We met online our freshman year of college through a UTSA Class of 2015 Facebook group. From there, we started to casually message each other from time to time, but it didn’t evolve any further. We didn’t exchange phone numbers, or even make plans to meet up in person. Our casual messages were left at that. After some time, when our messages became less frequent and we both got busy with our own lives, we started to run into each other on campus occasionally. Slowly, we were starting to bump into each other more often, and that’s when we decided to give each other a chance. Now, here we are seven years later, and happier than ever.
Radhi: “When I first met Ruchir, my initial thought was that he wasn’t my type. He hated country music while driving a truck and barely watched Bollywood movies! That being said, it’s true when they say opposites attract because he is adventurous, selfless, and constantly pushes me out of my comfort zone!”
Ruchir: “My first memory of Radhi is the day she came over for a movie night at my place. The reason why I will never forget it is because she showed up in purple pajamas and Uggs. If you know me, I was never into fashion nor did I keep up with the latest trends. The reason I was drawn to Radhi was and will always be her infectious smile and cute dimples!”
Soon after graduating UTSA, Ruchir moved back to his hometown of Austin to focus on studying for admission into dental school. While Radhi went back to her hometown in Dallas to join her family business with hotels. In 2017, Ruchir received admission into Midwestern University to get his Master of Biomedical Sciences in Arizona. The day before his masters graduation, he got admitted into the Dental Medicine program! During 3 years of long distance and working on their own accomplishments, they consistently made the effort to spend time together and to travel. Some of the places they have visited together are Spain, Cancun, New Jersey, San Diego, Chicago, and Washington DC!
Ruchir: “Imagine having to surprise someone who knows you better than yourself. I knew it was going to be a challenge to pull off a full-on surprise for Radhi, but somehow, I made it work. After having our families meet each other and approve of us being together, the time was ticking for me to ask my best friend to marry me. If you know Radhi, she’s very well organized and on top of her stuff; the total opposite from me. Radhi has always wanted three things when it came to the proposal. She wanted it to be a surprise, have a professional photographer to capture the moment, and have her friends and family around!
Being in Arizona for school made it difficult to choose the location of the proposal. I’m not originally from Dallas, but I knew about the general hot spots. What helped a lot was that Radhi is good at telling you what she DOESN’T like! I only had the a few sources like Instagram and google images to see where exactly I wanted to propose. I was fortunate enough that I had small break in my school schedule and decided to do it on Saturday, March 23, 2019. About a month out I contacted her friends and family and told them the date and to keep the weekend open! I still hadn’t found a location yet. About 3 weeks out I was starting to panic I had no photographer or location. I ended up finding a beautiful boardwalk at white rock lake and had her cousin go scope it out. It turns out beautiful was not the right word to describe it. Her cousin sent a video of the area; it was dirty and nowhere near what I saw online. At this point, I was in full panic mode. I kept searching and finally came across a small park in Highland park called Flippen Park. I was skeptical of what I saw online but had her brother go check it out. This time it was exactly how I saw and imagined it to be. During that time I was also able to find an amazing photographer. Now that I got her friends and location set, I just need to figure out the logistics of how to pull off the surprise. With the help of her good friend and sorority sister Ruth- she flew into Dallas to have a “girls’ weekend” to hang out and occupy her. I flew into Dallas a few days early so I could get decor and check out the park myself. It was crazy hard to be in Dallas and not tell Radhi I was there; it was eating me up. A week before March 23rd I had explained to Radhi that I would be busy that weekend in Arizona with a volunteering event for dental school to make her feel like I was not in town. Our friends from Houston and San Antonio came early as well and helped with setting everything up. Her sister also flew in Friday afternoon and Radhi had no idea! The day before I finally felt good that everything was coming along as planned except for the weather, which consisted of thunderstorms. At this point I had it in my head rain or shine that this was going to happen, I even joked with her friends that if I rained it was going to become like a Bollywood movie or like the scene from the notebook. FINALLY, March 23rd arrived, the plan to get Radhi to park was simple, Ruth also happened to have her engagement photoshoot the day after with her fiancé in Dallas so she told Radhi that on Saturday she would leave for bit to meet up her photographer and fiancé for “dry-run”. Ruth asked Radhi if she could meet her up around 4pm to check out the park, get her opinion, and then grab dinner and drinks afterwards. As 4pm came around I was pacing back and forth under the gazebo to see which side Radhi would be coming from. The moment I saw her car my heart started to race as I walked over to greet her. When I saw her I felt like I was meeting her for the first time. When she saw it was me and not Ruth, she knew what was going on. In shock and happy tears, we both walked to the gazebo that had both of our Letters R&R with white rose and candles all around and popped the big question if she would be my WIFE!!!”