Backpacker lovebirds...

Love in its truest forms can be found even in the little hopes that we hold. Here I present an excerpt from my life – a glimpse of my safe haven – a tale of two lost souls.

By the end of 2017, I realised that I had had enough with relationships that lead nowhere – with men (really just boys) who yet had to figure themselves out. I had shifted the focus on myself – my love for black and white photography, reading an awful amount of books and manga, and writing short stories.

My social media blackened with little spaces of whites started getting attention for possible collaborations. Among them, one person, Saad, somehow stood out with a similar series of colours.

One morning, out of the blue, Saad (then just some guy I was following on Instagram) asked if he could use some of my pictures for his blog. Later that same day, around noon, I made my way to Mohakhali to meet a friend. And that is where I saw him – standing in a crowd of known faces. Was it a coincidence or our perfect timing – I will never know.

We became friends and did the only thing we knew best – travel. Our hometown being the same, we took a bus and toured Kurigram, Rangpur, and then made our way to as many temples we could visit in Dinajpur. The journey was spent talking about the skeletons in our closet and me literally dreaming about him.

During our trip to the north of Bangladesh, we talked about almost everything and found out that we both wanted to be as independent as possible which included moving out of our parents'. We decided to do it together – get a place of our own. Neither one of us had no idea how we were falling for one another.

I thought that I finally found my "travel buddy". But as we reached Dhaka, gloom fell upon me. I did not want the journey to end. In a few days, Saad managed to lure me in with gajorer halua.
I had discovered the best halua made by his mother – who took the cat out of the bag asking him if I was the girl he was talking about. My now mother-in-law pretty much proposed to me on behalf of her son.

And I said yes! Turns out she was actually joking. But this revelation had opened new doors to our future. "Only fools rush in," and here we were two fools glorifying each other's existence. 

We synced, clicked, and the universe felt right. Saad and I devised a year-long plan: work, save and get a house. We did it all – fought, cried, made-up; dealt with anxiety, uncertainties, societal pressure, and we did it together.

Age does not matter, others' opinions are insignificant, and it does not have to be the "right" time if you are living your life's excerpts with someone who is as human as you.