Jab We Met: 'We were separated by fate's rude play'

Reader Byakti tells us how fate played hide and seek presenting multiple twists in his love life, until one fine day, the obvious happened.

The year was 1997. Our story began 16 years ago. And even today the heart beats the same way it did then.

I was in class 6 when this girl joined our school to become my classmate.

They say, first impressions last forever, and yes, ours did last!

The moment I saw her, I felt my heart skip a beat -- it was a lovely feeling.

Who knew at that time and the age we were in that this is exactly how love felt like...that this out-of-the-world feeling is love.

Wow man!! And since then my heart has always craved for her. The girl was equally smitten.

Unlike other blossoming love stories that were popular in school, we did not talk much....errr... well, we did communicate but only through our eyes.

I felt lonely every time she missed school.

In fact, she once returned home from school saying she was "feeling-unwell" only because I missed school that day. That is how it was.

We kept stealing glances of each other with whirlpools of love in our eyes all the time. And what an amazingly soothing effect it had on the two of us!

Both of us were getting deeper and deeper in each other's love.

But like any other girl, she also desired to be proposed by the guy, in this case, me.

I never thought of proposing to her because I was so sure of our feelings towards each other that it did not matter to me.

Also since almost the entire school had come to know about this unspoken love story, I wanted to avert our love getting jinxed and so I conveniently was able to showcase that I actually hated the girl and there were no such feelings for her in my heart.

I had to do that, considering we both were still in school.

Four years went by where our eyes did the talking, while our hearts pumped blood twice the normal rate. 

Then, one day the girl got convinced that I hate her because she overheard a conversation I had with my friends, where I told them indicatively how I disliked her.

She decided to move on without trying to know the truth. Should I blame her? I do not know. May be I do.

Anyways, she moved on but I could never stop loving her. It was like religion to love her. Nobody could snatch that away from me. And like every other being who has faith in his religion, I had faith on mine.

I had tremendous faith that this was not the end of it. The story simply cannot end like this.

After we passed out matriculation, we joined different institutes. We were about 1,000 kms apart.

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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

 

It had gotten extremely difficult for me to pass my days without seeing her. But what options did I have?

We exchanged mails a couple of times and maybe talked on the phone for two to three times but that was it.

There were formal mails and tele-calls, remember at that time mobile phone was still a luxury. However, time flew.

Seven years later when we were in our twenties, we got back in touch with each other.

Most of us might laugh at Orkut now but yes, that is what connected us back then.

My love for her had remained the same but she was dealing with too complicated a heart that was still like a teenager's -- messed up with a number of infatuations and crushes.

We became extremely good friends and I patiently kept hearing about everything she had to say in praises of the guys she kept having crushes on. I was never hurt by this.

Hope never eluded me. And one fine day I put before her every feeling my heart had harboured for her.

It perhaps just sprung up on her. And she was taken unawares because all this time circumstances had conveyed her that I hated her.

She asked me why I did not express my feelings earlier. I laughed it off by saying at least I did it now.

I expressed myself, but never interfered in her life. But yes honestly I would have loved her to leave the world for me.

Yet another twist awaited me. She disconnected from me, blocked me from her chat list and ignored my phone calls. I tried hard to talk to her but she had built a shell around her. Perhaps she was confused, fuzzy in the heart.  

We were separated by this rude play of fate yet again.

Two years passed and God had His master-stroke ready. I told you this was never how our love story was meant to end.

I met her during a flight from Delhi to Bhubaneshwar. She was her usual fiddly self. Remember I had not seen her since school.

We waved at each other. And she insisted that I sit with her.

I desired the same but somehow could not do it without her taking the initiative.

So here we were sitting side by side with just one seat between the two of us and she was chattering non-stop, just the way I always knew her.

Before both of us realised that we were about to travel in the same flight, it was announced that our departure had been delayed because of fuel shortage.

And the delay lasted for a whole five hours. We de-boarded and spent the entire time having fun at T3 terminal. And trust me we must be the only people who can never blame Kingfisher.

We were supposed to take off in a Kingfisher flight.

In the due course of our conversation I got to know that she is very much single but as always, I never imposed my love on her.

I mean come on, it's not like she is a piece of cake left on the table that I was ready to pounce on.

I loved her and she deserved her own time. And hence yet again with immense faith I left everything on destiny.

Today I feel ecstatic to say that we are together. Our love for each other knows no bounds. Destiny has tied us, never to separate us again.

And all that happened in between our coming together like this has been left behind. Today, the circle is complete.

This is what they say about life coming a full 360 degree.

Next up, we received this response from Srinivas. He says...

Ours is not a Jab We Met love story but still I thought I will write about our family.

