Love on lonely hills, crowded trains

MUMBAI: City couple Sameera Khan and Manesh Patel Mumbai couple found each other on a trek to the Valley of Flowers in Uttaranchal. Khan, a Muslim non-vegetarian and journalist, could have never expected to bump into Patel, a Hindu vegetarian and an MBA, among the thousands of people in the city. Both went as solo trekkers. At one point, when Khan was having difficulty climbing, Patel hung back to help her.Then things happened and they married.
They are among several Mumbaikars who have found love while trekking. There is a growing number of lonely hearts who go on treks with the hope of finding love, having failed to find it on the plains. There are other methods, more exhilarating than the dullness of virtual chat-rooms, that young people employ. They sign up for French or computer class, join gymnasiums or volunteer for the church choir.
A young Alliance Francaise teacher fell for one of her students from her first batch and got married. Youngsters at Gold's Gym hang around trainers, asking for the number and schedule of interesting persons. Girls hope to find decent men in theatre groups who can cry and laugh and deliver lines. Actor Vipul Sharma has seen it happen many times. "There's this place called backstage where couples get together. When waiting to go on stage, there's a lot of time in between when actors get to know each other in the dark."
Sharma waited for a late night on a train to Bangalore to put the moves on his leading lady in Othello. On the way to a special performance at the Black Stage Theatre, Aarti Sangini and Sharma whispered to each other near the heavy metal door of the compartment as the orchestra of snoring passengers played in the background.
Temples in Mumbai continue to be fertile places for new love to bloom. With bells clanging and the blessings of the lord, a well-turned-out young man in deep concentration can ignite the loveliest feelings in a girl who has just finished praying for luck in matters of the heart. Church choirs, too, have proved to be a successful hunting ground for the young. The Stop Gaps choral ensemble in Mumbai is known not only for its singing prowess but also its love stories and is now known as Stop Gaps romances. Somewhere in the middle of rigorous practice sessions, annual parties, overseas performances and stretched vocal cords, Catholic, Hindu and Parsi members hear that wretched drum called heartbeat.
Relationships are forged at the most crowded of places. Hundreds of boys and girls eye familiar figures every day on the train and, sometimes, find the courage or the fortune to talk. An IT professional had his heart set on a girl who would wait on the same platform. One day, when the train was late, they got talking and, in time, love struck.
The rock show is another destination of anxious seekers. In black tees, with long hair, tattoos and piercings, boys keep an eye out for pretty girls. In between puffs, and from the corner of their eye, they try to ascertain if the target is suitably unaccompanied. They then say something funny or berate the person on stage and look at the girl for her reaction. One boy, who met a girl through a common friend, kept stroking her hair through the concert and she didn't seem to mind. At the end of the show, he asked her out. She agreed immediately because she "liked the way he stroked my hair".
Persistent young men are known to have scored at the bus stop by silently seeing off their prospects on their way to work and then waiting to receive them, again in silent anticipation, in the evening. Some have invested time by regularly following the object of their desire to the vegetable market, picking up the same greens as her, leading to helpless giggles which, we all know, is an encouragement.