Brought Together by Dance, and Undeterred by Distance

In July 2019, after six years of long-distance relationship, Drs. Maya Kailas and Amit Kohli have been lastly in the identical metropolis. Yet though they shared an residence in Manhattan, they nonetheless confronted related struggles when it got here to discovering time to see one another.

“As doctors, we don’t get that much time off at the same time,” stated Dr. Kailas, 30, a pediatric resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. “Finding quality time to spend together can definitely be challenging.”

But as Dr. Kohli, 31, a resident within the neurology division at Mount Sinai Hospital, famous, “when we do get those windows of time to spend together, we value them more because of that.”

The two met in September 2010 as undergraduates on the University of Chicago. Dr. Kailas, who grew up in Fond du Lac, Wis., was a freshman. Dr. Kohli, who was raised on Long Island, was a sophomore. Both have been members of their school dance workforce, UChicago Bhangra, a sort of Indian folks dance from the Punjab area.

“I was a one-trick pony when it came to Indian dancing, because that’s really the only dance I know,” Dr. Kohli stated. “She seems to know every dance — I couldn’t keep up with her.”

About a 12 months after changing into teammates, the 2 acquired to know one another higher whereas on the way in which house from a dance competitors. “Everyone else in the car fell asleep except for the two of us,” Dr. Kailas stated. “We chatted the whole way,” she added, and bonded over a shared love of Disney movies.

In May 2011, they’d a primary date at Geja’s Cafe, a fondue restaurant in Chicago, which included a dwell flamenco efficiency. Before the night time ended, additionally they strolled by the town’s Lincoln Park. Not lengthy after, “we became inseparable,” Dr. Kailas stated.

Following his commencement in 2013, their time collectively, in individual a minimum of, got here to an finish. Dr. Kohli went off to finish a medical diploma at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, N.Y. After she graduated, Dr. Kailas moved to Boston, the place she later earned a medical diploma from Boston University.

Though relationship long-distance had its challenges, Dr. Kailas stated, neither she nor Dr. Kohli ever thought-about breaking apart. While she was ending school, he would usually fly from New York to go to her in Chicago. When she moved to Boston, these flights turned highway journeys. The determination to get married, each stated, was one they arrived at collectively through the years they lived aside.

They turned engaged in December 2019, whereas on a shock journey to Chicago deliberate by Dr. Kohli as a present to Dr. Kailas.

“It was a Friday evening, and we were just laying around in our apartment,” she stated. “I asked him what we should do that weekend, and he just said, ‘Pack your bags, we’re going on a trip! We have a flight that leaves in four hours.’”

“The entire weekend was a beautiful trip down memory lane, visiting our favorite spots,” Dr. Kailas added. “We took a walk through Lincoln Park, just like we did on our first date.”

They have been wed May 28 in a Hindu ceremony on the East End Plaza at Navy Pier in Chicago. Sri Begur Nagendra Rao, a priest on the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, Ill., officiated on the ceremony earlier than 550 vaccinated friends.

Earlier that day, Paramjeet Kaur Singh, a trustee of the Illinois Sikh Community Center in Wheaton, Ill., led the couple in a Sikh ceremony earlier than the identical friends on the Aon Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier.

The wedding ceremony came about a full 12 months after it was initially scheduled due to the pandemic. After suspending the occasion, Dr. Kailas and Dr. Kohli joined the entrance traces within the struggle in opposition to the coronavirus. Dr. Kailas was dispatched to assist sufferers of all ages. “That was kind of a crazy experience,” she stated.

Looking again, Dr. Kohli, who cared for stroke sufferers throughout that point, remarked that it took a particular dedication to at least one one other to maintain their relationship thriving within the face of such adversity.

“There was a lot of investment on both of our parts,” he stated. “Both of us really went out of our way to make sure the other person felt heard, valued and respected.”