Punjabi girl meets Gujarati guy: a true Bollywood love story comes to life! Uttam and Shikha met each other in a way that no one would ever guess, of all places, at a desi party! Shikha was just starting her journey to become a pharmacist (pill counter) at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Uttam was starting his pre-junior year studying Information Systems (computer dork) at Drexel University. Back in the day, Uttam thought he was a cool guy and always wore his aviators to the club, but that night he was quickly brought back down to reality when he saw Shikha on the dance floor. Instantly, Uttam was on a mission to get Shikha's number. Luckily he had a friend who knew Shikha. Uttam was able to get her number the very next day and of course without hesitation, he called to ask her out on a date, and to his surprise, she accepted. That night was the first of many wonderful nights out in Philadelphia and the rest is history.
Build-Up:
"We starting looking at engagement rings together early in the year, but after a few weeks I told Shikha that I wasn't ready to make the investment and needed some more time. Of course, Shikha wasn't too happy about the news. But being the very understanding person that she is, she eventually accepted it. (Although she didn't fail to keep reminding me about the ring!) Little did she know, I already bought the ring and was planning the perfect proposal."
The Proposal:
"Shikha and I had planned to jet set to London for her cousin's wedding during the first weekend of July. Since I had never been to London before and Shikha was born in London, I thought it would be the perfect place to propose. Before I planned out the proposal I had to make sure it would be ok for the two of us to go off on our own for a few hours that Saturday morning. I talked to her parents about it and they had no problem with my plans, so I was all set to go. A few days before we left for London, I let Shikha know that I wanted to see the city for a few hours on Saturday morning, and she agreed to show me around. Everything was set, the plan was perfect, and she had no clue what I had in store for her. I was an absolute nervous wreck the entire way there; not only did I have to make sure the ring was safe and undetectable, I was also about to meet her entire family for the first time! Not to mention practicing what I wanted to say and worrying about making sure everything would go as planned. One could imagine how it felt to have all of this on my mind all while attempting to act as "normal" as possible to keep the big day a secret.
The day was finally here, July 7th, 2007, and it was definitely a lucky day; it wasn't cloudy and raining as it usually is in London. We had a clear sunny day ahead of us and that's when I knew everything would be perfect. We got into central London in the late morning, took a few pictures near Big Ben and had a quick bite to eat. Up next was a ride on the London Eye. I told Shikha that I purchased advanced tickets to take a ride on the London Eye so that we wouldn't have to wait in the long line since we were limited in time. We checked in and the staff asked us to wait for our "host". Being the very perceptive person that she is, Shikha started asking a million questions as to why we had a host. “What is the host for? No one else has a host,” etc. etc. I told her I didn't know what that was about and just asked her to be patient.
Soon enough the host showed up carrying a picnic basket and asked us to follow him to the Eye. You can imagine how many questions Shikha had at that moment, but as before I just told her to follow the host and stop asking so many questions. When we got to the line, the host escorted us right past everyone in line and into the next open capsule. Along with the people in line, Shikha's face was priceless; just total confusion as to why we were walked straight to the front of the line and didn't have to wait a single second to board the London Eye. I finally confessed that I booked the private "Cupid’s Capsule" package that included a private ride, champagne, and truffles. I told her it was my attempt to do something romantic since it was our first time together in London.
The host poured the champagne as we quickly climbed high above central London. I was a nervous wreck and out of nowhere just started my speech about our past, present, and future. In fact, I was so nervous that I forgot everything I wanted to say and Shikha actually started to finish my sentences for me. At that point, she was getting the hint as to what was about to happen. When we reached the top, I dropped down to one knee and asked her to marry me and spend the rest of her life with me. She was at an absolute loss of words and just nodded her head YES! Through all the tears all she could manage to get out was, “Oh my God,” over and over again. Looking around, the other people riding in the capsules next to us had just witnessed what happened and were all clapping and cheering for us. It truly couldn't have gone any better, and seeing the look of happiness on her face was the best moment of my life. It was truly the perfect proposal."
