As part of our Valentine's Day celebrations, we invited readers to write in telling us all about their love stories. Here, we publish a few more responses. First up is Richie's story:
The first day we met was May 7, 2001 as Engineering students during our Summer Training.
The first day we met, I found him extremely shy and very very simple and he found me friendly. I went back home after the class and for some strange reason, I was going on talking about him at home. My Mom was a little surprised as I had just met him & was talking so much about him. The next day as luck would have it, we were asked to share the same PC for Practicals.
The more we talked, the more we liked, the more we liked, the more we studied and completed our Project with the highest grade. Our happiness knew no bounds and we felt as if God was with us.
Slowly our lives changed, our dreams and aspirations were rearranged, an unspoken and unknown strength of togetherness firmly stood with us all the time.
On July 4, our summer training was over, and we had to go back to our respective colleges. I cried so much on the last day and it was definitely only for him. He too could not control his tears though we never said anything but our tears told the story and pain through which we were going through. He looked straight in to my eyes and said 'I love you, I feel like I am dying.' I cried even more.
Then finally he left for his college on July 7. I went to see him off at the bus stop and I saw all his family members there. He came near me, and touched my hand for the first time saying you will get a letter everyday and I gave him a card
saying "Whatever happens I will be with you".
We wrote each other numerous letters. I remember there were days when I used toget 4-5 letters together, the letters were our breathing system, the phone calls were our life. Soon my parents came to know about us and they were dead against it as we belonged to different castes but as said love conquers all. We completed our Engineering and were placed in two different MNCs but in the same city.
God worked his magic again. He went onsite for a project and I also travelled to the same city for another project through my company. The distance between us was shortened every time by the Almighty. Whenever clouds began to form, God always provided us shelter from the storm.
One fine day my Mom called and asked if we still were together and I said yes. 'Now we give up!' is what my Mom said and finally with everyone's blessings we got married.
And it's been quite some time since our marriage and every single day, we have thanked God for being so good and kind to us. I am so proud to have a husband who is such a good human being, who loves me so much, helps me in everything and is always there.
Thank you Bhagwanji for answering our prayers and blessing us with each other.
Next we have reader Saili's story of how she married Jagannath:
It all started in 1990 when he came to my house as a friend of my elder sister who was studying a course in computers. It was at first sight that I made up my mind that he would be my soul mate as he was my sapno ka raja.
After that day he used to come home every Sunday and spend a few hours but I never had the courage to speak to him worried about what he would think about me (as he came from a conservative family). He never had the slightest inkling
about my feelings for him and he hardly spoke with me. This went on for the next six years (him coming home every Sunday and me not telling himhow I felt), since I was even told by my elder sister about his family background and not to think about all these things.
I was a teacher in a school at the time and some of my colleagues came to know about my feelings towards him and started insisting that I should speak up.
Then on October 12, 1997 when my eldest sister (living around 30 kms away) was not keeping well, I was told by my parents to help her in the evenings. I could not go alone and so my elder sisters requested him to drop me off. He came in about 30 minutes to my house and then we started off at around 7 pm. We had been travelling for about 30 odd minutes when I gathered my strength and in a low voice said 'I like you'. He was still driving as if nothing had happened. Then two days later he again came to my eldest sister's place to pick me up and drop me back home. While travelling back he asked me what I had said the other day to which I replied, 'Nothing'. Then he just told me that we can be friends but he cannot marry me.
My inner feeling said, 'It's okay, at least we can be friends.' Days passed and on February 14, 1998 I again proposed saying 'I Love You' to which I received an affirmative answer. There was opposition from my family as well as his for this relationship (as I am from Tamil Nadu and he is from Orissa). His father strongly opposed our relationship and also threatened to kill himself if we went ahead with it.
However we continued and on January 17, 2000 we got married in the presence of my family and some of his friends. As the days passed and after the arrival of a baby boy, things finally settled down and today with two boys aged 10 and five we are happily married with the support from his family too.
