Love against all odds! -Sulva Panda

“Being a popular school kid, I had never faced any major issues in life. I did well in academics and had everything I needed. I was three when I first watched ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, and had believed in love at first sight ever since. In the nineth grade, I thought I had found “the prince charming” of my life. But, eventually, things worsened and I walked out of the relationship.

I was 16 when this guy with his noisy group near the staircase caught my attention, as I walked past them. ’What kind of a guy...huh!’ was my first thought. Our paths crossed often, but my opinion about him never changed. Though we had mutual friends, we never spoke to each other but, I’d often catch him looking at me in the school. One day, our friends were busy and couldn’t walk back home with us so it was us alone for the first time. He didn’t have the courtesy to greet me, but offered me a chewing gum. We conversed and exchanged our numbers. He texted that very day and after conversing, I realized that he was already aware of almost all my likes and dislikes without me telling him.

He proposed to me and after eight days, I said a ‘yes’ and we started dating. His way of taking care and being concerned literally left me blushing. On our farewell, we exchanged glances filled with hope and breaking up was put out of question. We both dropped a year to prepare for medical examinations and evolved into a much better duo. Belonging to a typical Odia family, dating was hard. With restrictions, there was a lot of chaos in the family; we weren’t allowed to meet each other. I couldn’t clear my medical entrance exams. I slipped into depression and required medical attention. We had turned total strangers. My parents understood my mental state and tried to communicate with me in a friendly manner; my friends made me believe that ‘if it is meant to be, it’ll be!’

After eight long months, we met, both broken. Gradually, we started talking and realised we were unable to move on, so we got back together. Today we’re 23 and when we look back, we laugh at the 16 y/o selves. Out of all the filmy love-stories, ours is my favourite and our love would be an inspiration for my children.” – Sulva Panda