How It All Began
First Meeting
We saw each other every day — same office, same corridors, same familiar rhythm of a shared workplace. He was my mentor, and that was all he was supposed to be. His smile wasn't directed at anyone in particular; it belonged to the room, to whoever needed it. Yet somewhere between the routine of daily meetings and the ordinary hum of office life, I began to notice him — not suddenly, but slowly, the way morning light fills a room before you think to look. Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be. There was just that quiet awareness, a feeling that something was different, without either of us knowing quite what it was yet.
The Spark
It was his housewarming — a home filled with warmth, with people, with the easy joy of new beginnings. I stepped through the door and there he was, in maroon and gold, sandalwood on his forehead, moving through the celebration like he belonged to it completely. Something shifted inside me — quiet, unbidden, undeniable. It wasn't the occasion or the atmosphere. It was simply him, seen differently for the first time, in his own space, in his own light. We were surrounded by everyone, yet that moment felt strangely personal — like something that happened only between the two of us, even if neither of us could name it then.
The Unspoken Promise
Tenkasi brought with it a softer kind of time and a temple visit to Kasi Vishwanathar that neither of us had planned to mean anything. But standing together beneath those ancient skies, in the hush of incense and stone and something far older than words, the air between us changed. No question was asked. No answer was given. And yet, everything was understood. It was just a look — the kind that holds more than a conversation ever could. An inner knowing that settled gently, like a blessing neither of us had asked for but both of us received. In that sacred stillness, without a word, we both knew — this was the beginning of us. ❤️