Our Story

How We Met

How He Proposed

A Bit More About Courtney

A Bit More About Raju

Our Story

How We Met

We met in Kansas City. I went to college in Kansas City and Raju originally moved there to do contract work for Sprint. We both ended up working for a company called Virtumundo. From the moment I was introduced to Raju I thought, "He's hot!" (Raju thinks my saying this is a bit vulgar, but it's really what went through my mind, so I'm saying it!). It took a few months, but we started hanging out together after work, shooting pool (how lady-like of me). On Valentine's Day, we wanted to spend some time together, but neither of us really wanted to call it a "Valentine's Date". So, we got together, ordered a Papa John's pizza, and watched The Usual Suspects. A year later, we celebrated our first anniversary on Valentine's Day.

How He Proposed

Raju picked me up at the airport after my long trek home from Tennessee on Christmas night. I knew he was planning on cooking dinner, but when I got home he had set the table and even printed a menu! Being oblivious, as usual, I sat down, and we chatted while he cooked. We enjoyed cheese and crackers from a basket of goodies his Amma and Appa had sent us, along with tiger prawns for the appetizer. The main course was clams in a white wine reduction, and for dessert berries and petit tartes. We then opened presents - I was thrilled with my Elvis movies and espresso cups; Raju enjoyed his shaving kit. As we sat on the couch chatting, I told him I also bought us a present -- Season 4 of the Family Guy. After Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer quit playing, Raju said he also bought us a present. He pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. I replied, "Really?" After confirming that this wasn't all some elaborate hoax, I of course said Yes!

A Bit More About Courtney

Born and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, I grew up being a water baby, spending my summers splashing around in Boone Lake. At 18, I packed up and moved to Kansas City to go to art school (where there were no lakes, or mountains either). By 22 I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute's Photography program and jumped feet first into the real world, getting a job in the internet market, which is where I met Raju.

I still enjoy photography and art - it's more about the creating something than the actual physics behind the taking of the photograph. You can see some of my work on Madd Hatter's Lab as well as take a peek inside my brain in the diary on the site. And I still love being in or near the water, and just being outdoors in general, especially if it's a sunny day and Raju and Milo are with me.

I generally love to have music playing and I enjoy a wide range of genres. The standard answer on favorite music used to be "anything but country" but I'm now learning to appreciate even some country music (but nothing too depressing or that awful pop stuff they make today). I like to shop, read, and I also love old movies, especially if they are in Technicolor. And sometimes I just like to space out and do nothing for a while.

A Bit More About Raju

Since Raju still hasn't gotten around to writing about himself, I'm just going to steal a "My Cousin Raju" story from his talented cousin Indu.

Lessons in Chenglish
by Indu Balachandran

When my cousin Raju who lives in the US, visited Chennai recently, he dragged us off to a bylane in Triplicane. After some random twists and turns on narrow streets, he suddenly yelled in delight "There it is!". And went click, click, click with his camera. The object of his relentless searchÑthe painted nameboard of a small restaurant: KAILASH TIFFINS & MEALS. Below the name was their speciality dish: FRAID FISH.

Apparently, my cousin was determined to track down this restaurant, just to show a picture to his American girlfriend - and there it was, just as he'd seen it a few years ago.

Well, there could have been an "A" missing before the word FRAID FISH, but we doubted that the owner Kailash was serving up a scared batch of fish, caught in a shaken state knowing they were going to die shortly. Just another good old Chennai spelling by someone who wrote his English exactly like he spoke it.

As the chuckling Raju got back to my car, I decided to give him a bonus: and take him on a tour of my own favourite restaurant item hilarities. My favourite - a board on Whites Road which said "Hot Mutton Pups daily". Lest Menaka Gandhi worry that this was a shady solution to our street dog problem - the owner was merely advertising Mutton Puffs - said the Tamil way. (Or was Mutton Pups a smaller portion of a hot dog?)

And while on the subject of dogs, I used to fervently hope "Paw Bhaji" had nothing to do with a poor doggy's feet either.

In our busy, meal-on-the-run lives, the easiest thing of all to order is, of course, a quick thali. But the "MEALS REDDY" board outside an Andhra restaurant has always puzzled me: is that a spelling mistake? Or is the owner a Reddy-garu?

And then there's that truly international roadside shack that proudly serves "Indian, North Indian, and Chainese Items". Even some of their food names seem Indo-Chinese (and why not, as they contain sambar powder). I saw on their menu board "Gopi Manchurian" - a hot favourite with all autorickshaw drivers stopping here.

We drove on Lattice Bridge Road - to look for a signage a pal is always talking about: "Fine Chicks Available". Not a dating service as he first thought, but a wayside chicken stall of course.

But the best thing Raju shot that day was a Today's Special board in Mylapore. Here was the written Tamil-English language at its finest. I stopped the car and pointed it out: "MALAI GUPTA". A dish named after the north Indian chef perhaps, wondered Raju. Suddenly it hit him like a curried ball landing in gravy: MALAI KOFTA!