Next Dr P Warrier shares his love story with his wife Rathi:
Ours is an arranged marriage that has lasted for the sweetest and happiest two decades now. I value the down to earth, practical approach, tinted with the best of common sense, that my Saggitarian partner has always adopted. This has always made for a fortuitous, happy mix with my head in the clouds, often idealistic sensibilities, typical of any Libran.
Let me rewind to the days in the last year of the 80s when our marriage had already been fixed. There was the traditional ceremony of formal 'seeing the bride' and we pride ourselves with the fact that we were able to make our own improvement to the ritual. The ceremony still stays fresh in our memories and we share many a hilarious
moment, reliving that simple but significant event in our lives.
After discussions between our gaurdians, I was asked to go upstairs and have a talk with the bride. When I went up I saw that she was dressed in a black sari and I asked her whether it was in protest aginst the bride seeing ceremony that she had dressed in black. That broke the ice between us and we were bale to talk about this and that and everything else without even the slightest of hesitation.
The talking and laughing and sharing still goes on, thank God! Yes, I can certainly say that arranged marriages can and do work beautifully well and that a sense of humour and the will to communicate can make any and all marriages work -- whether they be arranged or not!
Pankaj Sinha tells us how he met and married Sapna:
I am from Bihar but have been brought up in Chennai and Bangalore. I had done my MBA and was working for a BPO in Chennai during that time. I was more of a fun-loving guy and a little bit of a flirt. For fun, I had put my profile on a marriage site.
It was October 11, 2007 and I was sleeping as usual in day but suddenly my phone rang. I thought, it must be some customer service person from some banks and so I answered the call and started blasting away only to realise that it was someone else. I had got a call from a girl called Sapna from Delhi. She had seen my profile and was trying to contact me. I apologised for my mistake. She was very shocked. Sapna was working for a bank in Delhi but was from Kanpur. We spoke for five minutes. Sapna had initially rejected my profile because I was Bihari and was working in
Chennai. She also didn't like my photograph and working in a BPO was also not going down well. But she said
something made her call me.
After her call, I thought, let's have fun. I was going to Delhi after three weeks for a competition. I could meet her and go out with her and have some fun. I called her back. We started speaking for hours. We had nothing in common; our expectations were very different but I started feeling for her. Things that made me angry earlier were now making me smile. She was very bubbly; she enjoyed the small things in life. One night, we spoke for the night and I proposed to her in the morning. She immediately agreed. We told our family about this. We had resistance from both families. Her family had issues with me being Bihari and working in a BPO. My family had issues that she was not that good looking and also that it was a love relationship. But I insisted that we meet her family. Finally my parents sent my brother-in-law with me to meet her and her family in the Delhi. I won a lot of prizes in the competition in Delhi and when her parents came, they were impressed by that and also by me. That was first time I saw her and we promised each other that whatever happened, we would be each other's life partner.
My parents still were not convinced. Her family came to Chennai. But my parents and family were not happy, and Sapna's parents were not happy with my parents' reactions. They were afraid and were convincing Sapna against me. I had a dual battle to fight. But Sapna had complete faith in me. Finally, I had to emotionally blackmail my parents to convince them. It was not very good but I had to do it for my love. Our engagement happened in a couple of months and we got married after a year on February 26, 2009. During our courtship, I was jobless for couple of months due to recession but she completely supported me. After marriage, we have a lot of differences between us and have a lot of arguments but we still have a lot of sweet, tender and caring moments. We are both extremely romantic and short tempered. It is very nice combination. Over a year, we have understood that marriage is not only about love but a lot of understanding, caring and trust. In a couple of weeks, we are going to celebrate our first anniversary.
Next Rita shares her story:
I met my husband in the same office I worked, we were a group of youngsters at the time. He would take extra care and pay more attention to me. We started sharing our meals at office, then gradually the friendship grew. Then we settled down, though there were ups and downs with my inlaws. Today, we are blessed with a daughter, we are very close to each other, though the gaps are there from time to time, but he makes it a point of time to come closer to me always, despite of our work schedules.
He is planning to give me a Valentine's gift and this is my surprise for him.
