They Almost Drowned on Their First Date. Today, This Indian Couple Crosses Oceans Together

The rocks at Chunchi Falls glistened in the misty morning of May 2018. The roar of thundering water echoed all around, but amidst the beauty, an unsettling moment arrived. Vrushali recalls the cold shock of the spray, the slippery boulders underfoot, and a sudden wave of danger. In seconds — on what was supposed to be a memorable first date — she found herself pulled under the water.

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Danish didn’t hesitate. Instinct took over.

“What started as a great day flipped into something terrifying,” he remembers. “I was drowning for a few seconds myself, but somehow, I managed to pull her out.”

Moments later, the two of them sat on the rocks, dripping wet and shaken. Then something unexpected happened — laughter broke the tension.

“Fifteen minutes later, we were joking about it,” Danish shares with The Better India. “Anyone else might have asked, ‘Why would you bring me to such a risky place?’ But she didn’t.”

That moment revealed something profound. Their relationship wasn’t going to be defined by blame or fear, but by understanding, trust, and an adventurous drive to see what lay beyond the easy or the predictable.

A love story sparked by words

Before their paths intertwined, Vrushali Prasade (now 31) and Danish Abdi (30) were living separate lives. Both attended BITS Pilani — she on the Goa campus, he in Pilani itself — but years passed before fate brought them together in a way neither could have predicted.

It began in March 2018 when Vrushali stumbled across Danish’s book of poetry, Blue Letters, while scrolling through Facebook. Something about his words struck a chord. On impulse, she picked up the book and decided to reach out.

“I told him he had a huge fan in me,” she says, smiling at the memory.

Danish replied, and what began as a simple exchange blossomed into something deeper. Their conversations covered a wide range of topics — books, life, travel, and their shared appreciation for the outdoors. Soon, messages turned into daily calls. They discovered that they were both living in Bengaluru and shared the same restless, curious energy.

When Danish finally asked her out, it wasn’t for a traditional coffee date or dinner. He suggested they visit a canyon. Without hesitation, Vrushali said yes.

On 6 May 2018, he arrived at her doorstep at the crack of dawn — after cycling nearly 25 kilometers across Bengaluru.  

“He showed up in a cycling helmet and a white shirt,” Vrushali recalls. “I found that so attractive.”

The day that followed unfolded beautifully, filled with waterfalls, long conversations, and an effortless connection. But the near-tragedy at Chunchi Falls turned the day from memorable to defining. For Danish, it wasn’t the act of saving Vrushali that stood out but her reaction afterward.

“She was remarkably calm,” Danish says. “There was no panic, no blame. She didn’t let the fear limit her. That’s when I knew — this would be a partnership where we’d embrace challenges together.”

For Vrushali, the experience wasn’t about limitation. It was about choosing to learn, adapt, and move forward. 

Building a partnership of resilience

At the time of their first date, Vrushali and Danish were established professionally. She was thriving in the startup ecosystem as a product manager, while Danish balanced a coding job with his passion for creative pursuits like writing. Yet, beneath the surface, both were looking for something more meaningful to anchor their restless spirits.

Danish had already begun reconnecting with nature. Weekends often saw him cycling or hiking solo, not as formal training but as a meditative escape. 

Meanwhile, Vrushali’s foundation of discipline was built in childhood. As a professional table tennis player, her training days were intense, beginning at dawn and often stretching late into the night. While the routine was gruelling, it left her with a life lesson that stuck: perseverance, even when the odds felt insurmountable.

Still, endurance sport wasn’t part of their lives — not yet.

That began to change after their wedding in 2021. As they experimented with fitness in a kinder, more sustainable way, they found a shared rhythm, one discovery at a time.

How two non-swimmers dived in

The spark to dive into endurance sports came from an unexpected place: the turquoise waters of the Maldives, during their honeymoon.

Neither Vrushali nor Danish knew how to swim at the time, but surrounded by open water, they signed up for a snorkeling trip. While waiting on the boat, they spotted two young European children leaping freely into the ocean, diving fearlessly, and resurfacing laughing.

“That moment stayed with us,” Vrushali says. “We realised how much freedom the water gave them, and we wanted that for ourselves.”

Upon returning to Bengaluru in 2022, the couple took swimming lessons. The goal wasn’t to master a sport but to face a fear and embrace a new challenge. Before they knew it, swimming led to cycling, cycling led to running, and what began as curiosity evolved into discipline — and eventually, into a shared passion for endurance sports.

Today, their journey often takes them into the unknown — swimming in open seas, cycling across vast distances, or running through new terrains. But what makes it special is that every challenge, every hard day, is met together.

“When we’re struggling, we’ve learned that just being there for each other is enough,” Danish says. “We don’t need dramatic words or big motivations. Sometimes, presence is power.”

From first triathlons to the English Channel

Milestones came slowly, one finish line at a time.

In October 2022, Vrushali and Danish completed their first Olympic triathlon together, which requires 1.5km swimming, 40km cycling, and 10km running. A year later, in September 2023, they took on their first Half Ironman, with 1.9km swimming, 90km cycling, 21km running, doubling the distance and intensifying their training.

By 2024, they grew bolder. Vrushali attempted a solo swim across the English Channel, pushing herself for nearly 15 hours before being pulled out due to unforgiving tides. In August 2024, Vrushali, Danish, and their two friends, Anuj Aneja(45), and Rohan Patnaik(40), completed a four-member relay crossing from England to France in 17 hours.

Momentum carried forward. In October 2024, Danish completed Ironman Barcelona in 13 hours, while Vrushali sharpened her focus on long-distance open-water swimming.

In March 2025, the couple, along with another friend, Nalin Majumdar(31), completed a relay crossing across Ram Setu from Sri Lanka to India, followed by another English Channel relay crossing in June 2025.

Now, they’re gearing up for their most ambitious dream yet: a historic, side-by-side solo swim from Sri Lanka to India in 2026 — something no couple has done before.

A life of movement and meaning

Their dreams stretch far beyond two swims. Solo crossings. New endurance challenges. A life shaped by movement, curiosity, and deliberate choices.

“We want to experience everything there is,” Vrushali says. “Every place. Every adventure sport. If we do something, we want to do it well.”

For Danish, who once pulled Vrushali out of a waterfall, watching her now prepare for solo swims has been transformative.

“I would get tempted by that arc that character and think I can be a person who can do anything,” he says. “Someone gives you the dare to climb Mount Everest, and I know I can create an action plan and do it. That’s a really empowering feeling.”

From climbing mountains to scuba diving, they want to experience it all. 

“Our love story is like a tandem swim,” he says. “Sometimes it’s smooth, sometimes it’s rough, but we’re always in it together.”

And so they dream of what’s next, with hearts full and strokes steady, ready to dive deeper into life — one distance, one moment at a time.

All images courtesy Vrushali and Danish