It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage
From friction at work, to best buddies, partners at work, and partners for life— Saket Khanna and Neeta Valecha’s love story reads straight out of a Karan Johar script! Directors at startup MealTango, one meeting was all it took to change perceptions, and led to marriage and a life together…
From sparks flying and friction at work, to best buddies, partners at work, and partners for life—Saket and Neeta’s life story reads straight out of a Karan Johar script! Except, there was no drama, just good old-fashioned karma, and lots of love.
Meet Neeta Valecha and Saket Khanna—both directors at their own startup, called MealTango—a home-food startup that has received recognition from master chef judges and global press alike, as well as gained attention from home chefs in 14 countries. As CEO and founder of MealTango, Saket Khanna is a versatile professional who understands the challenges of building a business. He has consulted across the US, and worked with a London-based startup. Saket is an engineer from the University of Pune (VIT College) and further graduated with a full-time MBA from the University of Oxford, with a specialisation in Entrepreneurship. His better half, Neeta Valecha, is a director and advisor in the company, MealTango. Neeta is certified in Design Thinking from Stanford University, from where she did a distance programme. She too is a qualified engineer, and completed her engineering from the Bhopal University (Hitkarini College).
They both started their careers in technology. Saket started working in 2003 at Infosys, and had the opportunity to consult with Bank of America, New York City and Capital One Bank, Richmond, Virginia—both Fortune 500 companies in. Post his MBA, he also worked with a London- based startup.
Technically it was love at first sight, but if you read their cute love story, there was no love when they first interacted with each other. The sparks did fly, but of a different kind. They did not see eye to eye, literally, at work. This techie couple first spoke when they were working for Infosys. Saket and Neeta used to work together at Infosys, where they were part of the same team— him in the USA, and Neeta, a lone team member operating out of Monterrey, Mexico. Sitting at two different locations, the workplace sort of brought them together but also drifted them apart. Neeta reported to Saket. At that time, there were so many infrastructure issues, and somehow the two just did not get along! In fact, Neeta quit the company and returned to India, and she had a feeling it had something to do with Saket. Which of course still bothers Saket!
A couple of years later, when Saket was leaving for his MBA in Oxford, he came to India for a twoweek break. Their old work team decided to have a get together, and Neeta reluctantly agreed to join. Some of the team members had to coax her—‘Saket’s not such a bad guy... come on over to the party’.
As per the logistical arrangements, Saket had to pick up Neeta from E-Square, on University Road, in Pune. He had an inkling that Neeta may not particularly like him too much, given their professional past. Anyhow, when he stopped the car to pick up Neeta, she hopped in, he saw her through the rearview mirror, she saw him and something clicked! Saket thinks that they realised they weren’t such god-awful people after all, and before they knew it, they wanted to get married to each other! Based at two different foreign locations, Saket and Neeta had not much cared for each other. However, as it turned out, one meeting in India and they were in love!
William Shakespeare so profoundly wrote ‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’ True love always encounters difficulties. However Saket and Neeta did not encounter that many difficulties and they have their siblings to thank! They are not of the same caste. He is a Khatri and she is Sindhi. As expected, some family members had their concerns. But times are a-changing today, aren’t they? Neeta’s two older brothers had already had intercaste marriages, and Saket’s parents belong to different castes too. So, although there were objections from distant family members, they were able to quell them. As soon as they got the green light, they decided not to offer the relatives any further opportunity to influence their family members—and they went ahead and tied the knot.
Things moved superfast after they met for the first time in India. They started dating when Saket joined the MBA programme in September 2011. They were engaged in January 2012, and married in April 2012. Yes, it was that fast!!
Saket and Neeta were married in the traditional Indian wedding style—yep, the big fat Indian wedding! They were married in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh—at Neeta’s hometown. The wedding rituals went on till the wee hours of the next morning. Saket still gets embarrassed on seeing the wedding videos — because he looks so sleepy by the end of it! Shortly after the marriage they went on a honeymoon to Harihareshwar in Maharashtra. Thereafter Neeta joined Saket in London and they toured Scotland. People told them that they should have said that they had their honeymoon in Scotland—but for them the honeymoon will always be their simple holiday in Harihareshwar. That is Saket and Neeta for you— a simple and honest couple with no frills.
After marriage, Saket went back to the UK, to complete his studies and Neeta worked in Hinjewadi, Pune staying across town with his parents, in Magarpatta city, Pune.
While Neeta is vivacious, adventurous, supportive, financially astute and enjoys pampering Saket, Saket is more laid back. Neeta loves to take on a lot of projects and tries to wrap it up as of yesterday! On the plus side, that means she’s always getting a lot done. On vacation he loves to chill, while Neeta loves going all over the place.
Neeta loves how Saket is always very positive and is able to communicate when things are tough. His amazing communication skills and his empathetic and optimistic nature is what keeps her going.
"As husband and wife, it is easy to figure out when the other person is pulled down by something. So I would say it’s genuinely difficult to keep professional work out of our personal lives. But we have some rules that we go by—for example, we try to keep one day in the week completely free of work"
—Saket
Their five-year-old marriage has been like an exciting merry-go-round. The startup running in parallel demands all their time and attention and has been like a child for them. Add to the mix, they also have two cats. Yes, they both love cats! Saket feels that their relationship has gotten only better over the years. One important skill that they learnt was how to communicate and understand each other when they do not see eye to eye. “But we are also best buddies!” he quickly adds. Their way to resolve fights and arguments is very interesting and they believe that as a rule, it’s not about who’s right, but what’s right for both of them. Certainly there are times they don’t see eye to eye. But whenever there is a difference in opinion, they find it useful to be curious—why does the other person feel the way they do? Why do they think their approach is the way to go. The best part is, “you quickly realise that both are trying to do what’s best for us—so there’s common ground already. It is just a matter of discussing which way makes best sense and what's important to each of us,” feels Neeta. Neeta also feels she used to be quite defensive earlier. “But over time I learnt that it’s okay to be at fault or consider the other’s opinion with an open mind.”
Throw in a cup of tea, and it’s even better.
So how do they manage to keep the professional personal life balance, given the fact they work together in the same company? Neeta is a Director and Advisor at MealTango, and advises in several areas like social media, operations, customer success and more. Saket is a Director and Chief Executive at the young food company. Saket looks after finance, technology and marketing.
“I won’t say we’re too strong here! As husband and wife, it is easy to figure out when the other person is pulled down by something. So I would say it’s genuinely difficult to keep professional work out of our personal lives. But we have some rules that we go by—for example, we try to keep one day in the week completely free of work. We do ‘digital detoxes’ with no WhatsApp and no work discussion. But it’s a challenge when you run your own business,” says Saket.
Saket loves to go for a vacation to Neeta’s parents place in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. “Her parents pamper me no end. We enjoy going on vacations, and spending time together. We are a tea-time family (though everyone fiercely enjoys their own type of tea), so we like to hang out over a hot cup.”
Saket’s parents stay in the same building but in different apartments. “The fact that we stay in separate apartments in the same building gives us the space as well as the closeness with family.” Adds Neeta, “Saket's parents give us the space we need, and are there whenever we need advice. So it works out quite well, actually.”
By Shehnaz Chawla
