Ben and Arushi are another success story of Hinge, however, they are only a success because of Arushi’s friend Priyanka (Pri). Summer of 2020, Pri introduced Arushi to dating apps by making her profile on Hinge. Little did she know that it was going to change Arushi’s life. One day Arushi’s friend found this guy’s profile and asked her, “What about him?” Arushi responded, “He’s cute.” Then something piqued her interest, “Oh my god, he’s visited Machu Picchu! I’ve always wanted to go.” Arushi’s friend responded, “You should message him that!” And so, she did! That was the beginning of their story. They messaged back and forth with each other on Hinge for a day and then Ben asked Arushi on a date. New to dating apps and scared Arushi took a brave step to say yes to her first date ever through a dating app but only after making Ben wait for 24 hours! They met for ice cream and were having a great conversation until it started pouring. They wanted to continue their conversation but because it was September 2020, at the height of the COVID pandemic, they preferred to find another outdoor place with shade to talk. Unfortunately, for them so did everybody else. They looked for 15 minutes but could not find a spot. As they were about to give up, they managed to find a barely covered table outdoors at Café Zola. Lost in conversation and sipping wine they didn’t realize how much time had passed and that it had already stopped raining too. To end that wonderful time, they decided to meet again, and again, and again. One obstacle in their relationship early on was that Arushi was soon moving from Michigan to California for work and they both weren’t ready for a long distance. One day with a heavy heart, they both talked and discussed that it might be best for them to part ways. After their conversation, they went for a walk to the Nicholas Arboretum (Ann Arbor). There they sat down by the river on a bench. Ben told Arushi that he knew that it was an important step in Arushi’s career to move and pursue her dreams and he would never hold her back. Arushi told Ben that she knew how important it was for Ben to stay close to his family and she wouldn't ask him to choose otherwise. That was the moment that they both realized that this was worth holding on to. With that and encouragement from Ben's sister, Kelly, and Arushi's cousin, Shashank, they decided to take a leap of faith and agreed to do a long distance. With lots of fun, joy, tears, love, adventure, and two and a half years later, they decided to spend their lives together. Rest is history.

Ben originally intended to propose to Arushi in the Nicholas Arboretum at the same bench where they committed to being in a long-distance relationship back in October 2020. Ben’s plan was to pick Arushi up from the Detroit airport in the early afternoon on December 23rd. Then, on their way back to Toledo, they would stop in Ann Arbor where Ben would propose at the Arboretum and then take Arushi to her favorite restaurant, Cardamom. However, as the proposal date got closer, it was forecasted that there would be a severe snowstorm on December 23rd, so Arushi decided to change her flight to arrive at 11:30pm on December 22nd. The weather forecast ended up being quite accurate, so a drive up to Ann Arbor in Snowmageddon wouldn’t be practical. Ben had to pivot his plan and do so quickly. Earlier that week when Arushi and Ben were on a video call, Ben remembered that Arushi scolded him for not decorating his Christmas tree yet. Ben’s excuse was that he was waiting for her to arrive so that they could decorate the tree together. Wanting to keep the engagement a surprise, Ben decided to hide the engagement ring inside of a small ornament box for Arushi to find when they were decorating. On the evening of December 22nd when Arushi was on her flight from San Francisco to Detroit, Ben called Arushi’s parents to get their blessing to marry Arushi. Ben was quite confident that Arushi’s parents would grant their blessing as they frequently asked Arushi when she and Ben were going to get married – in fact, they asked this question to Ben within the first 30 minutes of meeting each other in person for the first time (haha). On the call, Arushi’s parents were quick to extend the blessing (likely relieved that Ben was done taking his sweet little time). Ben shared with Arushi’s parents that he planned to propose on the morning of the 23rd and reminded them to keep it a secret until he and Arushi call them the next day to share the news. After Arushi landed in Detroit and Ben and Arushi headed straight back to Toledo, arriving around 1 am or so. When Ben woke up around 10 am Arushi was still sound asleep. Ben noticed that Arushi had a few missed calls from her parents from an hour before. Ben was nervous that Arushi would see the missed call notifications and call her parents back, only for them to accidentally congratulate her before he had actually proposed. Ben hid notifications on her phone and got out of bed to start making some coffee. Arushi got up shortly after, and, as Ben had feared, mentioned she was going to call her parents to check in. Ben suggested to Arushi that she call them later and that they just enjoy coffee together first. As soon as Arushi sat down for coffee, Ben got up and brought in a box of ornaments in from the other room and suggested they start decorating the tree. Arushi was slightly confused but played along. As Ben was mentally preparing for the proposal, to his surprise, from 20+ ornament boxes the very first ornament box Arushi grabbed was the one containing the engagement ring! Ben watched nervously as Arushi opened the ornament box that contained the engagement ring. She was still clueless. When Arushi opened the engagement ring box, she opened it facing him (as if Arushi was proposing to Ben). She said, “take it and put it up the tree”, thinking it was an ornament. Ben just looked at her smiling without grabbing the box. With a look of confusion on her face, she flipped the box containing the ring over, “what’s this?” Arushi said. Ben then proposed and they committed to a happily ever after.