He loves her unpredictability. She loves him for the genuine person he is. Spend a couple of minutes with squash champ Saurav Ghosal and girlfriend Sneha Ghosh, a model, and you feel the real ease they share. That’s perhaps the secret to the “effortlessness” that the young couple pointed out as what describes their relationship best. t2 tuned in.

 

How and where did you meet for the first time? 

Saurav: I first saw Sneha at a fittings for a fashion show (in 2013). She was there but we didn’t say a single word. She thought I was some 13 or 14-year-old schoolboy because I was in a pair of shorts and had my specs on. She was seated at the end of a sofa… playing with her hair. You could see in her head that she was thinking, ‘When can I get out of here?’ 

Sneha: For me, it was awkward because I had just started modelling and there were all these top Mumbai models there like Rachel Bayros and Carol Gracias. I was feeling very awkward and intimidated. 

Saurav: At the show the next day, I was sitting with my cousin. But in the first sequence, I couldn’t recognise her. When I had seen her the day before, her hair was open. I had told my brother that there is one girl who is very pretty and you can’t miss. At the show I did not recognise her because they had straightened her hair and pushed it all back! Then in the second sequence, I spotted her! A friend introduced us.

Sneha: Before I met him, I had no idea about squash. 

Saurav: Even after that night, she thought I was joking (that he was India’s number one squash player). There was definitely something striking about her. 

Sneha: I went back home and told my mother that I met this squash player who asked me out for dinner. My mom googled him and there he was… I was like, ‘Oh shit, aami toh believe-i korini okey!’ 

Saurav: We met for dinner a couple of days after the party. 

 

So, that was your first date? 

Saurav: For me it was a date. We went to Chinoiserie at Taj Bengal. She likes Chinese food. We had a long dinner… about two hours, which isn’t normal even today. 

Sneha: For me, I thought I would go to a nice restaurant, have good food and come back home. 

Saurav: So matlabi she was!

Sneha: I was... he was like just another guy and I was like just another girl having a great time. 

 

Do you remember what you wore? 

Sneha: I was wearing a white skirt, my favourite pair of pearl earrings and a tank top!

Saurav: Then obviously, it was a date! 

Sneha: He was wearing fitted jeans with nice shoes and a shirt. He’s always well-dressed. 

When did it get serious? 

Sneha: I think the fact that he left immediately after that but kept in touch with me from no matter where he was… England or China…. It was very difficult to keep in touch with a person you barely know. His consistency grew on me and I realised that he is a better companion, more than the love and the liking. He was just there. Eventually I fell in love with him. 

Saurav: When you start spending a lot of time together, you get to know that person a lot better. In the first two-three months, one tries to put up one’s best front. Then slowly the effort goes away. It is not because you don’t care about the other person. It is that is how life is…. There are going to be times when you would literally bang your head... but to be able to go past that... then you kind of feel more involved. You would like to believe that you are her first point of contact or first venting point. 

 

Is Saurav the calming factor in your life then? 

Sneha: He is the one who is calm and I am the one who is volatile. He is extremely tidy and I am extremely untidy. He is very organised. We are absolute opposites. But at the same time, there is a bridge. There is an unusual liking for each other. 

Saurav: When she is angry, she doesn’t say anything. The moment she is quiet, I know something is wrong. And at the point of outburst, nothing goes through to her head.

How do you calm her down? 

Saurav: I am figuring that out! It is a Pandora’s box. It is not the easiest thing. 

 

Is she the more emotional one in the relationship then? 

Saurav: Yeah, for sure!

Sneha: I don’t think I am more emotional, so to say, I think we have different ways of dealing with things. For him, it is more like a debate. 

Saurav: I would much rather do that talk and finish it off. I would not want to have a heated argument. But she would be like, if it needs a heated argument, then lets go for it.... Madam is a bit immature! She doesn’t understand that no two people are alike. When she is super angry, she expects the other person to literally read her mind. 

Sneha: Listen, I am not that bad a girlfriend also. I am very possessive. But that doesn’t mean aami or gola tipe dhore rekhechhi. If there is probably a chick... I will probably murder the chick first and then go murder him. Sometimes I don’t get reactions from him if I am saying something. 

Saurav: My way of thinking in life is very clear-cut. I only value opinions of those close to me. 

Sneha: This is too much bhaashan for me!  

Saurav, does Sneha’s height (5’9’’) give you a complex? 

Saurav: No… 

Sneha: My dad’s side of the family is very tall. When I first met him, I was in my heels as well. I have a lot of friends who are guys and… they’ve always had this tendency of saying: ‘Why are your wearing heels? You are so tall!’ Even if they are taller than me! Saurav was the first guy who encouraged me to wear heels. And that said a lot about the kind of person he is. So confident as a guy, that absolutely turned me on. I was like: ‘Wow! This guy is two inches shorter than me and he is asking me to wear heels and look like a talgacchh next to him’. That adds so much zing to the relationship. That’s the USP of the relationship. I love the fact that I am taller than him. It’s beautiful. 

Saurav: I think it’s unfair that if she is wearing a short dress to ask her to wear flats. It ruins the dress. 

Sneha: He buys me heels…  

 

What are your common loves?  

Saurav: Food, films… we like partying together.

Sneha: We do a lot of house parties. I handle the decorations. He has his own department like the booze and the food. We have our own group of friends we are very comfortable with. I am not much of a social person. He is more social than I am.

Sneha: We also play a lot of ludo. 

Saurav: And we are very competitive. 

