It Started With Cycling, Now They're Married: Indore Couple's Roller Coaster Love Story in Times of Pandemic

They met, they spoke, they fell in love, and lived happily after. The love story of Virendra Pratap Singh and Meenakshi Singh Baghel of Indore is not an unusual one. However, the timing made all the difference. Their love story bloomed in the middle of a global pandemic as the world was under lockdown. For Virendra and Meenakshi, it all started with a cycling ritual.

Back in March, last year, the dystopian world took over our lives. Cooped in our homes, we looked at the world helplessly as the virus brought everything to a screeching halt. No friends, no hangouts, no life that reminded us of normal days.

Hope glimmered when the lockdown was eased in India around July. And that is when Virendra, like many others, decided to go out cycling. Times may have been tough, but this cycling routine was the beginning for Singh as he met his future wife there.

Virendra recently took to Twitter with the viral social media trend "How it started vs How it is Going". He shared a screenshot of the chat where the two were coordinating for their cycle meet. The next photo is from their wedding.

Virendra would often see Meenakshi cycling as the two lived in the same locality. Glances, turned into smiles and smiles grew into small chats. "One day, I saw her again and I talked to her. It was just a random casual chat," says Virendra. The two shared numbers and would go for their cycling together.

"I have always believed that to understand someone you might need a lifetime or just a glance is enough," says Virendra. "Everytime we cycled together, and she looked at me smiling, I knew she was the one," he says.

Once he realised his feelings for Meenakshi, Virendra spoke to her. Initially, she was skeptical, he says. "She is one of those people who keep walls around the. So it was tough. But it was worth it," he says as he speaks about how he convinced her to get married finally.

What started as a random smile between two strangers finally culminated into marriage and now the couple is on their honeymoon.

Virendra and Meenakshi's story is one for the history books. Love will find its way, stories like this remind us.