October 2017, my friend asked me to come to Stod, her dorm. I was playing guitar with another person in the dorm when I first laid eyes on Achu. “Egh, he’s one of those boys” I thought, as he exhibited some international brown freshmn boy behaviour. After this, we kept crossing paths, where we were in different worlds. Come December 2017, it was time for the infamous Sigma Pi Winterwonderland party. I went with my entire dorm floor. Achu, being an adjacent friend to my friend group and also in Sigma Pi, came over to check-in on us. Very polite, really fun to talk to! We were hitting it off and I was so excited to be making new friends. I learned he was a dual math and computer science major (nerd)... and that’s about it. He was nice enough to walk me home after the party. But we were talking so much we ended up walking around campus (which has such pretty lighting at night) and he showed me a few hard to reach spots on Campus - one of which was in Higgins Laboratory - our Mechanical Engineering Building. Not sure how he found that one. We exchanged EVERYTHING numbers, Insta, and Snapchat. From then on, we did not contact each other again. 🙂 Fast forward January 2018. I was taking Differential Equations with Prof. Lurie. I was not grasping the material fast enough and tutoring timings were not accessible given the RBE1001 grind. But I never fail, I persevere. I found every person that took Diff Eqs before me (2 people), I asked every math genius in my dorm (those same 2 people). Yea, that didn’t help - I was like wheels turning in mud. One night, I remembered! I know a guy. In the middle of the night, I slid into his Snapchat DMs something like this: Me: “Have you taken MA2051?” ... no response ... I persevere, “I need help with the class and I remembered you were a Math Major” … Achu: “Yes” Me: “Do you want to meet tomorrow at 11pm in Higgins? We can do our homework together so that I can ask you questions” We did this every day for the entire quarter-semester. Late nights of Meha’s Homework (differential equations), Achu’s Homework (watching NBA), and Achu’s plethora of snacks he would grab for us - but I didn’t eat them because I thought they were his. 8 years on the day that I write this, Achu is at my dorm steps with a rose, a card, and a box of chocolates. We had such a sweet moment. I almost thought he liked me, but he was being nice because the Feb14th had a hard lineup of exams and presentations. No, he liked me. Fast forward 8 years and 1 month. The day we version control the progress we’ve made on adventures, memories, and being each other’s complements. Crazy what math can do.

Meha and I first met in my freshman residence hall, Stoddard C, where no sane person would’ve ever voluntarily come. The first thing I noticed about her was her beautiful smile and dimples. I only saw her in passing for the next couple of months, but that soon changed for the better. A computer science and math major, I had no game. Luckily, Meha happened to be struggling with Differential Equations - a course whose content I had briefly learned, but hadn’t yet taken. Nevertheless, with brazen confidence, I told her I’d be happy to help her with homework. While there wasn’t much helping going on during those study sessions, I got to know her even better. It was only fitting that our relationship started in a study room on campus after taking the scenic route home from a frat party. While I like to pretend a little part of me realized, I had no idea that I had just asked out my future wife. The next 8 years have zipped by as we shared 4 degrees, 3 cities, 2 engagement rings (I proposed first), and soon, 1 wedding. I’m immensely grateful to have shared so much love, growth and memories with Meha. It might have taken me 18 years to find my best friend, but how lucky am I to get to spend the rest of my life with her.