Sneha: And, if he loses, his expression… 

Saurav: Ninety five percent of the times, madam gets a six first! Don’t know how!

Sneha: We play a lot of these mind games together… name different countries...

Saurav: And she is terrible at it! She is good with movie names. 

 

So, you watch movies together?

Saurav: We watch a lot of movies together. We watched Birdman and The Theory of Everything recently. We would like to watch American Sniper and The Imitation Game. 

Sneha: We watch a lot of Hindi movies as well.

Saurav: We want to watch Roy very badly, but I am not there.... It’s not a conscious thing but it just happens... in the last two years, I have watched just one movie without her. And that was when she was in Asia’s Next Top Model and I had no idea when she was coming back and I couldn’t even speak to her.

 

And sports? 

Saurav: She is not into sports. 

 

Do you understand squash now? 

Sneha: I had no idea about it initially. But now that he is my boyfriend, I know about squash. At first, it was WTF! It is like hitting the wall. That is psychotic! 

Saurav: Her hand-eye coordination is nothing to be desired! 

 

Your favourite restaurant in town? 

Saurav: Oh! Calcutta. We have a set menu — bekti or chicken wrapped in a banana leaf, kosha manghso and luchi followed by prawn malaikari with steamed rice and dessert. We also like Chinoiserie, The Wall.... 

Sneha: All the restaurants in Quest are nice. I really like Yauatcha and the pizzas are very good at Serafina. 

 

The best holiday you have taken together so far?

Saurav: Goa. In Krabi island, there were a lot more people. In Goa, there were only the two of us. The first time she went with me was in 2013. I had senior nationals in Jaipur. So, we went to Jaipur and after that we went to Agra and Delhi where we saw the Taj Mahal. 
 
 

How do you keep the long-distance relationship going?

Sneha: It’s all about having faith in each other. And the loyalty thing... and when you know that he is yours and you are secure... that’s when the distance works. When you are absolutely sure about the person, you do everything to keep it going. The best thing about our relationship is that it’s been absolutely effortless.

 

How much time did it take for you to reach that state?

Sneha: I think I was really lucky because of the kind of person he is. Any girl who will just sit and talk to him will understand that is he actually a genuine and bhalo chhele. I was pretty sorted that way. I am not a person who switches or hops from one relationship to another. So, that way, I am blessed to have found him. He’s been lucky to find me as well!

 

But you must be missing each other a lot!

Sneha: I don’t know about him, but I do.

 

What do you do when you miss her a lot?

Saurav: Then you just have to buckle up and say wait!

Sneha, you sing well. Have you dedicated a song to him?

Sneha: A lot...

Saurav: I like variation... so there is no one song... but she sings Tinka tinka really well.

Sneha: I have given him a mix, English, Hindi, Bengali...

Saurav: There are songs which remind me a lot about her like Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding…

Sneha: And even Chittiyaan kalaiyaan... shopping karadey! (Laughs)

Saurav: She dances really well and I can imagine her dancing to certain songs and making facial expressions!

Sneha: You have to admit I am an entertaining package! Your life has become rollicking after I have stepped in. I am not like a normal girlfriend. I give you all the flavours of life.

 

Saurav cooks well. What is the one item that he cooks which you love a lot?

Sneha: I cannot cook at all… the one thing that I cook really well is Maggi. He makes pasta and amazing brownies...

Saurav: My grandmom does the Bengali stuff and my dad and me do more experimental cooking…. 

 

So, have you thought of taking the relationship to the next level?

Saurav: I am 28, so for me… 

Sneha: But he doesn’t look like a 28-year-old. By the time I’ll be 50, he’ll still look like a boy and I’ll look like a hag! 

Saurav: We haven’t thought about that (marriage). When you are married, you are into another phase in life. She wants to enjoy this phase of being my girlfriend and doing certain things which may be absolutely fine when you are married, but right now, you have to kind of work through back-doors to make it happen and she enjoys that. I haven’t bought a ring yet. 

Sneha: The ring just needs to be bigger than my hand. Jokes apart, everything that has happened with him has been unpredictable… that we have struck through for so long, effortlessly, has been great. I don’t really think about that day, but I know that because I am with him, he will make sure that it is the most special day of my life. 
Saurav: It has to be something which she will remember. She can hopefully go tell the kids and they’ll be like, ‘Wow!’ 

Sneha: The condition is that the diamond has to be big. 

Saurav: Not like she is going to say ‘no’ otherwise. 

 

Guessing game

Favourite app

Saurav: Instagram
Sneha: I don’t know about the app, but I know what he goes through most of the time… sports news

Book

Saurav: Anything to do with feminism 
Sneha: Being a feminist does not mean you hate men. It means you are fighting for equal rights. Saurav’s favourite book is a tennis player’s autobiography
Saurav: Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open

Secret crush
 

Saurav: Hrithik Roshan. 
Sneha: Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and who is the other one?
Saurav: You figure it out! She is a Victoria’s Secret model
Sneha: Adriana Lima

Guilty pleasure

Saurav: Dessert
Sneha: Kills me… (sings) Dil dhak dhak karne laga. Saurav loves Gupta Brothers rosogolla. He eats it every single day after lunch and dinner and his face is still like this! And at least four to five pieces! 

Most likely to find on the bedside table

Sneha: His glasses
Saurav: Probably the night before she has come back and she has chucked her bra 
Sneha: (Laughs out loud) True
Saurav: I am very organised. I have my watch, phone, wallet 
Sneha: Even the laces of his Keds are aligned! Can you believe it? Seeing that my head starts whirring… how am I supposed to spend the rest of my life with him?