'We are made for each other'
Next Kunkumini shares her love story with Sudipta:
It all started way back in 1997 when I was studying engineering in a college in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. He was studying in the same class as me and he was like any other normal small-town guy who had come to Bhubaneswar for higher studies. Though he was like any other guy, he had very beautiful and attractive eyes and every time I entered the class I had the feeling that he is staring at me which made me feel very conscious. I was always tempted to look back and whenever I looked back at him, he would be staring at me with a mischievous smile on his face. I used to wonder why he kept looking at me when we didn't even talk to each other!
In those days, I was suffering from severe health issues and one such incident happened when we had gone for our college picnic. While returning back from the picnic spot, I experienced severe breathing problems and had to be rushed to the nearby hospital immediately. Throughout that period, he was by my side and took great care of me although we didn't even know each other properly! I wasn't aware about all this as I was in an unconscious state and came to know about all this from my friends. I was really impressed and overwhelmed by this gesture of his and thanked him profusely. This was the first time I talked with him.
After this incident, we started interacting with each other regularly and became close friends. We used to discuss about our studies and other matters. His supportive and caring nature made me grow fonder of him, but our relationship was restricted to being close friends till then. He also used to visit my house frequently for study related matters and gradually he also became quite close to my family. He was good in mechanics and used to help me and my sister (who was one year junior to me). I had also started liking him by then but wasn't sure about his feelings.
Finally, one fine day he proposed to me and I said "Yes". When I asked why he used to stare at me in the class he confessed that he had developed a liking for me from the beginning! After that there was no looking back.
Since my parents had also developed a liking for him, they approved our relationship without any issues. However, he had still not discussed about this with his parents although they were aware about our friendship. The four years of our engineering course went off smoothly. During this period, we came to know each other more closely. I must say those four years have been the most wonderful and eventful years of my life!
We graduated in 2001 and as recession was at its peak in that year, life was really tough during that period. Finally in 2002 we both got jobs and then my parents started planning our marriage as I was the eldest daughter in the family. When my parents took my proposal to his parents, they were a bit skeptical as they did not want such an early marriage for their son. Though, his family (parents and sisters) knew me personally, they were not ready for marriage so soon. They wanted us to wait for some more years and my parents didn't agree to this because of which there was a lot of tension between our families. And amidst all this we (Sudipta and me) both were really depressed and confused about our future as we didn't want to do anything that would hurt our families.
Then, at last Sudipta took up the responsibility of convincing his family. He had to make great efforts to achieve this upheaval task of bridging the differences between both the families and by the grace of almighty (and my sweetheart's efforts), everything fell into place. And finally we became "man and wife" on January 27, 2004 with the blessings of our family and friends. We had a lavish wedding and reception and though I was a bit apprehensive about being accepted in his family post marriage, all my fears were put to rest coz his family welcomed me with open arms.
Post marriage life was not as smooth as we expected and it was more of a roller-coaster ride because we had to deal with professional and personal issues simultaneously. We also had to stay away from each other for a long period of time because of our jobs but the distance brought us more closer mentally and it actually acted as a catalyst in strengthening the emotional bonding between us.
Like all married couples, we also have our share of fights and arguments, but I can proudly say that our relationship has been growing stronger with each passing day. We have been married for six years now and have been blessed with a lovely daughter Suhani who is four years old. Recently, we celebrated our sixth anniversary in Goa and it was an amazing experience. After so many years of being together I can proudly say that I am truly lucky for having Sudipta as my life partner and can't thank god enough for his blessings!
Last but not least! I would like to wish my darling husband and my lovely daughter a very "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY". I would also like thank both our families for the love and support they have showered on us.
Archana shares how she met Srinivas:
To tell you our story would be like narrating a story of a typical masala movie with lots of twists and turns!
I had completed my Master's and was working in Melbourne, Australia while he works in Toronto. In 2006, I got a
proposal from him through one of the matrimonial sites. I saw the pic he had posted and rejected it. From then till 2008, no matter what, I could not seem to find a single eligible bachelor to say yes to. Then one day I got a call from my parents telling me about this guy who would call me. And he did, when I was at work and started telling me about himself. Frankly, I was fed up of meeting guys and had decided that marriage was not for me. I tried every which way to push him away -- mainly because after all this time, I could not believe that there was this honest, smart, good looking, decent, intelligent man who wanted to marry me. It seemed too good to be true!
