Love in the time of lockdown

BENGALURU: Monika Raghavan gets ready in the evenings, puts on her best outfit, dabs her favourite perfume and applies make-up; she is all set for her date. She is not stepping out anywhere given the lockdown, but is seeing a beau based in New York City through Tinder. No, it’s not a new date. She’s been chatting with him for several days and they have decided to sit facing each other every weekend to make it feel like the real date. Says Monika, a 28-year-old marketing professional, “The solitude, though it has been just a few days, has given me time to delve deep inside myself.

Away from the din of traffic and office routine I am getting to understand what I want from my life, what I expect from a certain relationship.” She’s already making plans for a trip with her love interest once the notice for the lockdown to get over is issued.

On the other hand, those who have already been dating and have found their love interests online are preparing to take it to a different level. It’s not just the emotional bond that they are trying to cement. For some, it’s related to physical and mental health as well. Shankar, a 26-year-old entrepreneur living in a gated community at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad jogs holding his phone right in front of him. He logs in to Bumble, a face appears and it’s for Lalita, his love interest, a lawyer who lives in Bengaluru.

Informs Shankar, “We both decided to spend this quarantine time with each other via Facetime. We do yoga together face to face. We even follow a guided meditation.” Few have gone a step ahead for their partners. Sumit Mehrotra from Kanpur has been living in Hyderabad for the past five years.

He found his girlfriend through OkCupid and now both of them are helping each other in spiritual growth, not just by sharing the screenshots of spiritual e-books, but also dissecting the same through discussions. He says, “I am thankful that we got this solitude time. We wouldn’t have matured spiritually had we not got this time. Can’t wait for a beautiful time ahead with her when the state borders open and I can fly to her city.”