The world offers very few places for part time lovers to meet.

When Vogue reached out to me to capture “Well-Dressed Young Romantic Lovers in my community” for their India in Love series, my first thought was: Who in my community would ever say yes to this? Here, people don’t really “go public” as couples until their engagement. Romance , let alone its open expression has almost no space to exist: not in our homes, not in our churches, not in our schools, not in public spaces.

It was February, and in just a few weeks, our diasporic community would come together to celebrate the seed-sowing festival. Every year,  young recruits are chosen by a ‘cultural co-ordinator’ to take part in the performances as a way of keeping our traditions alive across distance. That year, it was Pheichak (Folk Dance).

This photo essay turns to the rehearsals of Pheichak , the Tangkhul folk dance, as a rare site of exploration. Within its movements, practices, and pauses, the lens began to look for what romance might mean when it has no sanctioned stage.