But he was (and still is) a stubborn persistent man who had decided to get married to me and he told me all the dialogues that you would hear in the movies -- I love you, I will marry you even if my parents are against it, etc. My parents by then had liked him and wanted me to say yes. But I was still not convinced he was the one.
Without me realising it, I had actually started looking forward to his calls every day -- he would call me without fail every afternoon to talk to me. He would send me love notes and chat messages. I still was not ready to accept that I was falling for him and was ready to push him away. I went to India in July 2008 to meet his family. They told me they liked me.
Then I went to Malaysia for training for two weeks. During this time, we exchanged emails every day but could not talk on the phone. I was getting frustrated about it. On top of it, his family had not contacted my family to confirm the wedding. This angered my siblings who advised me to break it off. I decided enough was enough and told him so. He tried to convince me again and then told me that he wanted me to be happy no matter what. For some reason, this convinced me and that's when I decided that no matter what, I was not going to let him go! We patched things up and got married in November 2008. Mind you, we did not meet each other in person till one week before the wedding. But it all worked out.
Our troubles did not end there. I had to wait for a year to get my spouse visa to come to Canada. It has been the most difficult time of my life but I could not have asked for a more understanding, faithful and honest husband. All the dreams that I had woven when I was 15 have come true. And I feel that all this would not have been possible if God had not decided that we were 'Made for each other'.
And all I can say to young women out there is -- never assume that you will not get what you deserve. As long as you believe you are worth it, you will find a man who will treat you like his queen.
Next Ramya shares how she fell in love with Abhishek:
Well our love story, in true filmi fashion, started off with a fight. I was working in an IT company and had joined his project. He had to give me an assignment as part of the induction. I completed the assignment in record time and
went back to him to check if it was correct. Well, he was impressed and I was obviously happy till I heard those words "Not bad, you look dumb but you are actually smart". Well, I later came to know from him that he told me this just to
piss me off.
Well, after this he patched up with me. We went out for coffee, he started sending me "Love is" cartoons every day.
After three years of courtship I finally had Abhishek by my side.
Being an Aquarian, I'm not the kind that runs around screaming "I love you". But I really wanted to thank him for not imposing his ideas on me, being the perfect husband, putting up with my tantrums, giving me 50 different nicknames and for never having said "No" once to me in these three years.
Love you Abhishek!
Up next is Ayesha's love story:
The third of November, 2005 was the date when I first saw him. I was working as a customer sales rep in Dell International, Hyderabad and he was my manager. The first time we saw each other, cupid struck and we knew we were made for each other.
I was a Hindu and he was Muslim. And this was the only and biggest difference for others, but we were so in love that we never thought of it as an issue at all.
Everybody was sure that our relationship was not going to last for more than a week or a month. But it is said that jodis are made by God and today that's what I beleive.
Our families were dead against our marriage. Finally, I decided to elope with him. But,he is a little conservative and said we would definitely marry each other but with our parents' consent. He made the move to talk to my parents and to my surprise they agreed and so did his parents.
Finally we got married on March 10, 2007. Today, we are blessed with a 18-month-old baby and another on the way. My parents love my husband as a son and my in-laws (may their soul rest in peace) loved me too.
So, now I can say that LOVE is that magical world that can bring two different cultures, two different worlds together. I am very lucky to get Imti as my hubby. Happy Valentine's Day!
Sim shares her fairy tale love story with Ravi:
I used to see this handsome guy, who the world thinks is Shahrukh Khan's twin brother, drive by my house while I would be outside chatting with friends as we went for walks in our neighborhood. Soon I came to know he lived just a few houses down from us. My friend used to say he looked at me everytime we came across him. I had these bells ringing in my heart the first time I saw him. After trying hard, I managed to get his home phone number through the Colony Welfare Address Book. I called the number tried my luck and he answered.
Not knowing if it was really him on the other end of the line, I was a bit scared too. But to my sweet surprise, he gave me a few hints as if he knew I was calling him..From then on we spoke on the phone every day for one week and finally decided to meet. It was love at first sight!
