The past few years have been a complete roller-coaster ride! With each passing year – I was getting closer to my ultimate objective.

• 2007 – This was the time when SammyTammy, Sandy and I teamed up to kickstart our entrepreneurial stint with ApnaBill.com
• 2008 – We brought ApnaBill.com into existence. Jan 28 was when we hit the 400 mark for our beta signup list!

2009 & 2010 were the magic years when things started going really well. My single minded objectives for 2009 included getting aboard full time, getting INR 1M in profit for the year, moving into a full time office, etc. As it happend, our (then) experimental idea AdoMado.com also sprung to life in 2009 – and was selected as top 10 finalists for IIMA BPlan contest. We met some really good folks & finally partnered with them to bring into existence – AdoMado.com, the AppStore, Custom Toolbars, etc.

Today, as I look back at the objectives I had set for myself in 2009 – I feel glad that each one of those objectives were achieved in 2009 & 2010. It took us (& me personally) 2 years to achieve all of them – but we did it.

2010 was also a wonderful year for me personally. I found the love of my life in Kanika. We committed in Feb 2010, got engaged in June 2010 & got married on 13th November 2010. I love you Kannu!

As I start the new year 2011, I want to thank my family for being there when I needed them the most. Now with Kannu by my side, there’s nothing out of my reach. The destination may be a bit far… but hey, isn’t the journey worth more than the final destination?

More about my objectives in 2011 to follow…

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Life is too short to be spent alone…

As of today, I’ve committed to spend the rest of my life with my lovely better half – Kanika.
I am in love …and its beautiful.

It all started when I first boarded the Route 12 bus which provides pickup and drop facility to IBM’ers residing in and around North Delhi.

After taking an internal transfer to IBM Gurgaon on 17th November 2008, I had already missed the bus back to home on the first evening – and I was in no mood to miss it again on 18th November. And as a tradition with all the new people who start using Route 12, I was supposed to enact a movie in the game of “Dumb Charades” – ‘Aabru’.

Having never played dumb charades, I was obviously nervous and lost – but I took the challenge sportingly. It was then when I asked Kanika if I could use her “dupatta” as a prop. Though others objected, she readily agreed. And after enacting the movie, we sat together, chatting – for the rest of the journey – second seat from the starting, left side row (2×2 seats per row) with me occupying the window seat.

Little I knew that it was the beginning of something.

As time went by, We became platonic friends, occasionally sitting together in the 2 hours long journey from office-home/back discussing life, relationships.. or just catching up with each other on Google Talk during late night chats, etc. This obviously brought up the subject of marriage quite a few times – that how parents keep on looking out, arranged marriages – and love marriages.

I also had a chance to meet her lovely Mom when we took AdoMado’s proposal to BSNL. Her efforts were instrumental in getting us a meeting with the BSNL DGM.

The “bandi dhundho abhiyaan” at my place was pretty hot already. I was meeting/talking to a girl almost every two weeks… and wasn’t able to match my wavelength with any. People I met… were good, but not what I was looking for.

At the same time, my bonding with Kanika was growing stronger… She was beautiful, smart, intelligent, “sane”   and I knew that her family was obviously looking out.

That is when, on the morning of 17th September 2009, at almost 11:30 am in the morning – I proposed to her. I was really scared that day… almost had butterflies in my stomach. And it was completely unexpected for her too. She however, very surprisingly, took it in a very positive way… later I came to know that of the “many” proposals that came her way during her IBM tenure, mine was the only one for which she felt positive vibes… and spoke to her mom about it. And then to her dad. Awsm!

