Born to be together in fairy tale match
Couple who hooked up on Facebook first ‘met’ as newborns
● Their relationship began after he “slid into her DMs” three years ago, but a Durban couple recently discovered that they had actually “met” just a few hours after they were born 22 years ago this month.
Kyle Desai and Allison Shunmugam were in separate cots side-by-side in the room their mothers shared in the maternity section of RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, south of Durban, in May 1998.
Desai said when he told Shunmugam his birth date a few weeks after they started dating in 2017, she thought he was joking.
“We found out we were born at the same hospital when our parents met and our mothers compared notes,” he said.
“They both had C-sections and Allison’s mum was taken in first. Allison was born at 10.50am and I was born at 11.55am. At that time, we didn’t know that our mothers actually shared the same hospital room.
“The only memory my mother had of the day I was born was that there was someone in a blue gown next to her, also giving birth.”
He said that his father was going through a photo album last month and came across a picture of himself holding his newborn son in the hospital room.
“Looking closely at the picture, he realised that Allison’s parents were in the background. Her mother was in the blue gown! It was such a shock that we immediately video-called Allison’s family,” Desai said.
Shunmugam said she used to think love stories like theirs only happened in the movies. “Words escape me, as I am still in awe. All I can say is that this is truly only God’s work because nothing else can explain this.”
Desai said both sets of parents “loved it” that their children were born at the same hospital on the same day, but were “overwhelmed” to learn that their families “came together” that day.
“As much as they were amazed, they feel that all credit goes to God for his foreknowledge in bringing us both together. They think that we all are a perfect fit,” he said.
The couple agree that it’s a better story to tell their grandchildren than the one about how he slid into her direct messaging on Facebook.
“I’d now like to think that our first meeting and first date was at RK Khan Hospital,” Shunmugam said.
“But rewind to April 2017, Kyle sent me a Facebook friend request which I accepted a
I am still in awe. All I can say is that this is truly only God’s work because nothing else can explain this
Allison Shunmugam
few days later, according to him.
“He sent me his first message in June [that year], which was a simple ‘Hi’. I didn’t reply, but he was persistent and continued messaging me.
“One day I replied saying ‘Sorry, I don’t chat to boys on Facebook.’ The next day, he said ‘Hi’ again and said I didn’t have to reply.”
She decided to check out his profile and liked what she saw. They started chatting “day and night” over the phone and met a month later at a church concert.
They also discovered that they worked at competing car dealerships in Durban. Desai is a contractor and Shunmugam is a service centre bookings clerk.
Desai’s best friend Trivolin Michael said Desai told him in 2017 that he “liked a girl” but didn’t tell him that he had slid into her DMs — slang for flirting on social media.