Sridhar Ayala: Mathematician, Foodie, Adult Child who lives for gaming and all things tech, Avid Rick & Morty and Star Trek Fan (he even named our dog after Commander William Riker), one of the most optimistic people I've ever met and also the kindest. Bhawini Naik: Creative, lover of all things African, sucker for terribly sappy movies, when it comes to dancing - one she starts she cannot be stopped, unique sense of humor, patience for nonsense and most importantly genuinely kind. (As described by each other) We’re not quite sure what Sridevi thought we might have in common, but thanks to Sridevi’s foresight, she made the introduction and we got along like a house on fire. Even with her description of Sridhar being just “ok”! As fate would have it, Bhawini was offered a position in the New York office and moved to New York. After a couple of months of chatting and meeting in the same big city, it was clear that this relationship had potential. And so begins the journey from daar to sambaar. You’re probably wondering why the hashtag and website address is daar to sambaar. Bhawini has Gujerati roots, and Sridhar has Telugu roots. A commonality, is the preparation of lentil soup usually eaten with rice. In gujarat, this soup is called Daar (Daal), and in the South, this soup is called Sambaar (Sambaal). This also became a running joke between Bhawini and the Ayala family, hence very fitting for the union of two families. One who eats daar and the other who eats sambaar :)

We planned to go to LA for a friends "birthday celebration". We ended up in Hawaii. In true Sridhar fashion....Surprise! Uncharacteristically, he had everything planned out from excursions to meals. This was not normal. He usually lands in a place and figures things out as he goes. I had a suspicion that this might be it. However, he packed in so much in the agenda that there really wasn't any time for a "proposal". We had a really wonderful break, with kayaking, beach time, private Cessna and helicopter flights over the islands and hiking up a canyon. All beautiful, proposal worthy spots - but still...nothing happened. On the second last day, we flew out to Kona. He had plans to drive across the island for 2 hours so that we could hike up a volcanic mountain to watch the sunset from the summit. I had, by now, come to terms that a proposal was not happening on this trip. We finally arrive mid way to the summit point and alas, they closed down the trail due to bad road conditions. Sridhar, at this point was getting antsy and was on his phone the whole time. He was so disappointed that we couldn't go up. We eventually found a trail to an outcrop with a phenomenal view of the mountains ahead and the sun was dipping slowly but surely. Sridhar was STILL on his phone texting and reading ESPN articles instead of enjoying the sunset. (I was annoyed at this but later found out that he planned to propose on the summit and was texting Sudha to get her opinion on what plan b should be, & was reading ESPN articles to throw me off) As the sun dipped, Sridhar started talking to me about all these wonderful things. We got up from the outcrop and started walking towards the rest of the crowd. He stopped a guy and asked him to take photos of us, once done, I started to walk away, he asked the guy for "one more", when I turned back, Sridhar was on one knee. He asked me to marry him. Surprise! And I said Yes!