Marriage Broker Auntie

This is a special episode of Behind the Scenes hosted by a good friend, Rahul Kolle. In this episode, Rahul interviews Founder of Marriage Broker Auntie, Priyanka Bharadwaj along with her husband, Karthik Shashidhar, about their marriage.   Priyanka and Karthik met face to face, for the first time 12 years ago on this very day, 28th September. This Bangalore-based couple first met online before meeting online even became a thing way back in 2006. Today, we go Behind the Scenes to learn about how this diametrically opposite couple has been building their relationship.

South Bangalore Vs North Bangalore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVtTUFeqoOc&t=124s 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN-FI-VzEQA&t=0s

#podcasts #bangalore #marriages #virtual #relationships

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Sarah Parveen and Umair Hashim. Sarah and Umair met as teenagers in 2005, over a conference call through common friends. What started as instant attraction in Kolkata took them places not just literally, but also in their respective careers too. They’ve been together 16 years, and have been married since 2015. Sarah is a property lawyer, and Umair is an electronics engineer and they live with their wonderful 2-year old daughter, Norah in Cambridge, UK.

Every conversation with every couple is unique and special. But today’s conversation is extra special because my guests today are octogenarians, Vinutha and Radhakrisha, who’ve been married for over 60 years. Yes, you heard that right - they’ve been together for more than half a century. Vinutha was 19 and Radhakrishna was 26 when they got married back in 1960 It was also the day they first met. Since then, they’ve had 4 children and 7 grandchildren of their own, and raised a few others as their own. These days, they spend their time catching up with close friends and relatives, watching movies, listening to music, and reading books. While Vinutha can be often found solving Sudokus, Radhakrishna is a freelance writer who occasionally sings his and Vinutha’s favourite songs. While you may think that they are like any other couple from their generation, but believe me, the gold is really in the details.

In today's episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to a Bangalore-based couple, Asha and Rajagopal. Having spent 30 years in corporate careers, this couple has recently started enjoying their retired lives. Rajagopal and Asha met in a typical arranged marriage setting, and have been married for 30 years. They have one son, Nikhil, and a daughter-in-law, Neha, who is a recent addition to their small family. Their marriage began in a joint family and swiftly moved into a nuclear setting, and went back to a joint setup allowing the couple to experience various transitions in their relationship. Today, we have the privilege of learning about their 30-year old journey.

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Janani and Abishek. They are both from Chennai and now live in Bangalore with their babies, Bamm-Bamm, a 9 year old Labrador and Raman, their 9-month old son. Janani is a data scientist and Abishek works in product management. They first met in engineering college in early 2000s. They've known each other for almost two decades, of which they’ve been married for one.They’re opinionated hotheads who are as similar as they’re dissimilar, fight like cats and dogs but always have each others’ backs and fiercely protect their little world. Like Joel and Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, they are convinced that they will find their way back to each other even if their memories have been erased.

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Simran and Siddharth Mangharam, a happily married couple based in Bangalore. They are the co-founders of Floh, a very popular singles community in India. Simran and Siddharth met at a house party in 2007 where they bonded over a platter of cheese. Their relationship was never meant to have any commitment to begin with, but they eventually not only went on to get married themselves, but even started a company, that helped thousands of single people find their life-partners in the most organic way possible. They may have sparked the beginning of thousands of relationships, but we had the privilege of learning about what sparked their relationship and how they keep that spark going even today years into their marriage.

In today's episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Leema and Manoj, a happily married couple based in Bangalore. Leema and Manoj met through a common friend in 2005. While most people have a checklist for an ideal partner, Leema made one to explain why she and Manoj shouldn’t be together. But that didn’t stop this gregarious couple who’ve now been married for 13 years and live in Bangalore with their 9 year old daughter, Natasha. 

