12,328km closer

Story By:-Ayushi Parekh,21

I and my partner are in a continuous and joyous long-distance relationship from the past 3 and a half years. That is 1277 days of laughter, anger, tears, smiles, and virtual kisses. We are as normal as any other couple but this eagerness for waiting and meeting each other holds us and our journey goes on and on.

Before lockdown our scenario was like when I woke up he was about to sleep and when he woke up I would be busy in my college work. In India, if it’s summer then it’s raining at his place, or if I called him he would be mostly caught up with his office work so the call went unanswered. It was hard as we did not have time for doing many activities together. 

Our routine has been different since these 3 years and one day we all got cautious and were locked up in our houses working from home or improving our hobbies.

"We both were tired of watching each other in rectangles".

This lockdown affected everyone all over the globe, but we felt 12,328km closer to each other. We didn’t plan anything or any activity which we could have done together. It all started by waking up and calling each other and having long talks on various topics like movies, memories, imagining our future, discussing our fights, or just simply talking about how our day was and continued with our work later on. We felt like we were sitting together and chatting. In all this, I thought to be a little bit healthy and started exercising in the evening. As his gym was closed and it was his morning he also joined me and we started exercising regularly via video call. Our exercise routines were different but we did planks together facing each other.

"We were together by not being together".

We started having late night dates, in which we both would prepare the same food as our favorite food is maggi or pasta. As he is a fast eater, he would finish his plate but just sit and talk to me while I complete my food. I started writing more and more and he always read the articles and gave me feedback. For us online Ludo was like playing sports together. We both went out to pick up groceries but as soon as the other one came back home, instructions were poured as washing the vegetables in water using soda, taking a bath, and drinking hot ginger water.

All this is still going on and we love this. It’s like a comforter for us.

So, O lockdown yes you are protecting us from so-called international villains (coronavirus) right now but you sure pulled many relationships closer, whether they are seven seas away.