Jab We Met: 'Office romance is dangerous'

We had invited you, our readers to share your love story this Valentine's Day.

A reader who did not wish to be named sent us the story of how he was smitten by a female colleague at work and how they came about knowing and loving each other.

It is said that the wheel of time brings both good and bad times in a life.

It is also often quoted during bad times that times will change and the shift to good times will happen very soon. I am not sure. But I do hope for this.

I work in an IT company in south India. My story began in November 2010. She had joined our team of four and it was her first job in IT.

And no, I wasn't supposed to be managing the gang of new recruits. But I was sure asked to take a training session introducing IT and generic concepts of a product for which I was at that moment, working as a Senior BA.

Till then, I had seen her couple of times while on my way out of the floor for smoke and lunch. But the glances were only fleeting and mildly curious.

Though I wasn't too enthusiastic, I took up the training session seriously, because orders came from highest possible quarters and also since my appraisal was just 4-5 months away.

With every intention to wrap up the whole exercise in a single day, I started the training on November 9.

That was I saw her from close for the first time in my life. She wore an orange chudidhar and had a notepad open in front of her, and a pen in her hand.

She was not writing anything at all. Though I did not want to make it too obvious, I was aware that I was staring at her.

I was just hoping that no one would notice it. I was nervous as hell. This was a 'first' in my life in the sense that I was just smitten by a girl.

But I could not just afford to make it obvious. It could turn bad and ugly. So, I was in a hundred minds, all the while trying to concentrate on what I was talking.

I was going overboard with my humour and seemingly funny one-liners; the others were guffawing, either out of politeness or they were finding me incredibly funny. But I could see that I wasn't succeeding too much with her.

For the best of my wit, I could only see a half-polite smile. That was the maximum I could extract out of her.

As time passed, I was trying harder and harder to impress her....but given my desperation and mounting pressure, I could not succeed.

After making a fool of myself umpteen times, I resigned and gave up.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

Jab We Met stories!

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Dear readers, do you have an interesting love story that you want to share? Tell us where you first met your partner and how the two of you fell in love. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Jab We Met'). You can also include a photograph of you and your partner and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com

I dragged the session as much as possible and made sure that I overrun into the next day if it continued for another one hour.

Then, I wrapped up for the day at about 4 pm and asked them to assemble again the next day for the concluding part of the session.

I did not have a reason to extend it for another day but I wanted to be with her, albeit in a limited way. It wasn't much. But it was the best I could get under the circumstances.

The next day, I shaved, washed hair and put on a shirt in which, I deemed, I look good. She came in a cream coloured salwar kameez and looked breathtaking.

She did not seem to be doing much to her face not wearing any make-up.

Her dresses did not look exorbitant and at the same time, she looked completely comfortable with herself -- self-confident and poised.

I just loved that body language. A one word description from any angle seemed impossible.

It was always subjective -- relaxed, yet attentive, graceful, yet simple, lovely, and natural. Reserved, yet not introverted. It is an understatement to say that I was just going gaga over her.

I had arranged for another colleague, a friend, to walk into the session just when I would be about to wrap it up.

He was supposed to do something for which I could not muster courage myself. Let me explain.

Just when I was wrapping up the session, I gave a missed call to this friend. He came into the training room, sort of barged in, and asked in an authoritative voice if the session is going good.

The reply was positive, out of courtesy, I guess. I knew that wasn't my best at all.

Then this friend of mine wrote my name and phone number on the board and told them to take it down and call me in case they have any questions on it later.

Then he invited each in the group to come forward and write their names and phone numbers as well.

This ploy did not work as expected cause there was an extra zealous person in the group who, at that precise moment, started talking something animatedly and my friend's invitation came and went without making a mark on anybody.

(Getting to know phone numbers from the intranet, in the company I work in, takes a little time that I wasn't willing to wait for. At the same time, I was getting too nervous to ask for her number myself. So, I had enlisted for help.)

To my disappointment, she never noted down my phone number. Also, I hadn't got her number. And the session ended. And we went our separate ways. For then.

Jab We Met stories!

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Dear readers, do you have an interesting love story that you want to share? Tell us where you first met your partner and how the two of you fell in love. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Jab We Met'). You can also include a photograph of you and your partner and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com

Though I would always 'run' into her, we were not even acquaintances.

So, even while passing by her, our eyes would never meet and we would neither smile at each other.

However, I always had my eyes open for her.

I had a friend sitting close to where she was sitting and I would make it a point to visit this friend at least half a dozen times a day and gawk at her discreetly.

Though it wasn't enough and I wanted more, I could not dare to rush it.

I have read the comments of the readers when writers of other 'Jab We Met' stories talk about fate and destiny.

But, believe me, there is nothing that happens without the intervention of destiny.

If today, you are reading the love story of some obscure guy whom you don't know, and most probably whom you don't even trust with his real life love story, it is cause of this mystery string puller -- fate.

Sure you can disbelieve in it, sure you can hate the people who talk about it, sure it is a cliche, still its existence is very much there.

For, who would have thought in November 2010 that she and I would be put up in a project together with me as her TL, soon?

