Alka Rath and Rohith Srivastava

"I am a Josephite and he is a Stewartonian. 2005 batch. When I was in the 10th standard, I had heard a lot about him. Almost everyone used to talk about this guy called ‘Rohit Srivastava- the house captain’. I had never met or talked with him. But somewhere, I had this feeling that I have to meet this guy about whom the birds kept chirping. Coincidentally, we joined the same college, Stewart Science college. However, our first meeting is not quite reflective of our current bond, because he had a girlfriend then. I had a hard crush on him right from our first day, which in turn made me drop ample hints for him to know my feelings. Eventually, he came to know about them and he, being a big-time ‘phulei’, continued consuming all the attention that I was giving him. By this time, he had moved on from his then relationship. We became good friends and hanged out numerous times, as friends.

Then came the time, when we had this huge fight. The fight created a gap between us. I moved to Bhubaneswar to pursue my MBBS and he went down south for his Engineering. For one complete year, we hadn't been on talking terms. 

19th December 2008- it was my birthday that day when I got a call from him. I was so ecstatic and happy and I was surprised he remembered my birthday. Turned out, he had called me out of the blue, completely unaware of the occasion. That one random call led us back to talking with each other. He started sending me these cheesy messages. His proposal, however, was very unique. He sent me this message on 24th December in which a boy asks a girl for her picture and when the girl asks why, he replies, 'I need the picture to show Santa what I want for Christmas.' The next day was the 25th of December. I genuinely asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he replied, 'You.' 

He could have called me on ANY day, except the 19th but, when two people are destined to be together, fate works out in their favour anyway. This makes us believe in destiny.

We were in a long distance relationship the entire time; we had those hidden phones (that our families had no idea about) and we used to recharge 501 rupees unlimited pack, just to talk to each other. 

One day, he started narrating this childhood event of his. In the year 1993, when he was in nursery, he had won the “Little Prince Charming Cuttack” award. He was given a bone China shoe, a sash and a crown. The lady-in-charge asked him to go find his “Princess” one day. In the crowd, he saw a girl, dressed as the "Little Cinderella" and holding the other shoe of the pair. Right now, Mr. Srivastava is married to his “Princess”. Yeah, it was us who were the winners of that event.

Moreover, this contest was held in December, 1993. We discovered this after 2 years of our relationship. This is how fairytales also worked their magic, when it came to us. Even, our families found it impossible to believe. All in all, we had a smooth ride. Our families were very embracing of us.

We got married in December, 2014 (which, by the way, he still forgets). December is our Happy Month. We are going strong up till now and we believe we will make it to the end, hand in hand.”

 – Alka Rath (The better Storyteller among the two of us)