3 minutes of readingNew DelhiFebruary 5, 2026 10:00 pm IST
Sometimes the biggest changes in life come from the smallest mistakes. Actor Shriya Saran recently shared how a wrong booking led her to find the right person.
“I had booked the wrong flight. My diving trip was in April, and I went to the Maldives in March. When I landed there, I realized I had made a big mistake. I was alone, and that afternoon I learned that a beautiful yacht was heading south to the Maldives. It had a dive boat, so I went. It was a beautiful sunset. I was standing on the deck, scared because I was alone and didn’t know anyone. When I turned around, Andre (Koscheev) was behind me, “That was where we met for the first time,” he recalled.
What started as a casual encounter soon turned into something deeper. “We both didn’t know anything about each other, so it was beautiful. We did the dive and also kept talking, then we started dating. A few months later, he saw my film. Drishyam and I got really scared, wondering if I wasn’t like that in real life. Then we fell in love,” he added.
But how do unplanned or unexpected situations create a stronger foundation for the bond between two people?
Psychologist Rasshi Gurnani tells indianexpress.com“Unplanned and unexpected situations often remove the masks that people wear in controlled environments, allowing raw emotions and genuine reactions to surface. When two people face these circumstances together, they take advantage of problem solvingadaptability and even humor, creating a feeling of trust and solidarity.”
Psychologically, he adds, this activates bonding hormones like oxytocin, strengthening feelings of connection. Sharing these unpredictable moments becomes a joint memory, a story that belongs only to them, that builds intimacy and deepens the relationship.
Does sharing new or adventurous experiences increase the likelihood of forming romantic connections?
Adventurous or novel experiences stimulate the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine, the same chemical linked to arousal and attraction, Gurnani says. When two people share such intense emotional states, their minds tend to associate the emotion with the person they are with.
She points out: “This phenomenon, known as arousal misattribution, increases the likelihood of a romantic bond. The brain encodes that affair not just as an experience but as an experience with someone, making the bond more meaningful and lasting.”
In the early stages of dating, how much does perception influence whether the relationship deepens or not?
In the early stages of dating, perception plays a huge role. Gurnani notes: “First impressions, determined by personality, mannerisms, or even professional identity, create mental shortcuts that influence the effort someone invests in getting to know the other person better. The initial perception is positive.“The brain fills in the gaps with favorable assumptions, often amplifying attraction.”
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However, if the impression is weak or inconsistent, people will be less motivated to explore deeper compatibility. “Over time, genuine qualities confirm or challenge those perceptions, but at first they act as powerful filters that decide whether a connection will progress to something deeper,” concludes the expert.