麻豆社

As the internet has become increasingly ingrained in our daily lives, you hear more and more of a couple’s uniting force being an effect of the internet, be it through a dating app or a matchmaking site.

But sometimes, chance encounters and the power of the World Wide Web come together to spark a truly modern love story.

Enter: Sindy Chikadaya and Vanel Abramsamadu, whose random selfie in a nightclub began a journey that so far has included a viral post, two children and a podcast.

Sindy and Vanel first met in Shoreditch, while both on nights out with friends. Celebrating his birthday, Vanel was in high spirits and enjoying himself.

“It turned out to be one of the best nights of my life,” he laughs. “I was having fun, socialising with everyone, and came across Sindy.”

Swept up in the excitement of the night, Sindy wasted no time in grabbing Vanel’s phone and snapping a selfie of them both. Though few words had been exchanged between them at that point, there was clearly a glimmer of potential.

However, the night-time public transport schedule had other ideas.

“I took the selfie, then my girls called and I had to go, my last train was coming!” remembers Sindy. “It was a fun moment, and he was nice - but we didn’t exchange numbers or anything, so I thought that was that.”

In normal circumstances, she probably would have been right. But a few months later, Vanel was going through some of the highlights of his year and he came across their fateful photo. He remembered the happiness of the night, and the spark he’d felt in her brief presence.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this girl was really beautiful. Let me go on Twitter, and see if anyone knows who she is.’”

And so, he did. Vanel posted their selfie and asked his followers for their help in finding her. He didn’t have her name, or any actual information about who she was, but he had this picture, and his memories.

Think Cinderella, for millennials.

A short two days later, Vanel got his answer - her name was Sindy!

Meanwhile, Sindy had no idea that she was at the heart of a real-life romantic comedy, playing out for thousands of social media users’ delight.

“I didn’t even have Twitter!” Sindy admits. By this time, the end of the year approached and Sindy was preparing to see in the New Year with a friend at a midnight church service. Going into January, she already made her requests for the coming months known.

“Me and my friend had had a crazy couple of years when it comes to guys. And one of the things we prayed for was ‘No more useless guys in 2018!’”

As fate would have it, the very next day, Sindy was hanging out with her friend when she got a message.

“She was like: Sindy, there’s a guy who’s been looking for you on Twitter - apparently you met in the club, back in the summer?”

Sindy was promptly filled in on the weird and wonderful turn of events that had been going on - she was shown the Tweet, which had gone viral, and was pleasantly surprised at the way it had all played out.

“What are the chances that someone would recognise her in one of my pictures, message her to ask about me - and me actually being in the room at that very moment? I’d just been praying for a good guy, so I wondered - is this him? Already?”

Seizing the opportunity, Sindy agreed to take Vanel’s number, and called him that very night.

“I’d gone through all that effort, I was like - let’s just vibe, get to know each other a little bit. We were literally on the phone for six hours, just chatting.”

Long phone calls led to some meeting up in person, where they could test the waters even further. Though they were getting along nicely, both were hesitant to make any sweeping statements about what it’d mean for their future.

“I was like, he seems like a nice person. He’s making an effort, and he’s good company. It wasn’t like sparks were flying, but I think that’s the best way we could have met,” shrugs Sindy.

“I agree,” Vanel chimes in. “We were getting to know each other as people, and then something actually started to grow between us. The more we went out, we found our chemistry was just clicking, and I thought, I actually want to date her.”

Luckily, a few dates later, Sindy was feeling the same way - and, true to form, she was straightforward with how she wanted things to progress:

“It came to a point where I told Vanel: if you like me, let me know. If you don’t, here’s the door - I don’t have time for games.”

And she meant it. Months later, not only was Vanel getting along famously with her daughter, Sienna, but they soon discovered that they’d be adding to their family, as well; their youngest daughter Serena was born in 2019.

Two years after a rushed club selfie, Vanel and Sindy were now sharing a home and two children. It’s safe to say neither of them expected their night out to have such life-changing results.

Adding on to their whirlwind of unpredictable events, when Serena was just one month old, they were approached to bring their sparkling personalities to another format.

“We both love having fun, and we’d just film silly, funny videos for social media,” says Sindy.

“I’m so glad she loves that kind of stuff, too,” Vanel continues, “because I’m a big social media guy.

When one of Vanel’s school friends, podcast producer Natalia Ford, came across some of their light-hearted clips, she got a great idea.

“She said, are you and your Missus interested in podcasting? And we thought: Why not?” says Vanel.

After all, this “why not?” mentality is something that has worked out well for them so far - what harm could a podcast do? Despite neither of them having any experience in the medium, they headed to the studio to talk all things parenthood - as well as the general ups and downs of life, all with their signature funny slant.

Over 15 episodes later, they’re now speaking to listeners once a week for half an hour, tackling topics from careers, to friends; from appearance, to whether or not to have kids. And with their audience being a mixture of parents and non-parents alike, their wide appeal is something they credit to their open acknowledgement of the imperfections of being alive.

“I just want everyone to feel like: we’re all in this together,” explains Sindy. “No matter what’s going on in life, whatever walk of life you’re from, we want everyone to understand that they’re never alone - there’s no perfect way of doing this thing called life.”