In today's episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Vidya and Sagar, a happily married couple living in Bangalore. Vidya and Sagar first met at Pre-University in late 2000s, but they only really started dating much later. A casual comment on a Facebook post led to a date at a coffee day. True to its tag line, a lot did happen at Coffee Day - on their very first date, this couple decided that they would only continue this conversation if they could commit for the rest of their lives. They got married in 2015 and ever since, they’ve been partners in crime. The boldness and frankness in their approach to coming together remains a hallmark of what keeps them tight even today. 

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Ramya and Yajas. This Bangalore based lawyer couple met at Law School tutorials in 2007 when they were teenagers. Ramya works in Policy, and Yajas is a Principal at a law firm. Ramya and Yajas are barely 30 but they have already been together half their life. From young love to making life changing career decisions to support their love, they’ve adulted hand in hand. They've been married for nearly 7 years now, and are wonderful parents to very active 2.5 year old, Ahalya. If you follow this couple on social media, you already know about their shared love for food, travel and looking fabulous, but we had the privilege of going behind the scenes and learning more about them. 

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Thejasvi and Tejas, a T(ea)-loving creative couple who live in Bangalore with their 4.5 year old son, Bhargav. Thejasvi has a Coaching & Healing practice called Being Light, and Tejas works with Buehler India. Thejasvi & Tejas first met in 1999 in Pre-University, started dating a decade after and then got married in 2013. They are yet another couple who’ve braved long distance for a couple of years, right at the start of their married lives and not surprisingly, this experience only brought the couple closer. Tejas moved to Italy to pursue his MBA while Thejasvi stayed back in India continuing her career with the Tata Administrative Service. When they started living together, they'd nothing but utmost admiration for the people they'd grown into during their time apart, and the acceptance of this growth is the secret to this couple's happiness. 

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Dr Shobha and Dr Anand. This couple met for the first time in 1991 in a typical arranged marriage setup. They got engaged a week after they first met, got married another week after and started living together only 6 months after they got married. Today, when they look back on their 30 year partnership, Dr Shobha and Dr Anand say that building their relationship was a gradual process, nurtured by patience and commitment. They have travelled the world together, and are settled in Cornwall in UK. 

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Apoorva and Devaraj, a happily married couple in Austin, Texas. Apoorva & Devaraj's story is a classic friendship turned to romance which eventually led to them getting married in 2014. While they’ve been married for 6.5 years now, they spent the first half of their marriage living thousands of miles apart as Devaraj went to Texas A&M to pursue his masters while Apoorva continued working in Bangalore. When they finally started living together a couple of years later, they began to fall in love all over again, but with the new people each of them had become living apart. This happy go lucky couple with a great sense of humour have never had any big fights, and we're about to find out how.

In this episode of Behind The Scenes, Priyanka talks to Smitha and Sukruth, a happily married couple who live in Singapore. Smitha leads APJ strategy for Dell Technologies and Sukruth is an engineer with Xilinx. They first met in 2001 at their engineering college in Bangalore. It was apparent from the get go that they were two very different people, but over time, they started seeing how the differences in their personalities perfectly complemented one another. They started dating after they graduated, but soon after Smitha went to XLRI to do her MBA and Sukruth went to Georgia Tech for his masters, but the distance only made these hearts grow fonder. They got married in 2010, and they have two children, Avani and Advay, ages 7 and 4. 

Growing up, we’ve listened to countless stories that end with meeting your soulmate, getting married and living happily ever after. But is that all to relationships? We hope to unravel marriage through stories of real relationships in the first season of the Marriage Broker Auntie podcast, Behind the Scenes. This is an audio series documenting the lives of happily married couples who’ve committed to building healthy relationships everyday.

I am your host, Priyanka Bharadwaj, Founder & CEO of www.marriagebrokerauntie.com. We'll be speaking with seven amazing couples from across the globe who've graciously come forward to share their relationship stories. You are now listening to the trailer of Behind The Scenes. The full conversations will be available on the Marriage Broker Auntie Youtube Channel as well as Spotify. Please follow and subscribe to our channel if you haven’t done so already so you can have access to the future episodes when they’re out. 

You can also go to our website marriagebrokerauntie.com to learn more about this project and the work we do.