We were madly in love. I was already in the process of moving to Canada and six months later I was gone far away from him. Slowly the long distance relationship had its problems and we broke up. But since "Rab ne bana di Jodi", no distance could change our love for each other and we met again after five years. I cried and asked him to accept me. He was upset about the way I had called it off five years ago. But after six months of careful thought, he decided that he needed me in his life as much as I needed him.
Today we are very happily married. We can't even dream of going away from each other and the distance of five years has definitely made our love stronger. God really made us for each other. I thank GOD for giving me such a loving husband.
For all the young couples out there, I wish them many happy and loving years together. There is no better feeling than being loved by the one whom you love the most. Sounds Bollywood-ish, doesn't it? True, but it's my story. Happy Valentines Day to you all.
Next Nishant shares his story:
I am getting married in June and mine is a wonderful story.
I had planned that I would not get married before 2010 but my parents were always looking for girls. I had lots of proposals and I was totally confused. One of my relatives then told my mother that there is a good girl that I should consider marrying. One day the girl's father came to my home and gave us the proposal. My father had a long talk with him and my father told them that we would let him know.
After they left I looked into envelope that had photos of the girl. When I saw them I could not believe my eyes. She was my classmate from Class II to VII. She was pretty during back then too. I was shocked and asked my mother to check her name in the biodata. Was it Jyoti? She said yes.
My parents also liked Jyoti's photograph. We then met after that in Delhi. We had lot to talk about sicne we hadn't met since school and couldn't have dreamt of meeting like this. It is an awesome feeling that I can't express. I have been in London for the last three months and I'm waiting to go back.
My marrige was fixed in August and then I came to London. I am waiting for the day when we will get married.
'He was my Christmas gift'
Here Ashwini shares her love story with Pramith:
We had just finished our dance programme where I had performed Classical Dance and he had performed for a Bollywood song. We both were unknown to each other. A common friend had organised Secret Santa -- a game of gifts to all dancers in Logica (the company where we worked together). After 5-6 rejections, I picked a chit where I
found his name as my secret child and me his Secret Santa. I had not even seen who Pramith was.
On December 20, 2006 I rushed to the company portal to find out who he was. I did not even have a clue that I had met my soulmate. The game went on for 10 days where I gave load of gifts to him secretly. I spoke to him calling from different numbers. Sang songs to him. Finally on January 1, 2007, it was revealed that I was his Secret Santa. We did
not have a clue that day as well that we would share our lives together.
As we were working in same company, we met often. We walked together in the lobby, had breakfast, lunch and dinner together. After some days it was as if only the two of us existed on earth and nobody else. That's when I realised that I had fallen in love with him. But the sad part was that he considered me his best friend. Finally on February
14, 2007, on a hill top on the outskirts of Bangalore, I expressed my feelings to be with him. And the first thing he told was, "Thanks Ashu, you said it. I tried my best to get the courage to say it but I could not." With a bear hug and shower of smiles, we returned home. We enjoyed being in love for a year but when marriage came up, we had to
part ways due to many reasons.
But our marriage was already set in the heavens I guess. Inspite of all the breaks and break-ups, we again came together in October 2007. He convinced his family and my family as well. Finally we got married on March 27,2008 in Bangalore amidst all Vedic prayers, parents' blessings, grandparents' best wishes and lovely friends. It all seems so magical for us now. I thought I was his Secret Santa but he came as my Christmas gift.
Next Alka shares how she met her husband Ajay:
I got married in 2006. I am originally from a small town called Seoni in Madhya Pradesh.
It was around October 2005, when I met my husband, at my cousin's wedding. He was my cousin's friend, so he naturally had to be there.
I was in the ladies room, gettting dressed and touching up my make-up, when we suddenly heard a loud scream. Since I was half dressed and doing my make-up, I got worried and smsed one of my friends regarding the scream. She replied asking me not to worry about it.
