23rd Mar 2018 - That’s the day it all started. I sent out the request to Shalini Srivastava (YYVZ5809) on Jeevansathi and she accepted it on the same day. We shared the details with our parents and they confirmed a good horoscope match. A very important criteria for marriage in both of our families. It was then that we decided to interact with each other. However, this journey wasn’t really a straightforward one from here on. I stay in Leeds and she stays in Dehradun. I had just returned back to the UK from a vacation and there was no chance of me going back to India for at least another 6 months. The first problem was distance. The second was the time difference. The third was that I was really busy those days due to work so I wasn’t able to devote as much time as I should have. Yeah, I know !!! What an idiot I was !! Not able to devote time to the most important thing !! Who does that 🤦🏻‍♂️ Anyways, even then Shalini was completely motivated and devoted in making this work. She was really patient with me from the very beginning. Then we slowly started interacting with each other. We realised through our conversations that we had led very similar lives up until then. Similar family cultures, similar history and moreover we were quite similar. Although I agree we had (and still have) differences in our thought process but the best thing about her is that she is the most caring and loving soul I have ever seen. She really is amazing !!! She takes really good care of my family and keeps everybody happy. My parents and sister are really fond of her and why not. Such an amazing woman she is. Coming back to our story, we got to know each other for few months over phone calls and video calls. She turned out to be even more amazing than I expected her to be. Taking care of every minute detail in our discussions, being honest about every thing whether good or bad, being open about things even though we were on different standpoints as far as our views are concerned. All this really amazed me. I was clear in my mind by August/Sept 2018 that she is the one. Meanwhile, our parents also met each other and approved of everything. They also met her and instantly found her to be a perfect daughter in law. I knew that she also was really happy with all this and wanted to go ahead with the alliance. But I didn’t want to ask her for marriage over a phone call. How boring that would have been !!!! I planned my next trip to India in November 2018 and I met her the day I reached. I didn’t tell my family about it. It was 01st November 2018 in Lucknow. I had planned a meeting in Lebua and arranged for a special proposal. Arranged a nice set up and photographers too. And with a bit of a you tube inspired act, I went down on a knee and proposed her for marriage. We then “officially” met each other on 04th Nov 2018 with our families and agreed for marriage. Faldaan (Roka) happened on 10th Nov 2018. Then after a long 6 month gap, we got engaged on 03rd May 2019. Our wedding date is 01st Dec 2019. We would like to take this opportunity to thank every member of the Jeevansathi team for running this platform which brings people together for the rest of their lives. You are amazing !!! Regards, Shalini Srivastava (YYVZ5809) and Abhinay Srivastava (ZSXY5381)