It was the first (and only) time Neha took a spontaneous trip in her life. She went to visit her dear friend from business school, Uma, in Baltimore. Uma introduced her to Melanie who herself was in business school at the time. When Melanie heard that Neha was a dance enthusiast, she invited her classmate who used to be a dancer in Mumbai. When Puneet joined, it was an evening well spent over drinks and chatter. It wasn't till everyone was leaving for the night that Puneet and Neha realized they were both associated with the same dance company in different countries! It was a moment of shared excitement at discovering this serendipity and the beginning of many synchronicities. They decided to stay in touch and the rest is history :)

Puneet and Neha became good friends as the years went by. When they finally decided to take their relationship to the next level, they started discovering how different they both were. But what brought them close was the one thing they had a shared love for, a.k.a. The Office. Just kidding, there was a lot more than just that. Despite their different upbringing, they have very similar family values. Family is #1 for both of them. They respect each other for their opinions (however different), aspirations and give each other the space they need. Understanding their own boundaries and the other person's non-negotiables has come with its learning curve, but it has made them stronger than ever. Puneet and Neha are both first-generation immigrants who moved to a different country because they had a design for their life. While continuing their life away from family, both of them were pursuing unconventional dreams - for Neha, it was following her lifelong passion for dance and for Puneet, his quest of finding a career in story-telling amidst all the visa challenges. It is due to each other's support that they find themselves flourishing in their respective pursuits. Neha continues to grow as a dancer while balancing her full-time career & Puneet recently produced a short film with Amazon. Their mutual respect for each other, their shared love for dance and for The Office, going to the movies and trying new (sometimes unconventional) experiences such as aura readings and co-choreographing a couples' dance for friends, is everything that makes Puneet and Neha the team they are today :)

I see your surprise & I raise you one!! Everyone who knows them knows that Puneet is the surpriser in the relationship, and Neha falls for it every single time. So it wasn't surprising (pun intended) when Puneet showed up at Neha's apartment on a random weekend in early Jan 2023 and surprised her yet again. As expected, Neha fell for the surprise BUT as soon as she recovered from it, she started planning (the biggest) surprise for Puneet yet, although not fully baked. Neha had all the elements ready to pull off a near-perfect proposal. She took him to Central Park on what ended up being a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday morning (in Jan!), found a quiet spot for them to sit and sip on coffee from their favorite cafe, Julien's. Neha pulled out her phone and played a personalized song "To Be With You" which she had been saving for just this moment. She told Puneet to pay close attention to the lyrics. Puneet eventually realized the song was about them and when the song ended, Neha read a speech she had written from the heart, while holding back tears. She pulled out a ring and asked Puneet to marry her. Holding back his own tears, Puneet said "a thousand times, YES!" and they were engaged! Puneet later commented that this surprise beat all his surprises. They didn't have a photographer, but see if you can spot their picture from that special moment on this website :)