OUR STORY
Her Story
The backstory-
Winter of 2010-2011, I received an AAPI scholarship to travel to India for community service projects. During the trip, I met Avni at an AAPI event and she decided to volunteer with us at the Bidada medical camp. Upon returning to the US, I contacted the MSRF AAPI Community Service Chair- Amit- for my scholarship. In the next couple of months, Amit found multiple reasons to email me, call me, text me, etc and even convinced me to come to the annual AAPI convention. Later on, Amit sent me a "casual" text message to which I took offense. He immediately called me, profusedly apologized, and a phone conversation that started early evening ended around 1am. We got to know each other through our phone conversations. Both Amit and I happened to be in Atlanta and decided to meet briefly at the Atlanta airport
What I find out later:
Amit and Avni were good friends and Avni had told Amit about our trip in Bidada, about my personality, my values, etc. So all of Amit's "random" texts, calls, and emails were not so "random" after all! And.... what I thought to be a "casual" text message that changed our relationship forever , was a deliberated, carefully orchestrated plan by Amit to find out if I was single......Well, his plan worked.... and I sure am glad that it did :)
The rest-
The first time we met was over ice cream at the Atlanta airport (I was fortuitously in Atlanta on an away rotation at Emory- where I had my heart set on for residency). The second time we met was at the AAPI Convention in New York. After spending a wonderful weekend with each other, we both knew this was right for us. Amit had already matched for Miami, so despite my love for Emory, I choose to rank Miami #1 for residency.
That was one of the best decisions of my life as Amit and I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Miami. Our favorites: Saturday morning walk along south beach followed by brunch at Juice and Java , the farmers market on Lincoln road, visiting Fairchild Botanical Garden, dancing the night away at the Blue Martini/FDR...heck, we even took Salsa classes!
Miami has watched our love grow deeper for one another and we cannot wait to celebrate our wedding with you in Memphis!
His Story
The backstory-
Back in the winter of 2010-11, I learned of Kinjal through my friend Avni in AAPI as I was helping to coordinate a scholarship she had received through the organization for a project in India. We started talking and while our conversations initially were strictly related to her project, we got to know each other more and I thought she was a really awesome girl (and thought she liked me).
Moving forward to the spring, we were talking every few days and while Kinjal was on an away rotation in Atlanta, I happened to be transiting through Atlanta for 2 hours on my way to Omaha in May 2011. So we planned to meet at the Atlanta airport.
The meeting-
I'm in athletic shorts, t-shirt and sandals and hadn't shaven in 2 days (my usual look, even when not traveling) as I exit past security at Atlanta's airport. I call Kinjal, who had just parked and we meet in the food court between the South and North terminals.
She looked...amazing. She was all put together having just come from the hospital (trying to impress the attendings at Emory to get into residency) and we decided to get some Edy's ice cream - and of course, Kinjal being Kinjal, doesn't let me pay for her ice cream. Over the next 30 minutes I had a really awesome time getting to know her and was really impressed by her drive and her personality.
Anyway, time flies and I have to catch my connection, so we say bye at security and I fly off.
The rest of the story (the quick website version)-
I catch up with her the following week and finally convince her to come to the AAPI convention in NYC the next month, after she gets back from another trip to India.
We have a great time at the convention and exploring NYC for a few days before I returned to Pittsburgh where I just started my internship after finishing med school in DC.
Over the next year, we travel between Pittsburgh and Memphis to see each other every few weeks and I am ecstatic when Kinjal matches into Pathology at the University of Miami.
We both moved to Miami and since then it's been a lot of fun exploring South Florida and traveling around the world.
We are really looking forward to celebrating our wedding with our family and friends this August in Memphis!