Sushain Cherivirala Weds Snigdha Sharma

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: It was a case of two high achievers meeting at freshman orientation at Carnegie Melon University. Though they were in different colleges – he in Computer Science and she in Engineering – chance meetings developed into serious dating and slowly the relationship blossomed over a space of seven years.

But it wasn’t until Sushain graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s in Computer Science -he finished it in one year (after he had completed his BS in an incredible two-and-a half years) – that his parents realized there was something between them when Snigdha Sharma showed up at the graduation ceremony. “We knew then they were deeply attached to each other,” said Sushain’s father, Ramesh Cherivirala. Then, last May, on a trip to the British Isles, Sushain proposed.

That immediately set off both sets of parents into planning the wedding events. Snigdha’s extended family hails from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India while her parents Gyanesh, a software engineer at Oracle and Renu, an elementary school teacher, live in Seattle. They held a religious engagement ceremony in Varanasi last November 24. The next day, Ramesh and Anuradha Cherivirala threw a reception in Hyderabad, Telegana for their extended Indian family.

Six months later, on May 15, 2023, the young couple tied the knot in a traditional Hindu ceremony at The Springs Event Venue in Cypress, just northwest of Houston.

The following day, the Cheriviralas hosted a wedding reception for the newlyweds at the GSH Events Center in Houston. The foyer was jam packed with appetizers and cocktails while the finishing touches were being put on inside the enormous Grand Hall which was set up for 600 people. The décor was spectacular and the ceremony included dances, speeches, entertainment and loving tributes by many of the extended families and friends from far and near. The desserts table, set up in the second foyer, was likewise mobbed by eager guests, who also got their paans at a separate booth.

Ramesh is well known in the Indian community in Houston for his volunteer work, spearheading many charitable causes and running for political office as well as being a leading insurance agent. Many guests included many prominent Indo-American community leaders, as well as everyone’s favorite “mama”, my mother, the 95-year-old Mrs Shakuntla Malhotra.

A touching moment came when Sushain’s middle school health teacher Regina Crafter, (a former Ms. Texas America 2015) reminisced glowingly about his experiences and accomplishments. In her speech, Crafter, who is a cancer survivor, said that she had prayed that she would be alive to attend Sushain’s wedding. She fondly calls him “son”, attended his college graduation in Pittsburgh and does not want to miss any of the milestones in his life.

After a honeymoon in Taiwan, the newlyweds will make their home in the Bay Area where Sushain, 26, works at Stripe while Snigdha, 25 is a software engineer.

IAN has reported on Sushain’s accomplishments over the years starting from the winning of Bevan Scholar for a perfect score in SAT in the 7th grade. This led him  to be invited to IBM’s office in Poughkeepsie, NY, where he was celebrated for being the youngest “Master the mainframe” contest winner (https://www.indoamerican-news.com/students-bring-new-blood-to-venerable-ibm-units/). He was also the only Google code-in contest winner from Fort Bend ISD (https://www.indoamerican-news.com/cherivirala-wins-second-google-code-in-grand-prize/).