Over the course of my life, I have dabbled in various activities. Some ended up very successful (such as singing), and others...not so much. Earlier in the week I encountered a message that said, “80% of people end up in a job not related to their major at all,” or something along that quite disconcerting line, and although I paused for a moment to freak out, my mind ended up taking a stroll down another path. This little Ad got me thinking about the extracurriculars in my life that started at one point and ended up at a point I could not even dream about. One of those activities was dance.

At some point towards the end of middle school I, a girl who had never danced properly in her life, decided she was going to take Indian classical dance lessons. For what real reason I will never know, but I am forever indebted to that class because among the various lessons I learned (such as no, I cannot balance a copper vessel on my head while standing on a plate), and the tiny bit of muscle definition that I gained, I also ended up with a person so near and dear to me that if it meant I would have to take dance for the rest of my life I would.

I don’t actually remember the very first time we met or talked for that matter, but I knew we were going to the same school. In fact, I don’t remember much about our very first encounters except for when we ended up in a car singing as loud as we could (totally not in tune either), to some song that was on the radio. That is when I knew she was a keeper.

My very first sleepover was at her house as well. The night before our annual dance recital, both of us got dressed up in traditional Gujarati outfits and attempted to practice. As beautiful as those outfits were they were also very difficult to dance in because they kept getting stuck to each other.

It should have been clear that night that we would get stuck together on stage, but really we were just too excited. We ended up getting stuck together on stage, and Anjali, really, we’re stuck together for life.

I eventually quit dance classes because it became super apparent to me that this was not my forte and it would never quite be, but Anjali continued, and she ended up doing her Arangetram which is essentially a debut performance.

This was also the summer that we (my brother and I) slowly transitioned into members of her family. We practically lived at her house all summer, and the Arangetram might have certified her as a professional dancer, but it also certified us as family (not that everyone in school hadn’t already assumed we were cousins or sisters, fake cousins for life amirite?)

Really, after that, we never left. Anjali and her sister Aarya were stuck with us, and this turned into one tradition after the next. Beginning with scary movies after every single Indian event, and binge-watching Forensic Files. It was extremely fun at first because my brother was just so terrified by the movies leading to some golden memories (see: Pinaki throws up after getting scared by our mom and aunt, also see: Pinaki screams his head off after seeing a mouse).

Then it turned into Anjali’s house turning into our summer home, which really meant a whole bunch of bad choices: junk food, deplorable movies, staying in the pool too long, and it was all fun and games until I went off to college.

As it does in most situations, my mind immediately went to: this is it, this is the end (it also did this when Anjali left for college), but shocker! It definitely was not the end. It just meant I was a little further away but because I was homesick and unhappy with my choices in life I actually ended up being home more than I anticipated so really, I wasn’t that far away from Anjali or her family.

Then she left for college, and I think I died a little bit when I first found out she was leaving for Austin (yeah, yeah a whole three hours but more than twenty minutes away from her is too far). It wasn’t so bad though because not only did I end up claiming her parents and her sister, I also had the opportunity to call dibs on the rest of her family too.

It was great because even if we weren’t messing around in Houston with our debatably stupid decisions, we had Austin where yet another member of her family (her lovely cousin who is the human equivalent of a bouncy ball) could add onto our idiocy.

College causes a bit of a distance barrier, and it has been too long since I have seen Anjali, but there is never a bad time to tell her I love her oh so much.

So Anjali, this is for you, the best part of going to dance classes, and really one of the greatest people in my life.

LOVE YOU AMMUKUTTS