You can say our relationship started the old fashioned way, in the temple basement where all the food is served. As we sat along the walls with our families and friends, a mutual friend introduced us briefly and we both left thinking, "That person was pretty cute". Fast forward a week and we found each other in the same room again, this time at the SASA show in Boulder. Thinking this is just a crazy coincidence, we chatted for a while and eventually became Facebook friends. Unfortunately we do not have the records of those conversations but we chatted for weeks, culminating in Sohan asking Shalini to Prom! (This was back in April 2010!) That ended up being our first of many dates and the start of our wild adventure together.

Our story of how Sohan asked Shalini to Prom kicked off quite a few themes of our relationship. Keep in mind, Sohan and Shalini barely knew each other at this point but he wanted to do something big. He picked her up and said he wanted to show her something at his high school and when they arrived, he pointed to the roof and said, "We're going up there." There is no ladder so it took a few tries...and falls....to climb up. Once they finally got up, there were flowers in a vase and glow sticks taped to the wall that was supposed to spell out "PROM?" Sohan had prepared everything earlier in the day, though, so some of the glowsticks had faded and it looked like "FROM?" which Sohan and Shalini always laugh about. Of course Shalini said yes and they ended up having an amazing time at Prom together. After Prom, they ended up watching the first of many sunrises together and it solidified two major themes to their relationship: rooftops and sunrises.

Fast forward almost 10 years later..... The Proposal: On Saturday, August 24th, 2019, Sohan and Shalini had planned to have a day of picnics. They woke up early because he wanted to watch the sunrise and have a breakfast picnic (Shalini should have known) and he took Shalini to the famous Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ. As they walk in, the manager comes to get the elevator to take them to the roof. At this moment, Shalini has no clue what's going on (and being 6 am, she wasn't very awake either). The best part is a hotel guest had tried to take another elevator to the roof at the same time as them, but was denied by the manager as he told him "the roof is closed". As they get up to the roof, Sohan takes Shalini to the balcony. It was breathtakingly beautiful as the sun was just rising over the horizon of the ocean and boardwalk. As they are watching the sunrise, Sohan turns Shalini around and in glow sticks spelled out on the wall is "Marry M". At this point, Sohan gets down on one knee and proposes! It was even more beautiful than Shalini could have ever imagined. After the proposal, Sohan's sister, Priya, and her husband, Tarun, came out from behind the wall to congratulate them! We celebrated with a brunch in NJ, then a picnic at Central Park in NYC and finally dinner and drinks on a rooftop overlooking Manhattan! The entire day was so memorable and full of celebration! Side note: It was incredibly windy on the rooftop so Priya and Tarun had run out of time to put up all of the glowsticks... hence why it only said "Marry M". But Shalini thought this was on purpose to go along with the "FROM" from prom night. Seriously, this was perfect!

On June 13th, 2020, Sohan and Shalini tied the knot! It wasn't an easy decision, given the world was falling apart. We had a planned a big, fat, Indian wedding with all of our friends and family... only to realize this dream wedding was not possible during the evolving global pandemic. Our 350 person wedding quickly turned into a 15 person wedding in Shalini's backyard. Although this was unplanned, the love between Sohan and Shalini was still so beautifully captured in this intimate wedding. We had a proper Indian wedding with a Pandit and were very happy to be married during such crazy times. Soon after, Shalini and Sohan bought a house and moved to Omaha, NE where Shalini started her fight against Covid-19 in her Internal Medicine Residency at Creighton University Medical Center. Sohan and Shalini have been so happily married and are now so excited to finally celebrate their joyous wedding with all of there friends and family in June, 2021!