“It was hate at first sight,” Nick remembers.

That’s how it began — not with sparks or perfect timing, but with a rumour, a misunderstanding, and a fair amount of suspicion. For many queer couples in India, love doesn’t follow a neat storyline. It often begins in unexpected places, grows slowly, and takes shape in the gaps left by what society doesn’t always offer: acceptance, templates, clear directions.

In a world that still struggles to fully see them, queer couples build their relationships from the ground up — sometimes with uncertainty, sometimes with humour, always with intent. There is no rulebook, no fixed way to love. What forms between them is something they shape every day: through shared routines, honest conversations, and the decision to keep showing up for each other, even when it’s hard.

For Nick and Sayantika in Bengaluru, and Atulan and Divesh in Mumbai, love was never about fitting in. It was about finding something real and refusing to apologise for it. It was about choosing connection, even when the world around them gave them every reason to hide.

Team NiSa: A love story born of rumours

Nick, known more formally as Nikita Prakash, works as a senior brand marketing manager at Flipkart. She is also a drag artist. Sayantika Majumder, her partner of five years, is a senior copywriter in the same organisation. Together, they call themselves ‘Team NiSa’, a name that began as a playful shorthand but now represents the foundation of their partnership.

Their story began in conflict, with a rumour that brought them together before they had even met. At the time, Nick was in Mumbai, Sayantika in Bengaluru, and neither knew the other personally. But whispers in their community claimed they were dating, and both women, baffled and annoyed, assumed the other was behind it.

When they finally met, it was anything but pleasant. “It was hate at first sight,” Nick remembers. At a queer party where they first crossed paths, she ended up flirting with Sayantika’s friend, which only added to the tension. “I thought she was so full of herself,” Sayantika admits. “We barely spoke, and when we did, it was mostly awkward.”

For the next two years, they bumped into each other at events but never exchanged more than cold glances. “It was like the universe was trying to push us together, and we were resisting with all our might,” Nick laughs.

It wasn’t until a cricket match brought them to the same tea stall, sipping sulaimani chai, that they finally spoke. That conversation, though unmemorable in content, was memorable in effect. “We spoke about nothing, really,” Sayantika tells The Better India. “But something was comforting in her presence.” It marked the beginning of something new — a cautious friendship that slowly, steadily, turned into love.

The details that define their love

By 2020, they were a couple. Now, they live together in Bengaluru, sharing everything from drag performances to daily routines. They often........

© The Better India