Love knows no boundaries. Well, it came out true for Misha who hails from Uttarakhand, India, but is based in Colorado and Juno was brought up in Nevada, now is based in Colorado. As Misha puts it, if she would have logged in one second late and he logged out, the story would have been different. “We met online on a travel community page. It was a fluke that we met. He and I commented within a matter of second with all curiosity. He was stealing someone's internet, so he had to log out which resulted in us exchanging numbers. That night we had a long conversation which did not look like it would ever end. I think what really clicked me was Juno's (Tyler's) Vulnerability to share every single detail of his life in those 6 hours. He was such an open book, and I could read through it all. I knew he was such a genuine person, and I knew I can't afford to lose that awesome human,” beamed Misha.
Well, it was no different for Juno. He was blown away by her sense of humour and her passion to work for her community. Misha being from India, was a plus for Juno, as he was madly in love with India. “Mama India saved my life and gave me a new direction. Misha was cherry on top of all that”, said Juno.
After dating for 6 months, Misha and Juno decided to marry. Initially, Misha thought her parents might oppose her choice but to her surprise, her family was incredibly supportive. Being an adventurous junkie, both Misha and Juno were very outdoorsy and in to traveling. Then there was an addition of an adorable 22-months-old Zen who most of the times accompanies his parents on a hike. Misha refers Zen as pahadi bachha (son who hails from mountain).
“Our families trust our instincts as parents, so they were fine. I hiked during my pregnancy too, so taking baby on a hike was an extremely easy decision. People may think it is an unheard concept in India where you keep your baby safe at home until they are big enough to talk and walk but in US gladly people are more open to outdoors and adventuring with their babies at a very tender age. We had our first international flight with Zen when he turned 2 months and yes, a lot of people showed concern, but his paediatrician gave us green signal and that is all we needed,” said Misha.
Misha added, before going on a hike they check weather and Zen’s mood. They always go with a long hike plan but on an average of 5 miles. Even if they are busy, they see to it that they go for 2-3 mile walk and take Zen to park or hike around neighbourhood followed by swimming. Misha and Juno have an Instagram handle by the name ‘Indian Oracle’ where they put up posts and stories about their hiking and traveling. Sometimes they are praised for their lifestyle and sometimes they are heckled. “We do not deter by anyone's opinion. Just how people have right to opinion, we have right to live our lives on our own term. We don't get intimidated by negative comments because we are more focused on positives over negatives of social media. We believe we are raising Zen in a non-conventional way in a lot of standards but as long as our kid is thriving and adventuring this life, we will keep doing it. The day he is done we won't push him. All we can do is encourage,” added Misha.
Unlike other couples, they believe in outdoor parenting, and they see it as the easiest, cheapest, most adventurous, and fun way of parenting. “You teach young kids to be close to nature and how to form a harmonious bond with it. Then they are more creative, carefree, and problem solvers,” said Misha.
Living such unconventional life has made her more patient and Misha thinks, they both have learnt to be a minimalist and frugal when outside and at home.
“Yes, it is an unconventional life may be, but it is just like any other love story. We are living our lives just like any other conventional couple would live,” adds Misha.
Few days ago, Misha acquired US citizenship and she is on cloud nine.
