By Shireen Jamooji

After COVID-19 hit, Wasim, a business consultant, moved back to his hometown of Dibrugarh, in the northeastern Indian state of Assam in June 2020. It was then that he downloaded Bumble. “Not having too many people to meet and talk to in my hometown, I felt like exploring Bumble would allow me to speak with different people,” he says. “But I never seriously considered that I could meet the love of my life online.” Yasmin, a project manager also from Assam, didn’t have high hopes of finding the meaningful relationship she wanted on a dating app either. But she was open to some interesting conversations to pass the time, so she began swiping on Bumble as well.

Once Yasmin came across Wasim’s profile she noticed they had a lot of common interests: “Mountains, similar taste in indie and rock music, and growing up in Assam,” she lists. But one picture sealed the deal: “He was wearing a blue jacket in the mountains with a big bright smile on his face,” she says. He also clocked their similar music tastes, but her pictures intrigued him the most. “Each photo showed a different side of her,” he says. “In one she seemed like an outgoing party girl wearing funky shades, while another picture showed her in an elegant saree.”

When they matched, Yasmin was struggling to think of a good opening line, so she used Bumble’s Question Game, which provides a prompt for you and your match to answer. She sent him the question, ‘Guess my favourite music.’ Though he didn’t guess correctly, her opener did the trick, and they began chatting more about music. Stuck at home, they soon got into the habit of speaking for hours. They’d send each other a new song to listen to daily and play 21 questions to get to know each other better. 

Due to pandemic restrictions, a month and a half passed before they finally got a chance to meet. They lived almost three hours apart but for their first meeting they planned to take a long drive together so they didn’t have to risk venturing into any public places. “We didn’t plan it as a date, though,” says Yasmin. “We just wanted to meet—no expectations.” The month of conversations meant that they already knew a lot about each other, which made them more comfortable, but it was a different experience to meet in person. “I already got a vibe of what Yasmin is like as a person by talking to her,” says Wasim, “but seeing her for the very first time also made me realize how amazingly pretty she is in real life.” Towards the end of the day, Yasmin had a question for Wasim. “Everything felt so perfect that I just wanted to be closer to him, so I just asked, ‘Can I hold your hand?,’” she says. “That moment we knew we were definitely seeing each other again.”

Coasting on the rush of that first six-hour date, they went home but stayed up all night on the phone before meeting each other again at the crack of dawn the next day. “Even though we’re adults, we felt young,” says Wasim. “I snuck out of the house without telling my parents and felt very adventurous!” They met the day after that as well, making their first date a three-day-long adventure.

While Yasmin and Wasim both lived in Assam, they didn’t live close to one another. The distance became a hurdle they had to clear, and due to their work schedules, they couldn’t meet again for almost a month. They took to visiting a small resort midway between their homes as their regular date spot, and on their fourth meeting, Wasim had a surprise planned for her. “I bought a tiny cake, blew up nearly 40 balloons, and put two notes on the cake,” he says. “One said, ‘Will you do me the honour,’ and the second said, ‘of being my girlfriend?’” Overwhelmed but ecstatic, Yasmin accepted immediately, “It was so perfect and so magical that I could do nothing but cry like a baby!” she says.

The more they dated, the more they realised how different they are. While Yasmin had a tendency to be led by emotions, Wasim approached every situation with logic. But instead of letting that push them apart, they made it their strength. “Yasmin is spontaneous,” says Wasim. “I like to plan. Yasmin runs late while I’m punctual. Yasmin is a little hot-headed, and I’m the one calming her. But we aren’t planning to change these things. They’re how we complement each other.” 

Their work often took them to different cities—Yasmin to Bangalore, and Wasim to Delhi—making meeting regularly even more of a challenge. They managed to make long-distance work by always being honest about their insecurities and reassuring one another. In February 2022, just about a year and a half after their first date, they both knew they didn’t want to be apart any longer. 

For the Valentine’s Day weekend, they planned a trip with friends to a campsite in Arunachal Pradesh, a famously mountainous, forest-covered state bordering Assam. In secret and unbeknownst to each other, they had both been conspiring with the same friend to plan a proposal on Valentine’s Day—leaving their friend with the dilemma of whose proposal to plan first. In the end, Wasim beat Yasmin to it, proposing on the night of February 13th instead. “I can’t believe he hijacked my proposal!” laughs Yasmin. “I couldn’t wait any longer,” he says. “We were there, the moment was there, and the place was amazing. I couldn’t risk letting it pass by.” Echoing the day he had first asked her to be his girlfriend, he decorated the trunk of his car with fairy lights and golden balloons that spelled out, ‘Will you marry me?’

The couple is busy planning a winter wedding for December 2022. They’re also trying to find a home in Delhi so they can finally live together. “I can’t wait to have a life together,” says Wasim. Communication and friendship are the foundation of their future. Wasim believes Yasmin has made him a better person, not simply in their relationship, but in every way, and says, “I feel amazed to be loved so much by her.” Yasmin also feels fortunate to have found Wasim: “He’s the best human being I’ve ever met.”