Things were still very platonic at that time, with absolutely no inclination towards love. We both did what we felt was right at that time. She took the discussion up with her parents. Her’s is a Punjabi family – Arora’s – and mine is Punjabi Jains. And if this marriage was to happen, it would be an inter caste marriage. We had to get a lot of permissions on our side if we wanted to take this through. Fun in life had just started

Expectations started building up fast. There was a time (I guess during mid October) when Kanika expressed that her family wishes her to settle within their caste. They were never opposed to an inter caste relation but their first preference was looking for a suitable match for her in their own caste. When Kanika told me that, that is what her parents think, I was a bit shattered. I knew that by this time, both (her’s and mine) goals were same, we both had developed a strong bonding. We were falling in love. So after hearing this news, I somehow held onto my sanity. Actually just knowing that Kanika thought exactly similar to what I did, kept me going. From speaking on phone a few times in a week… we went on to speak almost daily. We even started expecting each other to sit together in the bus – and used to feel bad when we couldn’t. And the best part – we used to discuss each and every thing, how we felt during the day, how are things going at either’s home, how many red circles have been marked on Sunday’s matrimonial newspaper, how many girls have accepted my online profile requests – almost everything.

Constant communication was the key to our bond. Kanika went great lengths to keep it alive. Mmuah!

Before we knew, we were in love.
Saying “Luv you“, wasn’t something awkward anymore.

It all changed with a consent from her Dad on 26th Dec night, 2009. Things started looking brighter.

The same night, I disclosed the news to my parents. They were obviously surprised – that I had kept this information from them from so many days. Sameer was already jumping with joy – he had already suggested my Mom that Kanika (whom he had met while dropping us to office one day) would be a good choice for Mayank – “why don’t you speak to Kanika’s parents about it”.

The surprise factor at my home was quite bigger than expected. Mom and Dad took a few days to digest what I had just told them. We even had some heated discussions.

I hope I’d be able to reverse the effect of those heated discussions…
Mom, Dad – I’m sorry if I said something which I shouldn’t have said.
I love you both.

On 1st January, 2010 – Kanika and her Brother Saurabh – met our family at Pizza Hut (Wazir Pur). We all had a nice time and enjoyed the pizzas.

I categorically remember, people asking us the next working day at IBM that how was our New Year – and we both were so wishing that we could tell them that how wonderful was, the first day of the year.

We did not looked back since. On 17th January 2010, I got my family’s acceptance. However, the “official” call to her Dad went out on 24th Jan 2010. My parents met her parents on 26th January 2010.

And all this time, we were mum in the office. We kept our interaction with each other as simplistic as possible. Besides regular discussions about life during bus travel (which was 2 hours each side) – we used to go for a cup of tea (2 for me, 1 for her) in the morning. The day used to conclude with us talking on the phone again during the night. I guess, at times we chatted for nearly 3 hours on the phone. That’s about 2+2+0.5+2 hours of talking daily. WOW!

Never before I knew that I could talk that much. I was changing… for good.

And then – the magical day of 14th Feb 2010 came…
While we went out on our first official Date, our parents met and decided to formalize the bond the very next Sunday – ie, today.

BTW, for everyone who was curious that on 14th Feb, from whom did I received those Roses, I guess I no longer have to conceal the source

Flowers from Kanika

Something from me

Today – on 21st Feb 2010, both the families met at Kanika’s place and performed the Roka ceremony.
Something which we started in September 2009, I hope we’ll be able to conclude – in Sept 2010

Today, I am officially committed – engaged to be engaged.
And I’m loving it

The Dads…

The Moms…

Roka ceremony from Kanika’s end – Saurabh performing the tilak.

Kanika’s Mom giving sweets to me…

My Mom performing the Roka ceremony from our end.

Everyone… missing is Sameer (he’s clicking the pic)

Sameer and Mom

Saurabh.. loving his stint with the Camera.

I just cannot finish thanking both of the families that they tried to look beyond the boundaries of castes. Love transcends any such bias.

Kanika and myself couldn’t have embarked upon such a beautiful start without the support of our families.
Lots of love and thanks to Kanu’s Parents, Saurabh, Sameer – and Mom and Dad.

More photos on Facebook and Orkut.
And interesting thread of discussion on FB.

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