Student's Indian Summer Yields Enduring Bond

Most Harvard undergraduates tend to load their plates with demanding classes, activities and jobs, but second semester senior Annapurna K. Duleep's lastest extracurricular outdoes them all: marriage. Whether Duleep and husband Kevin Hill will find happiness with one foot in the Yard may be tied to the success of recently married couples.

If so, the two appear headed for marital bliss.

Needing a break from school, Duleep, a pre-med psychology concentrator, took a semester off in the spring of her sophomore year and returned home to Norwalk, Conn. to work in a doctor's office and with a physician's assistant at local Norwalk Hospital. It was there that she found herself constantly bumping into a "gorgeous" radiologic technologist, Kevin Hill, 35.

Hill soon took a second job at the doctor's office where Duleep was working, As the only two single people in the office, both became the focus of coworkers' matchmaking skills.

"Everybody was trying to set us up," she said.

But they resisted attempts by well-meaning coworkers to force affection, considering their age difference and Duleep's eventual return to Harvard major barriers to any long-term possibilities.

The two continued to hold out until August 14, when Hill bought her lunch, during which they made a date for the very next evening.

Neither expected much from that first date.

"We went into this with the lowest of expectations," Duleep recalled.

She wasn't even sure if the interest would outlast the meal.

"I chose a restaurant within walking distance of my house so I wouldn't be dependent on him for a ride home if I didn't like him," she said.

Two weeks later, the pair set off for a weekend in Exeter, NH, visiting Anna's former high school and finishing the day with dinner at the Exeter Inn.

When the bill came, Duleep said she refused to let Hill pay. Instead, as he attempted to give her the money she said, "Why don't you take that money and start saving for the rock you're going to buy me?"

The next week, Duleep arrived to meet Hill at his apartment and found champagne waiting for her. Hill, who had fallen asleep waiting, roused himself enough to propose.

"You know that $60?" he said, "I opened an account that day."

Duleep is not alone in her recent foray down the aisle. Of eight senior couples engaged last spring, four are now married. Two of the couples are still engaged, and the other two couples could not be reached for comment. Iit may be early to judge the success of these Harvard newlyweds, yet all of them expressed enthusiasm about married life.

"I think it's wonderful," said Robyn A. Liu '98, a sentiment her husband, Jonathan H. Liu '98 was quick to echo.

Rachel M. Kadel-Garcia '98, who, like Duleep, also married an older man, agreed with the Liu's assessment.

"Married life is good," she said of her relationship with Nico Garcia, 35.

Osvaldo E. Pereira '98, who had a long-distance engagement to a student at UCLA, said that just being together is vastly better than negotiating a long-distance relationship.

"It's a 1000-fold improvement over what it used to be like," he said.

For Duleep, being engaged meant returning to Harvard and traveling to Connecticut every few weeks to visit her Hill. Initially, the couple planned to marry this spring, leaving time forDuleep to finish school.

"We knew right away that we wanted to getmarried, but practically speaking I didn't want toget married in College," she said.

But as her sister, Anuradha, who was alsoengaged, began plans to marry her boyfriend thissummer in Bangalore, India, Duleep's ownengagement gradually evolved into plans for a fullwedding, at the prodding of her mother, whose "whydon't you have an engagement party (since we'llall be in India anyway)," turned into "why don'tyou have a small ceremony," and finally into plansfor a double wedding.

It was a Coorg ceremony--named after the Indiantown where her family is from--held on August 28,that consisted primarily of a long reception line,during which the guests congratulated the couple,blessed them and gave them gifts. Indian weddingscan often last for several days, so the couple'sfive hour ceremony--long by Americanstandards--was considered short.

Although Duleep (now Anna Hill) is used to along-distance relationship, she said that gettingused to a long-distance marriage is harder,especially since Kevin's son Darin, 9, has becomea major part of her life.

"Any marriage is difficult, and anylong-distance relationship is difficult, and anyrelationship that involves a child is difficult,so when you put them together, it's difficult,"she said.

However, Hill arranged her schedule thissemester so that she only has Tuesday, Wednesday,and Thursday classes, giving her the flexibilityto spend long weekends at home with Kevin. Thecouple is currently looking for a house inNorwalk, where she will return after this semesterends

"We knew right away that we wanted to getmarried, but practically speaking I didn't want toget married in College," she said.

But as her sister, Anuradha, who was alsoengaged, began plans to marry her boyfriend thissummer in Bangalore, India, Duleep's ownengagement gradually evolved into plans for a fullwedding, at the prodding of her mother, whose "whydon't you have an engagement party (since we'llall be in India anyway)," turned into "why don'tyou have a small ceremony," and finally into plansfor a double wedding.

It was a Coorg ceremony--named after the Indiantown where her family is from--held on August 28,that consisted primarily of a long reception line,during which the guests congratulated the couple,blessed them and gave them gifts. Indian weddingscan often last for several days, so the couple'sfive hour ceremony--long by Americanstandards--was considered short.

Although Duleep (now Anna Hill) is used to along-distance relationship, she said that gettingused to a long-distance marriage is harder,especially since Kevin's son Darin, 9, has becomea major part of her life.

"Any marriage is difficult, and anylong-distance relationship is difficult, and anyrelationship that involves a child is difficult,so when you put them together, it's difficult,"she said.

However, Hill arranged her schedule thissemester so that she only has Tuesday, Wednesday,and Thursday classes, giving her the flexibilityto spend long weekends at home with Kevin. Thecouple is currently looking for a house inNorwalk, where she will return after this semesterends