I am Srinivas and 50 years old working in a MNC firm as VP Manufacturing. My wife Sita MahaLakshmi is 45 years old and a professor in Maths.

Our story dates back 25 years when I was 25 and she was 20 years old.

We belonged to a small village called Tuni near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and I work at Hyderabad.

I am such an introvert and loner that some of our professors in the engineering college where I studied did not know that I was a student in their department.

But being the top five scorers of the class and a merit student at that, I got selected in the campus interview.

My elder sister had got married by then and being from a typical middle class family from a village my parents were keen that I too get married.

Now Sita was my cousin and our families being close knit had already decided when we were born that we should eventually get married to each other.

This is very common amongst our community.  Even though I knew her since she was a child I had not talked much to her.

I had done my schooling from a Govt residential school and we would only meet each other during holidays or in a family function.

She is exactly opposite to me and such an extrovert that in front of her I would get further into a shell.

She had a huge circle of friends.

She'd participate in dance and quiz competitions, was a leader in the college and had got a job as a lecturer based on her merit.

I was surprised when she agreed to get married to me and I still remember my other family elders and cousins whispering to each other "Who is this Srinivas? Oh, He is Rama Rao's son. He has already completed his college and got a job also! Did not know about him at all!"

After marriage and when we started our family in a rented house, we gradually spoke to each other in bits and pieces.

Initially it would be just two to three times a day which increased to six to seven times a day.

When we would go out I would see all other couples talking so much to each other that I would wonder what is there to talk so much about.

Once I said this to Sita and she just smiled, held my hand and came close to me and held me tight.

Slowly she made some unwritten rules.

She would call upon me daily at least three times -- first when I reach the plant in the morning, second in the afternoon after lunch and third in the evening to check if I would return home on time.

Being in a factory I would always come home late and at times even around midnight.

She would wait for me whatever the time and we always had dinner together.

I learnt this from her and also would call her back during the day on my own.

I also started speaking to both our parents to check how they were and they were surprised by my caring nature.

Everyone would praise Sita for this for how she changed me.

Once I had typhoid and jaundice and throughout the period she'd applied for leave in her college and was beside me.

I felt really bad about it because I remembered that once she had fever and I went to the factory asking her to go to the doctor and get herself checked up on her own.

I promised that henceforth I would also learn to be more caring

After a few months of marriage there was a family function and due to work pressure I could not go.

So I went to drop Sita at Hyderabad railway station and as I was waving her Goodbye and the train was leaving I could not control my tears.

Seeing me in tears she also broke down and I could realise how much I would miss her.

I went back home in a disappointed mood and was surprised to see the house door open and on entering my joy knew no bounds as my Sita was there right inside the house.

She flowed into my arms and I still remember the warm hug. We went out for dinner and throughout dinner I was holding her hand and was in bliss.

Years later, we shifted to Mumbai due to my job.

We were expecting our first child and there were some complications. Since the foetus was not growing, the doctor advised us that Sita should go in for an abortion.

My parents had gone to the US to be with my sister and her parents were far away at Visakhapatnam. We had no one else of our family with us and I was tense.

She was quite strong and I still remember my hands shaking while signing the consent note at the hospital.

Throughout the time she was inside the OT, I was in tears and my boss and his wife who were with us at the hospital got more worried about me than Sita.

The nurse jokingly asked if I was undergoing the abortion or my wife.

Once she was shifted to the ward we held each other hands for hours and kept on talking almost through out the night.

I always loved girl child and even during college had sponsored the education of two girls in an orphanage near our college.

I would pray God to bless me with daughters and on hearing my prayers I am blessed with two daughters.

My elder daughter is like me and is now in her second year of engineering.

My second daughter is like my wife and is a born leader.

She always finds me boring. Once she told me, I should not come to her college as she feels shy to introduce me to her friends. Later she said, OK you can come... you are boring but very good.

Now I am also not as introverted as I used to be.

I keep learning from my wife Sita every day how to express feelings to people, how to be caring and show it genuinely, how to make new friends and not be a man always in a shell.

Recently, Sita came to my new office and she could  quickly become friends with everyone.

My secretary Sylvia was surprised that I had such a loving and caring wife.

Sylvia's husband met with a car accident and was critically injured and in hospital for more than a month.

My wife was with their family at the hospital regularly and soon we bonded more as a family than as colleagues in office. 

I want to thank her for loving me so much for whatever I am, understanding me,caring for me and changing me to a better person.

Recently we celebrated our silver jubilee 25th marriage anniversary. I surprised my wife with a lovely diamond necklace.

On remembering those days I feel good.

I believe that relations work when we understand each other, have no ego hassles and learn from one other and mend mistakes whatever occur knowingly or unknowingly.

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