A Love Beyond Words

As I sat on my balcony, sipping coffee and letting the evergreen tunes from my ‘Saregama Carvaan’ fill the air, a sudden memory washed over me. It was as if a scene from my life replayed itself—a quiet, beautiful outburst of emotions I hadn’t revisited in a while.

It was a different time back then. Valentine’s Day wasn’t the grand celebration it is today. Expressing love publicly or taking someone out on a date was far from easy. Yet, love existed—pure, simple, and unspoken.

I was just 22 when I got married, barely understanding the concept of love. The man I married was a stranger to me. “Can love even grow like this?” I had wondered. But I trusted the unknown and took the leap. It wasn’t the love story I had dreamed of, but it became something even more special.

After our wedding, we moved to Bangalore. He had his job, and I took care of the house. His family was large and lively, quite different from the quiet home I grew up in. Initially, I felt out of place, but they embraced me as one of their own.

Despite the chaos of our new life, my husband always carved out little moments for us. He would smile and say, “Come, let’s go for a walk.” Those walks turned into our private escapes where we could talk, laugh, and simply be.

It was in the small gestures that love blossomed. Making his favorite dish and seeing his silent appreciation in the form of a soft smile. Holding hands under the table during a family dinner. Sneaking out to catch a late-night movie, just the two of us. He wasn’t a man of many words, but his actions spoke volumes.

One day, after a long work trip, he surprised me with a small rose. “I thought of you,” he said simply, placing it in my hands. My heart skipped a beat. Those little moments of love never needed grand declarations.

Even anniversaries were simple yet special. I would wear his favorite saree, add a string of fragrant gajra to my hair, and watch his eyes light up with joy. That was our celebration—no elaborate dinners or gifts, just a shared glance that said everything.

We never needed Valentine’s Day to express our feelings. “I love you,” wasn’t something we said often, but we lived it every day.

Today, saying “I love you” is easy—it rolls off the tongue and is forgotten just as quickly. People wait for Valentine’s Day to show love, but I wonder: does love need a day? Or is it in the quiet moments of understanding, trust, and care that it truly exists?

I look at him now, this man who was once a stranger and is now my closest friend, my perfect partner. He can read my thoughts with just a glance. “You’re thinking about the old days, aren’t you?” he asks, catching my eye from across the room.

I smile and nod. “Yes, and I’m grateful for every one of them.”

Because in a world that now shouts about love, we lived ours in the quietest, yet most profound way.