A suitable match

The New York Times (April 6, 2003) celebrated the matrimonial alliance of two Parsis — genetic engineer and director of busi­ness development of the pharma major Hoffmann-La Roche Dr Sherri Treasurywala and London based interbank stock trader for the Bank of New York Cyrus Mistry — with a half-page spread. The wedding at Dadar’s Rustamframna Agiary on March 21, 2003 marked the union of two single, career driven achievers who had been childhood friends but had drifted away to opposite sides of the North Atlantic.

Their parents prevailed upon them to meet — at a Bombay restaurant. But while Mistry was instantly enamored as per the story by Malavika Sanghvi, dating Treasurywala required time and ingenuity. When she finally agreed, the venue was Zurich because she wanted "neutral territory.” He said he’d go to the ends of the earth for her and proposed in the splendor of a setting sun on a deserted sandbar on the Maldives!

Through the fairy tale courtship Treasurywala was reading Vikram Seth’s A suitable boy. Though she considered their common Parsi Zoroastrian heritage as a "comfort zone,” what actually won her over was Mistry’s sangfroid as Treasurywala drove him to the New York airport through "horrific traffic” when he was already late for the flight to London. "He didn’t show he was frazzled even once!” an admiring Treasurywala told Sanghvi.