Love isn’t about butterflies, grand gestures, or fleeting moments. It is about choosing the same person over and over again, even when the test of time takes us through turbulent paths, uninteresting routine, arguments, and change.
But what makes people stay, adapt and grow together? On this Promise Day, My Kolkata spoke to four couples — who have been together for years — to understand how the idea of love evolves with time and whether only love is enough to sustain a relationship.
Soumya Mukherji and Indrani Chakraborty
For Indrani, originally from the Northeast, and Soumya from Delhi with roots in Kolkata, love did not begin with a fluttery romance. It began with two brisk questions from Soumya before their arranged marriage: “Can you cook?” and “Do you eat non-veg?”
What felt transactional at first slowly turned into a beacon of hope amid Delhi’s corporate grind. “Whenever I was late, he would make dinner for me,” said Indrani, who now runs the Svanir Wilderness Ecostay with Soumya in Bhubaneshwar. His simple rice, dal and bhaji were the “best dinners” of her life.
For Soumya, love lived in the overlooked pauses in life. The night Indrani returned home in tears after being denied credit at work, he didn’t just console her. Instead, he proposed a change. “Let’s go home and build something of our own,” he said.
They quit their corporate jobs, moved to Odisha in 2016, and built their homestay after surviving Cyclone Fani and the Covid-19 pandemic. “One day at a time,” Soumya would remind her.
Today, over a decade later, they feel whole in each other’s presence. “We’ve become well-tuned. Spending time with each other seems second nature and somehow very reassuring,” Soumya said.
Now, their hair is mostly grey, they fight more — mostly about parenting — but the child-like joy remains.
Shuvro Ghoshal and Riya Sarkar
Some love stories begin with friendship. Riya and Shuvro, originally from Kolkata but now living in Cardiff, met each other in the eleventh grade. Their bond deepened in college, following which they drifted through different cities and began their relationship during the Covid-19 pandemic.
For Shuvro, 32, those early years mattered a lot. When he was a struggling entrepreneur in Pune, Riya once took him out for coffee and paid the bill without letting him know. “I never forgot that,” he said, adding that he told her how he felt supported and not judged.
Love, even after marriage, is in the little things. Riya said she learned to cook so they could share responsibilities. “Love is him eating whatever I make without complaints,” she laughs. “It’s the garlic he chops because I hate it. The coffee he makes every morning.”
What remains is friendship. “Of course, there are times he gets on my nerves. But life is not about the fights,” Riya said. “A relationship is a partnership, not ownership,” they both believe. It is about growing together, balancing each other and finding joy in the mundane.
Abhranil and Srijanee Bose
Friendship is the secret to many relationships that have stood the test of time. For Srijanee, currently a case manager at Amazon India, love feels like friendship that never ends.
Srijanee first met Abhranil when he was her school senior at South Point School. However, the timing wasn’t right and they chose to stay in touch before reconnecting in 2018.
“Love is less butterflies and more bandwidth. Less ‘I miss you’, more ‘Did you lock the door?’ It’s choosing each other on ordinary days, not just dramatic ones,” Abhranil, 30, said. Now, it feels more intentional and less guesswork, he added.
“I still have a crush on my husband,” Srijanee said. For the 28-year-old, love now looks practical. Grocery lists, electricity bills, deciding what their dog Mickey will eat.
“It’s cooking extra-spicy chicken curry because he likes it…ordering American Chop Suey (which he hates) and still saying
nothing,” Srijanee said with a laugh, to which Abhranil added, “She is worth choosing, even on hard days.”
In the end, everything boils down to friendship. “Looks fade, perfection fades”, but friendship, respect, commitment and love are what stay for life.
Sekhar and Kumkum Roy
Sekhar and Kumkum’s marriage began thirty years ago in the most traditional way — a room full of relatives, a few exchanged glances, a simple Bengali wedding, and a promise that sounded almost too big for two strangers.
Sekhar, a former Deputy Superintendent of Police, spent years moving across Bengal on duty. Kumkum built her own identity as a Million Dollar Round Table member and founder of an NGO, while raising their daughter mostly on her own in the city.
“There were no constant video calls. No grand romantic gestures,” Sekhar said. Kumkum, on the other hand, ruminated, “As time passed, love became less about romance and more about companionship.”
Love, in our house, looks like routine, their daughter, author-creative editor Aishwarya Roy, fondly reflected on her parents' love story.
Sekhar still makes her morning tea exactly the way she likes it. Kumkum edits his photos into short videos in the evening, adding songs he hums absent-mindedly.
“What made them choose each other through decades is the determination to build a life on the same side,” Aishwarya remarked. Never trying to win against each other made all the difference.