Yes, that was exactly what had happened. We reported at the client site four months later.

For the next six months (just four days short), we were together, working, lunching, joking, laughing and talking together.

It brought us close and gradually we started sharing a lot with each other. She talked about her family and friends. I too did the same.

She told about her childhood and some of her both best and worst memories. I shared my blog with her and she absolutely loved it.

Though each day in this period was memorable, some are lovely and cherished, others not-so-good and lack lustre, and some very bad, ending in her getting angry or crying.

We were still just friends. Very good friends, though.

I however, yearned for more from her. I yearned to give her more. In short, I wanted to be more than just friends.

But I did not dare.

Office romance is dangerous.

If at all she doesn't accept when I propose, things could be too uncomfortable later on.

Also, she being a very sensitive and emotional girl could feel very bad and I did not dare to lose her as a friend too.

However, a few incidents of the past had indicated that she liked me and she also was looking forward to taking the relation to the next level.

Particularly notable are two incidents. One day, she had suddenly turned towards me, looked into my eyes and said 'You are the most unforgettable person in my life'.

I was so surprised that I almost choked.

She did not give me a chance to reply to it or carry the topic forward, though.

I too did not persist cause it was clear she did not want to pursue the topic then, in office.

The other incident is this. One night, she texted me, 'I adore you'.

I immediately replied 'Doesn't 'adore' mean 'love'?

After some time she replied 'Ok, my mistake. I like you'.  I replied with a smile.

I finally proposed on a 24th.

By that time, the traffic between us was about 200 SMSes (to and fro together), about a thousand lines of chat on office communicator in office, and 25 mails per day.

That was coming a long way from November 9, 2010 when I was too nervous to exchange phone numbers and she had remained unresponsive to my number when shared.

She said she also loves me. She said she also looks forward to a future with me. She said she also wants me. She said she also feels as if she can't be without me.

In short, she ACCEPTED!!!

Jab We Met stories!

Follow this link for our Valentine's Day coverage

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Dear readers, do you have an interesting love story that you want to share? Tell us where you first met your partner and how the two of you fell in love. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Jab We Met'). You can also include a photograph of you and your partner and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com

We had the most marvellous relationship since then. I have never been happier in my entire life in the past one year.

Being in love is as special as it is a cliche. When a person talks about his amazing love life, it sounds banal.

After all, all relationships sound similar. But to the concerned individuals, it is the ride of the lifetime.

We also had the most beautiful experience of our lives, together. We are still having it. We would have been having till eternity....but unfortunately, for reasons which I don't want to make public, we are in the process of breaking up now.

But it isn't definitely because of either of our feelings diminishing over time. It is cause of some factors, very important and powerful, which we can't change.

We have stopped talking a few days ago.

It has been exactly 9 days and 10 hours till now (while I am writing this), since we talked. No SMS, no e-mail, no chat, no call, no meeting or seeing each other...absolutely nothing.

Every time my phone shakes, I rush towards it expecting something from her.

I am sure it is the same with her too. There is not even a single minute that goes without thinking about her.

There is not a single instance when some beautiful memory of her is evoked and I smile at it.

In the evenings, I sit on the terrace of my home and 'talk' to her, imagining her to be sitting right next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder and listening to me.

I share my dreams, my day's happenings (if any), I talk about a movie that I suddenly remembered, I even plan for our future together.

I sometimes talk about or old beautiful moments which we had together, like how we spent a whole day in a shopping mall for the first time on December 28, 2011 or how we watched a movie together for the first time.

It was more than a year back but I still remember every second of it.

It was totally unplanned, and we ended up going for a horror movie in a C class movie hall.

The crowd was minimal and crows abundant.

The experience was funny (cause of the bad movie hall), romantic (she was hugging me every time there was a horror scene), uncomfortable (the seats were horrible), novel (never did I imagine that the first movie I would watch with my love would be in such a place), cozy (the seats were too narrow and...well....you know....).

In short it was a beautiful experience. Though we have watched movies in multiplexes in couple seats, nothing can ever beat that first experience.

She made me quit smoking and drinking.

She made me more patient and matured. She showed me what love is.

She gave me an opportunity to dream and fantasize. We have come a long way from then.

We both have changed tremendously as individuals but the net sum is still the same as it was during the initial days of our love life. She has adjusted and compromised to a million shortcomings of mine.

And I have changed myself quite a bit for her.

I still hope we will be together ever, but each passing day is making it tougher and tougher.

Sometimes, I think of barging into her home fully armed, and kidnap her and carry her off to some faraway land.

Though initially angry, I am sure she will be absolutely fine a little later.

I hope, things will work out somehow and we will come together again. After all, did not some wise man say that good times always follow?

Jab We Met stories!

Follow this link for our Valentine's Day coverage

Want to send a gift? Choose your gift on Rediff Shopping!

Dear readers, do you have an interesting love story that you want to share? Tell us where you first met your partner and how the two of you fell in love. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Jab We Met'). You can also include a photograph of you and your partner and we'll publish the best entries right here on rediff.com