Shrushti & Venkatesh

Our story

Every love story is beautiful, but ours began with a requirements document.

April 13, 2022 · 4:07 am

"Hey! Any update on that SRS part?"

The single most romantic opening line in software history. We were just two colleagues at Expenzing fixing issues on late-night calls. She called me "sir." I kept finding reasons to say "can we connect?" — and somewhere between the tickets and the test servers, I stopped needing a reason.

October 22, 2022

Her birthday — our first one

The first birthday I got to be part of. I've refused to miss one since.

January 16, 2023

I said "forever"

I typed it before I fully understood how much I meant it. I mean it more now.

January 22, 2023

She said it first

"I love you." Her words, her move, 9 months and 9 days in. I will never let her forget that she cracked first — and I will never stop being glad she did.

August 5, 2024

Half a world apart

I moved to the USA. Everyone says distance kills love. Five weeks later we set our all-time record — 1,955 messages in a single day. Distance never stood a chance.

January 2026

Home, to her

Flights back to India, her hand in mine again — beaches, forts, a glittering Eiffel Tower that wasn't in Paris, and meeting the people she loves most. Every photo from those weeks has the same thing in it: her, glowing.

Today

Still falling

Two time zones, one us. Still texting like it's 2022, still calling "for 5 minutes," still counting down to the next flight home. The story's just getting started.

Us, in numbers

I exported our entire WhatsApp chat and did the math. The data is clear: we never shut up.

💬

3,34,965 messages

And counting. That's a full-length novel… every month, for four and a half years.

📆

1,450 days of talking

From April 13, 2022 to today. We barely missed a day.

📞

7,796 calls

Voice, video, "I'll call you for 5 minutes" that lasted 3 hours.

🌙

783 good nights

Versus 175 good mornings. We are, officially, night people. Exhibit A: our first message was at 4:07 am.

🏆

1,955 messages in one day

September 12, 2024. Our record. What could we possibly have had left to say? Everything.

😒

Her top 3 emojis: 😂 💋 😒

Laughing at me, kissing me, judging me. In that exact order. Accurate.

All the things she is

A scientifically incomplete catalogue of her cuteness. All figures verified against four years of chat evidence.

🗣️

Says "venky" 2,186 ways

Happy venky. Angry venkyyy. Disappointed venky. Three extra Y's when she wants something. I can hear the difference in text.

🫶

Called me "baby" 1,577 times

Also "pagal" 350 times, "idiot" 102 times and "dumbo" 80 times. All of them mean I love you. I checked.

🐱

We're Tom & Jerry

Her words: "tom and jerry ya Naina-Bunny." We bicker like cartoons and love like the movies.

👩‍💼

Once called me "sir"

38 times, back when we were just colleagues. From "audible ho sir?" to "baby" — the greatest promotion of my life.

💋

1,110 kisses · 1,079 judgments

Her 💋-to-😒 ratio is nearly 1:1. Loving me and judging me, in perfect balance. That's marriage training.

💬

Out-texts me by 42,929

1,88,945 of our messages are hers, 1,46,016 are mine. I read every single one twice.

Her people

To understand Shrushti, you have to understand that she was never built for herself alone. Everything she does — every long day, every sacrifice she never calls a sacrifice — she does with her family in her heart. She said it herself once: "I'm doing this for my family." She didn't say it for sympathy. She said it like a fact of nature.

Her mother lives in everything she does — in the way she cares for people before they ask, in the food she remembers, in the love she gives the way it was given to her. Some loves don't end; they just change where they live. Hers lives in Shrushti now, and I see it every single day.

Her father is her anchor. She sits with him, looks after him, measures out his medicines, and quietly carries more than anyone realises. The way that house trusts her tells you everything about who she is.

And around them — her brother, her sister-in-law, the kids who adore her, the whole noisy, loving world that calls her didi. In January 2026, I finally got to meet them. I walked in nervous and walked out understanding her completely.

Family first, alwaysNot a slogan. The operating principle of her entire life.
Her mother's daughterThe warmth, the care, the strength — inherited in full, carried with grace.
Her father's girlHis medicines, his moods, his pride. She's the one he counts on.
Everyone's didiThe all-rounder. The one the kids run to. The spine of the house.

Her values & her fire

Self-respect above everythingHer exact words, preserved for history: "I love my self-respect more than you." She meant it. It's the most attractive thing about her.
Loyalty that doesn't flinch1,450 days. Two countries. One record-breaking September. She shows up, every single day, no matter what.
Care as a reflex"I wish I would be there to take care of you" — sent from 13,000 km away, meant with her whole chest. She takes care of people the way other people breathe.

She wants to live carefree"I want to be so fucking carefree" — her dream, verbatim. My job description: making that come true.
She owns who she is"I love my this self." No apology, no filter. She likes who she's becoming, and so does everyone who meets her.
She said she wanted to be a good girlfriendDecember 2023. For the record: she overshot. Catastrophically.

The pretty one

A museum of my favourite person, 2022 to now. Admission: free. Photography of the exhibits: encouraged.