Later when I went out, I realised this was a plot by my cousin's friends to get hold of his shoes. I, am a introvert by nature and remained unpertuped by the chaos that took place. Ajay saw me and tried talking to me, but I showed little interest as I was more interested in adjusting my dress, setting my hair, etc. After a while, he got up & went to his group of friends. A lot of people who saw us together started teasing me but I shot them an 'I dont care and don't you dare' look, which made them shut up. Later, as planned we were supposed to dance in pairs and I was looking for my
partner (this had been decided much before the wedding), one of my cousin's friend, whom I knew much more than I knew Ajay.
We were supposed to dance on "tauba tumhare yeh ishaare" from the movie Chalte Chalte. However, when I went on stage, I was shocked to see Ajay instead of my partner. However there were more than 100 people watching us, so I had to quickly regain my composure.
Just then, the music started and I started dancing on the steps that I had rehearsed and to my shock, I saw my husband matching my steps very confidently.
Later after the performance was over, we were given a tremendous applause by everyone in the crowd. As everyone was applauding, I saw Ajay on his knees with a red rose in his hand. I blushed and accepted the rose.
Later on, I came to know that my cousin's friend had backed out of the dance because Ajay wanted to dance with me. Initially, I was very shocked but then I took it sportingly.
We had a courtship of around 8 months, before we got engaged on July 12, 2006 and got married on August 14, 2006.
He is the best man I have ever met and each day I discover more about him and fall in love with him even more. As for him, he says, he fell in love with me the very moment he saw me.
Chandra shares her love story with Padmanabh:
I was 23 years old when my dad asked me about my marriage plans. At the first moment I refused and he thought I was in love with some guy. But my mom who trusts me confirmed to him there was nothing like that.
It was dinner time when our telephone rang. I took the phone, an old lady asked if she could talk to Mr Iyer (my dad), in return I asked who she was and that's where my life changed. She said she was calling from Nerul and wanted to confirm that my son's horoscope matched with his daughter's. I gave the phone to my mom. They had their conversation.
After few days later my mom spoke to the same old lady again. She then called me and said that I needed to apply for a holiday because the boy and his family was coming to see me. My dreams were shattered and life was looking like hell.
It was Friday and every one was excited, as the preparations were made. I was asked to dress up in a sari and look my best.
A call from them saying they had reached made my 60-year-old dad ran down as if he was 20 along with my sister. She came running back saying 'He looks good yaar'. I was speechless. Suddenly I could see a young and old lady entering my room looking at me as if I was on exhibition.
I was asked to go to the living room. I just stepped out but couldn't see the devil (that's what I called him at that moment in my heart). He came up and we greeted each other. We were allowed to have some personal talks (which I never wanted). I was as diplomatic as I could be so that he rejected me.
All of a sudden, I was asked to give my decision but I asked for 24 hrs to talk with my parents. My mom said that if I liked him I should say so. But I was strong enough to stick with my decision. And the devil went away with his family.
Just before bedtime, my mom asked me about my decision, I said she should do what she felt was right and she declared that she had accepted the marriage proposal for me.
I got engaged with him and on October 27, 2005 I got married. The devil became my life and now the devil is my best friend and a wonderful husband. Life would be nothing without him.
Gokul tells his story:
It was in 2007 when I was working in Bangalore and I was desperate to return back to Mumbai as actually I belonged to Mumbai. And surprisingly I got an offer from Mumbai and shifted in month of November. Beginning some days of my work was really hectic as there was huge traveling involved. I use to take bus to travel to my workplace.
One fine day when I was standing in queue for getting in bus I heard one sweet voice from behind asking me the time. When I turned around I saw very sweet and cute girl and then I started seeing her everyday on the same bus stop and I got some kind of curiosity to know her. One day when we were in queue and got into the bus I got the seat and she was looking for one and I felt like god smiling at me as she sat just aside me. She was holding a book on bio-technology book and somehow I started a conversation with her on the same topic. After that we became friends and
we started meeting daily at the same bus stop. I still think about those wonderful days and they were the best days of my life.
One day I proposed to her and she said yes after two weeks on February 11. February 14, 2008 was our first Valentine's Day together. After two years we are still together and still very much in love and planning to get married in the coming year. She is the most beautiful person in my life and she made my life beautiful. I love her a lot and still think about those days when we first met on bus stop.
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