Jab We Met: 'I would always find him around me'

We had invited you, our readers to share your love story this Valentine's Day. Here's the latest set of responses we received fron you.

Here, reader Kripa Nair from Kerala shares the story of how she fell in love and eventually became Mrs Deshpande:

I am from Kerala and he was a Maharastrian.

Both of us worked in the same firm. He was a software developer and I worked as a tester. I am supposed to be the person who finds fault with his work – or at least, that was my job.

The first time I talked to him was work-related. What's interesting about our story is that ever since we first met, I would always find him around me.

In the cafeteria during breakfast, he used to come to fill his bottle. During lunch, he used to sit somewhere near me. Even at the time of leaving from work, I would meet him in the lift and we would exchange smiles.

This continued for about a month until I had signed up for training which demanded me to be in office during weekends.

During one of those days, I saw him sitting in front of his system. I went near him and said: 'Hi! How come you are in office?'

He replied: "I am always here only" and smiled back. Since it was lunch time, I asked him whether he had food.

He said he was religious and was fasting. I thought to myself: Oh good, he fasts.

I said ok and continued with my training sessions and later bid him goodbye.

This continued for many weekends.

During this time we used to chat with each other through Yahoo and Google messengers.

As time passed by, we started talking over the phone. However, we were just friends.

He used to indulge in healthy flirting though.

Then one day he asked me out for a movie. I thought there is no harm in going for a movie and joined him.

Accidentally, we met his friend's at the movie (after marriage, I was told that it was planned). 

The week later I attended a friend's wedding in Mumbai and my train was late. He called me and said that he would drop me home.

Although I did not want him to, by now, I understood that he liked me.

I refused but he insisted.

He came on a bike and five minutes later said, "You know what, I am hungry. You also might be. How about dinner?"

I said okay.

We went to a beautiful restaurant. It was a wonderful evening.

It was the first time I was having such a nice time with a guy and I enjoyed it a lot. In other words, it was my first date.

Now when I think about it, yes, it was indeed romantic.

We continued having dinner, visiting forts with friends. And then he proposed his love and I accepted it immediately.

It was as if I was waiting for this moment. In the next few months, our bond became stronger and we mutually agreed that we should get married.

We decided to disclose our relation to our parents and thus began our struggles. There was difference of opinion among both our parents, so it was a challenge to convince them.

After struggling for 10 months we managed to convince our parents and got engaged to be married after six months.

In the three years and eight months of our relation, which began with friendship and progressed to dating to finally get engaged, we struggled a lot to be together.

Today, I can proudly say that the decision I took in falling for a guy who followed a different culture and rituals was definitely a wise decision.

Yes I do continue to struggle adjusting to many things but for my beloved husband, everything is worth adjusting.

Someone has said that lucky are the ones who get the person they love. I am lucky and continue to cherish this strong bond.

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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

Next up, we have Robin telling us how he fell in love with his future wife at first sight:

I dedicate this article to my beautiful Angel!

I met her at my company's funfair event. We were supposed to form a team across different departments.

I headed the committee and called for a meeting of all representatives.

That was the first time I met her -- she was lovely, beautiful, charming and nodding to every word I said.

Something beautiful about her touched my heart. Then we interacted for the programme, and on the day of the programme as she was drawing a tattoo on a colleague, I saw her. Her eyes were twinkling, her hair was soaked in the neon lights and it looked as if it were dancing.

Her radiant face shone like a star across the darks sea...

That was the time I fell in love with her.

Not knowing how she felt I pursued her relentlessly and finally got her out on a date. I had chosen a local but famous romantic hideout.

Wow! what an ambience it had -- soft romantic numbers played amidst bhartiya baithak with an oil lamp in between us.

We shared the table which had a bunch of roses and there was a touch of cool air all around.

We got down to discussing and knowing each other.

We shared a couple of secrets too. By the time I was two beers down and was really scared to kiss her as I had promised myself.

My girlfriend was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever met both.

While she freely chatted away I was engrossed in her lovely eyes, awesome dimples and those beautiful lips. When they moved, it seemed like poetry in motion. We had nearly spent 2.5 hours there and through the time I wanted to kiss her but did not muster the guts. Finally she got up to leave.

All of a sudden there was a rush of blood in me I just caught her , pulled her down and passionately kissed her full on the lips.

For a moment she was shocked, but I held her gently and slowly her lips responded and we were locked up in our first sensuous kiss which must have lasted for at least two minutes. Then I proposed my love to her.

She gave her reply with another deep kiss. That was the most unforgettable kiss.

Now we are married but I am yet to experience that kiss again!

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh

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

 

And last but not the least, we have Tapas Das from Bhubhaneshwar who shared this story with us:

Mine was not a love story which has a good ending but I have learned a lot which keeps me moving.

This was way back in 1999. After passing my MCA, I was offered a job as a faculty member in one of the reputed institutes where I had to teach MCA students in my home city Bhubaneswar.

After a year, I met Mani who joined the institute as a faculty member.

I can't say it was love at first sight. But we found a lot of similarities between us --  starting from our choice of foods to career decisions and most of all, we realised that we were born in the same month (I was born on December 3 and Mani on the10th).

Gradually, with the course of time, we got closer to each other.

And in January 2000, I proposed my love to her. Though her first reaction was No, I realised that she hadn't turned me down completely.

She wanted us to be friends. I continued, hoping that she will accept me one day.

Then after two months on March 16, 2000, she said yes. But it was not unconditional and she used to swing between yes and no.

Still, I was very happy and had started dreaming about our future.

This was also the golden period of our lives. We used to meet at the institute and go out for lunch. We'd have long conversations over the phone during the evenings.

However, as I previously said, she was not fully committed to the relationship.

Then reality hit us hard. Both of us being MCAs and having a good education backing, we decided to move from Bhubaneswar. She was offered a job in Reliance in Mumbai while I went to Delhi.

While I used to mail/call her, she never responded and finally, I came to know that she had married someone from USA.

All my dreams were shattered and I was mentally ill for around two years.

But over time, I decided to start over again. I went abroad, worked with the big companies and after spending eight years, I came back and settled in India.

Today, I am happily married and have a sweet baby.

But as I said, love should be unconditional. I did not expect anything from her.

Looking back, I think may be she was missing something in me.

But I still love her and miss in my life. If god grants me one wish, I will ask for her in my next life.

I have learned a lot (both good and bad) from this relation.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh