aAfter studying medicine in New Delhi, Varad, who grew up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, knew he wanted to make a difference in the world. In 2021, he traveled to the remote Gadchiroli forest reserve to work for a local NGO while submitting applications for the next steps of his training. “I did community management of Covid-19 and supported the vaccination programme,” he says.
A month after arriving, he met Rasika, a physiotherapist from Nagpur, Maharashtra, who had also come to work for the NGO. “I had studied in Mumbai, but wanted to better understand rehabilitation in rural India,” she says. “While I was being shown around, we went to the badminton court – a mud court with a net – and that was where I saw Varad for the first time.”
He ran over to introduce himself. “I was excited that some women came to see us play,” he laughs. He immediately noticed that Rasika seemed caring and was “absolutely beautiful.” ‘She had short hair because she had just donated her hair to a cancer charity. She was also into sports and anime, which really attracted me.
Rasika liked him introducing himself and found him ‘outgoing’. “I really enjoyed spending time with him from day one, and I was constantly waiting for him to come to me,” she says. When they got to know each other, it quickly became clear that there was more than friendship between them. “I wasn’t patient enough to go with the flow, so one day I went to him and told him I had romantic feelings for him,” she says. Varad felt the same. “The only reason I didn’t take the first step is because I was planning to leave to study abroad. I didn’t know if I could do anything too serious.” However, he soon realized he couldn’t say no, and they agreed to take things “one step at a time.”
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Living in a region of India where relationships outside of marriage were considered inappropriate, dating wasn’t easy. “We met in the evening, when everyone was sleeping,” says Rasika. “It was scary because we never knew what animals we would encounter along the way. We kept hearing news of tigers and snakes entering the community, but our feelings were so strong that we were willing to take the risk.”
In November 2021, they received news that Varad had won a scholarship to study health innovations at the University of Oxford. Rasika, who never planned to study abroad, had started looking for a job in Tamil Nadu, southern India. “It was very difficult and sad, but we started talking about going our separate ways,” says Varad. After mapping out different futures, they left the NGO in February 2022 but stayed in touch as friends.
That summer, as Varad prepared to travel to Britain, Rasika developed a persistent cough. Things continued to get worse and in September she was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, caused by a genetic mutation. “Because it was advanced, I wasn’t sure if I would get treatment,” she says. “I spoke to Varad and he said he would support me with whatever I wanted. His support made me realize I could handle the treatment.”
Before Varad left for Britain, he visited Rasika and said he wanted them to be together. “He said to me, ‘I’m here with you forever and we’re going to get through this together.’ That was the biggest motivation for me to do everything I could to survive,” she says. The three-month curative treatment, which included chemotherapy and surgery, was successful and she began to recover quickly. Varad admits he was afraid he would lose her. “Her oncologist was brilliant and I am very grateful that she responded to treatment.”
They decided it didn’t matter where they lived “as long as they were together,” and both began applying to universities for graduate study. Rasika won a place at Oxford to study tropical medicine, while Varad was also able to continue his training there, doing a PhD in cervical screening modelling. “I never thought I would go to Oxford, but Varad motivated me and believed in me,” she says. She joined him in England in October 2023 and they both now live in Oxford. Her health continues to be closely monitored and she continues to be treated for the genetic mutation that caused the cancer.
“I have never met someone in my life who can love as purely as Rasika,” says Varad. “It’s a boundless love that I’ve never felt in the same way before. When you find someone like that, you can’t help but love him.’
Rasika appreciates that he always puts her needs first. “As difficult as it was for me to be unwell, it was equally difficult for him because he was in Britain without any support. He never showed that; he just kept being there for me,” she says. “We now live in the present and enjoy everything we have now, because you never know what the future holds.”