Covid love story

They met in the month of February and developed an instant likeness for each other. Actually, their meeting was incidental. He was waiting for the bus, while she was on her two wheeler, which seemed to have had a flat tyre. In a place like Mumbai, where everyone is in a hurry to reach his or her destination, chivalry is rare, but he was chivalrous by nature and he helped her change the tyre. In turn, she offered to drop him to the nearest station, which is also rare in Mumbai where pay back gift is at the most a polite “Thankyou”. Of course, he didn’t accept the offer but came to know the name of the company she worked in. He found the board number of her company and gave her a courtesy call the next day to check whether she had reached home without any further ado. She was really smitten by this kind hearted Samaritan and they decided to meet one of the days post office hours. However, this meeting was not to be as in a few days time the nation was under completely lockdown in view of the Covid pandemic. Luckily, as they had exchanged numbers, they could call each other up and have conversations. Their conversations changed from impersonal to personal and they had started planning for their future. She largely liked his background, job and demeanour and he of course was totally smitten by her.

However, this story was not to have a happy ending. Girl’s parents received a very good match for her from a Dubai based boy of the same community, in fact a boy from the neighbourhood, who had come to Mumbai on a short break, but had got stuck up in lockdown. Now that flights had resumed, his parents didn’t want him to go back alone, but get married and take his bride along! Boy had seen the girl and had generally liked her. The prospects of a simple, no fuss, no expense marriage on an immediate basis suited girls parents eminently as they had 3 daughters all marriageable and marriage of at least one and that too to an overseas boy in a simple fashion was too good to be true. She also couldn’t say no, seeing her parents’ delight and dim prospects of furthering her relationship with that stranger, whom she had net only once, though dreamt of living lifelong with him!

When she informed the boy of her immediate marriage and repatriation to overseas, the boy was crestfallen! But being a true chivalrous, he ………

There are two options to end this story – (1) the boy asked the girl to escape, meet him and elope with him by marrying in a temple or (2) the boy hanged himself to death.

Actually he did nothing. He took it in his stride, wished her a happy married life and moved ahead, waiting for the pandemic to end!

If a non story teller like me can fabricate a quick story in Covid background, no wonder that Bollywood producers are lining up registering names and rushing to make movies with Covid background. The above story has also another dimension for the boy who had come from Dubai. He got stuck up here but went back with a bride and that too of his choice.

Covid is a pandemic

But it can be an opportunity too

There’s so much to learn from it

And so much to do !