A wrong number started their romance. A lockdown during the time of the coronavirus pandemic locked their commitment.

Talk about love stories in the unlikeliest of places.

A young couple from adjoining districts eloped and married on Saturday during lockdown in a temple of Chouparan block in Hazaribagh with permission from the police.

A resident of Ujjaina village of Barhi block in Hazaribagh, Saraswati Kumari, 19, had inadvertently pressed the wrong digit while making a call to one of her relatives last year in January.

As luck would have it, her call went to Pintu Kumar, 22, a private tutor in Ranchi who’s originally from Malakpur village in Itkhori block of Chatra district, some 75km from Saraswati’s home. Love bloomed over a wrong number.

“There was something special in her voice, so I called her up again the next day,” Pintu said when asked how their love story started. “She was surprised but did not hang up.”

They started talking regularly and soon knew “everything about each other”.

“Our conversations became regular and started talking. One day I proposed we spend the rest of our lives together, she agreed. We even met twice when I went to her village,” he added.

Just before the lockdown, Pintu left Ranchi and came to Malakpur in Chatra.

Parental opposition over their relationship had already reared its head, though the duo were from the same community. Neither Pintu nor Saraswati wanted to talk about it much, though, to mediapersons on Saturday after their wedding.

But on Friday night, they had both decided to escape from their homes and anyhow get married on Saturday. Pintu walked on dirt tracks to reach Hazaribagh from Chatra, and they met around 2.30am on Saturday. “We kept roaming on dirt tracks, I had Saraswati with me, and I wanted to keep her safe,” Pintu said, adding they reached Chouparan.

In the morning, to avoid any trouble, they straightaway went to Chouparan police station and said they wanted to get married during the lockdown in the nearby Vishwakarma temple.

Chouparan police station OC Nitin Kumar Singh said he was surprised at their unusual request. “But I talked to their parents in case anyone wanted to come. The bride’s family came, but the groom’s did not,” he said.

The wedding was a simple one in the temple on Saturday afternoon.

“We will never forget this lockdown as it became memorable for our entire life,” Saraswati said. “We had to walk a lot for it,” Pintu quipped. He added: “Lockdown is the best time to get locked for life.”