashish, who has directed popular shows such as Shaadi Mubarak, Yeh Rishte Hai Pyar Ke, Piya Albela and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki.

But there are times, even in a happy marriage, when things go wrong. And, Ashish says that begins when the couple stops listening to each other or refuses to understand each other.

“In today’s times the most important thing is that you have to be tolerant in a positive way. Sometimes we overreact to certain things, sometimes our ego overpowers our common sense and that’s when we stop listening to each other. When we stop listening to each other the communication gap increases because of that gradually you start to become short-tempered as well. That shouldn’t happen. Being honest and saying sorry when you are wrong often solves the most difficult of problems. Taking care of smallest details in life, being there for each other, give space to one another can create a beautiful bond,” he shares.

There are bound to be differences between two people when they stay together. “There will be struggles at different levels and at every stage. The initial struggles help in getting to know each other. But as we move on these struggles can be avoided, then new chapters brings along new responsibilities, and new set of hardships. Struggles are an integral part of our lives that we need to deal with positively for that happy ever after ending,” he concludes.