Love Capsule: My husband and I are stuck in far-away countries due to coronavirus

Next time I see my husband, I’m going to take back my words immediately. “I wish we could experiment with more privacy.” A 4-month long privacy of being in different countries is not at all what I wanted. Yet, that is what I got. We all know that the coronavirus has induced the dreadful pandemic that has got us all locked in our homes.

Amidst all this chaos, somehow my husband and I ended up being apart for almost 4 months, the longest we have ever been. Earlier, when I was at my mother’s place and Rahul was in Delhi, we freaked out at the end of three weeks, because we couldn't handle staying apart more than that. But who knew, God was trying to test our patience in such a devastating way.

Just before the lockdown was initiated in India, I travelled to Japan with my work colleagues for the current project we were working on. Rahul had already left the week before for Canada where he had to attend a seminar. We both were ambitious and loved to grab any opportunity presented to us.

But when we were instructed that no one could leave their current residence at least for a month, Rahul and I were absolutely mortified. He had got the news from his seniors first. But, he didn’t have the heart to tell it to me first. At first, it seemed like our entire world was crashing down upon us. We hardly spent two weeks without each other, and now an uncertainty loomed over us. We were in the live-action of ‘Cast Away’, only in the modern world.
Both of us started making rules of getting enough time to talk to each other over the time being. The time difference between us was vast. I was 14 hours ahead of Rahul! Nothing seemed to go right. He had been to Canada once before, so he had been familiar with the place a little bit more. But for me? I knew nothing of Japan. My boss just had to suddenly decide to send me on this project. Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled to grab any chance of success, but this one, in particular, irked me.
We both began texting all the time. It felt as if we were back to our college time again, chatting day and night to talk to each other. Somehow, in the flow of life, we left behind our smartphones and always used to concentrate on our work, rather than texting each other to ask if the lunch was alright or not. After all, Rahul and I were never the cheesy couple. Even after 5 years of being married, we never felt the need to be extraordinarily in love. We never had to keep up with each other’s expectations. We just existed as each other’s soulmates and an unspoken bond of love always knitted us strongly.

We started talking on calls and texts again, asking each other whether the food was nice or the current residence was good enough. We were stuck inevitably, we knew it and we could do nothing about it. It took us time to accept the honest fact, but we eventually did. Communication lay astray sometimes, but we always found our way back to each other. We had fights over calls but hurriedly did everything to make each other happy again. After all, the risk of losing each other was way too much. It didn’t matter that we were married; we were never a conventional couple. We were afraid to lose each other, beyond repair.

But, as each month went by, we came into terms with the situation in a better way. Believing that we are all chess pieces on God’s square, there’s always a win-win situation. Everything will get better. We just had to trust ourselves and the bond we shared. Believing each other and acting according to the situation was a huge life lesson that we etched onto our minds, during this time. At first, we were scared to be apart for at least two weeks, and now it’s been months.

But, as we all know and believe, the sun is going to shine again. I finally had the green signal to go back to India and Rahul has also been granted permission to come back. We both didn’t try to fasten the process before, because we were scared of contracting the virus and putting our loved ones in danger. But now, as things are slightly proceeding towards normal, we decided to take the step to travel. The entire time has been one hell of a journey. Now that we are at the end of it, I am a little bit satisfied because, during this time, we learnt to grow and survive individually, making us stronger. We also realised each other’s importance way more than before.

By the end of this week, I’m going to be in Rahul’s arms again! Oh, what joy!

Source: indiatimes.com