“Ye ishq nahi aasaan bas itna samajh lijiye / Ek aag ka dariya hai aur doob k jaana hai…” [This love is not so easy / It is like a river of fire and you must swim through it].
A 22-year-old woman from Bangladesh has proved the above couplet true by swimming 22 miles across the border to marry her boyfriend whom she met on Facebook.
Krishna Mandal, from Bangladesh, met Abhik Mandal, from India, on the social media platform, Facebook, and instantly fell in love.
Since Krishna or Abhik did not have a passport, India Today reports, Krishna decided to cross the border.
She entered the wild forests of Sunderban, known for its Royal Bengal Tigers, and then swam for an hour in the river to enter India to marry Abhik.
The couple got married at Kalighat Temple in Kolkata and the tales of Krishna’s bravery began doing rounds on social media.
However, the love story was cut short when Krishna was arrested on Monday by the Narendrapur Police for trespassing Indian territory via unauthorised water route.
Police sources told media that Krishna may be handed over to the Bangladesh High Commission.
Krishna is not the first one to try something adventurous to meet a loved one. In a similar incident, a 24-year-old resident from Nadia in West Bengal travelled across India to meet his 18-year-old lover from Nerail in Bangladesh. The Border Security Force (BSF) arrested the couple in Nadia for illegally crossing the international border.
Eralier, a Vietnamese man who had not seen his wife, who works in India, decided to row 2,000 kilometres on a rafting boat. Media reported that Thai fishermen found the man with a suitcase, a bottle of water, and about 10 packets of instant noodles. This man had spent 18 nights alone in the sea with no map, compass, or GPS.
In another intance, Eman Hossain, a Bangladeshi teen, was arrested for illegally swimming into India to buy his favourite chocolates. The teen was handed over to the local police, after which he was produced before the court and remanded to 15 days in judicial custody.