It’s hard to choose one specific memory that I have had with Sonali as we have gone through so much together growing up. But my favorite memories are the ones the two of us have been creating together right now as we stay up late nights preparing for her big day! It’s amazing to be able to help her with all the wedding decision making and to be a part of it all. I will cherish these times that we are spending together and how we have become the closest we’ve ever been. We have shared so many laughs and thoughts and have boosted each other up when we were down. My childhood would have been so boring without her to share it with. From finishing each other’s sentences to sharing each others clothes, I’m so glad I have her in my life. And I’m so so happy for her and Rushil, and what’s to come!
Every year Sonali’s family and my family would go on vacation. We would always go on adventures together on each trip and always push each other to try new experiences. My favorite memory is one of our first family trips together in Puerto Rico! On the trip we went kayaking through a bioluminescent bay. It was so much fun kayaking with Sonali, the bay was glowing and it was just so pretty! By the time we were halfway through the bay, we were struggling to keep up with the rest of the group. We tried rowing and rowing and then we got tangled in the vines and we were so far away from everyone else. Luckily a tour guide found us and dragged us back with the rest of the group. We have endless stories where we’re struggling and clumsy together like this, but what makes our adventures together so much fun is that we push each other outside our comfort zone and always end up having a blast.
Sonali and I have had such wonderful memories together throughout these 7 years of friendship, but I can never forget the first time we met; when Rushil brought her to a Raas party. We all thought she would run for the hills after meeting Rushil’s crazy friends. Lucky for Rushil, she decided to stick around, but more importantly, that was the start of my beautiful friendship with Sonali ;) Over the years, we have had so many fond memories together; from having slumber parties and watching Coco on repeat to surprising her for the proposal. Rushil and Sonali, I am so excited to celebrate this next stage of life with you guys and I can’t wait for the many more memories to come <3
One of the things that initially brought Sonali and I together was having a birthday 2 days apart. For all 4 years we were in college, Sonali and I would have a special birthday date at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Pittsburgh. Even though we’ve lived in separate cities since graduating, we’ve continued to set an intention to celebrate our birthday together every year in unique ways. I’m looking forward to adding to our traditions and having a lifetime of birthday celebrations with Sonali!
Sonali is the person I can do absolutely everything with and always have the most fun adventures. From running around CMU at 2am to hiking in Zion together to frolicking around Philly, she is always someone I love having by my side. I remember one particular memory where we got extremely dressed up for an Indian dinner hosted by our school. We took one look at each other (both in fancy lenghas) and we decided that a better use of our time would be to instead do a photo shoot in her apartment. I think this moment was probably the best memory that encapsulates our friendship.
Sonali, my favorite memories of us together have to be food related - we’ve conquered making pad see ew down to cutting up the traditional flat noodles and have tried to attempt cool recipes like spaghetti squash…baked in the squash. I love our winter beer trials and wine tasting- making the six packs and picking wineries and trying to analyze flavor profiles with our limited knowledge of alcohol hahaha. One day we’ll get there! I also love our new tradition of our yearly Halloween reunion and carving pumpkins together in Philly. Wherever we end up in the future, I hope it's gonna be for life <3
There are too many memories to pick between Sonali and I but my favorite is summer of 2017 when we were both still in Pittsburgh and had weekly hangouts every Monday where we would cook dinner and watch The Bachelorette. What started out as just a casual idea to hangout one Monday turned into weekly bonding sessions of talking for hours about anything and everything, cooking a new meal every week, and gossiping about our favorite show. This memory is my favorite because that is when Sonali and I reconnected our friendship more from years prior (we were actually best friends in dance class when we were 5!!) and it felt like no time had passed. Sonali and I became even better friends just from bonding during those weekly hangouts and now I have the honor of being in her WEDDING!!
Finding one memory to describe my friendship with Rushil has been truly difficult, especially after living together in the first years out of undergrad. By fate, I had an open room that Rushil was able to fill, and at this point our journey began.
After a few months living together, we decided it was time to move to another apartment together, a place down the road. Instead of paying for movers, Rushil and I took pride in the fact that we were young men who could handle the move all by themselves.
We started the moving day at 8 AM sharp with our usual weekend activities, drinking chai and eating chutney sandwiches. What should have been a 4 hour move turned into a full 12 hour adventure. Despite ample preparation, the freight elevator had been double booked, our rental van wasn’t initially available, and Arlington was hitting an all-time high in the humid summer. To make matters worse, the 2019 Wimbledon final was taking place during our move, and as avid tennis fans, we were furious we began missing the match between legends Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Our belongings finally made it to the entire apartment after multiple trips up and down stairs. At this point, it would be an understatement to say we were famished. We needed nourishment fast – we drove to the local Taco Bell in our U-Haul, and enjoyed the evening sunset on our new balcony with a 7-layer burrito in one hand and a scotch glass of apple juice in the other. To date, I’ve never felt as much satisfaction from a meal.
I don’t think I could have had this experience with any other person than Rushil – despite the misfortunes, we kept level-headed, moved efficiently, and worked well together as a team. I knew after the day’s events, Rushil would be a friend for life and we’d always have each other’s backs no matter what.
My favorite memory with Rushil is the summer during our middle school years. We had developed a strict, almost daily routine: ride our bikes to the tennis courts, play tennis for a ridiculous amount of time, have Subway Veggie Delight sandwiches for lunch (Rushil had converted me), play more tennis, then go watch one of five movies: Forrest Gump, My Cousin Vinny, 21, Shawshank Redemption, Mrs Doubtfire. In one movie there was a business executive that drank scotch on the rocks. As middle schoolers we were so impressed with him that we used to get my parents fancy whiskey glasses and fill them with ice and apple juice so we could also drink “scotch on the rocks”. Years later, when we were both 21, we realized that we could finally drink a real scotch on the rocks. We rushed to a local bar and excitedly ordered two scotch on the rocks. After a few sips, we both looked at each other and quickly agreed that the apple juice and ice in fancy glasses was much better.
I had the pleasure of being roommates with Rushil for a year in college. He’s going to hate me for sharing this story but my fav memory was when he came home from class very upset one day. He rushed straight to the bathroom. A bit confused, I follow him and see him washing his head under the sink. I ask him what’s up and he embarrassingly admits he was swarmed by a group of birds and one of them pooped on his head...good times.
On a more serious note, Rushil has always been like a brother to me. I know I can talk to him at any time and get solid advice on literally anything. My fav quality about him is he finds a way to see the good in every person and find the positive in every situation. It’s something that’s extremely difficult to master but has served him well so far and will continue to do so in his marriage and future endeavors. I’m honored to be standing aside you on your big day brotha, congrats!
Rushil and I became friends going through school together. He was known for his intelligence and hard work. Whether it was essentially tutoring me through Calculus or preparing for our Future Business Leaders of America conference, I always found inspiration in Rushil’s ambitions and determination. One of the first glimpses I experienced of Rushil’s grit came at the very beginning our tennis careers. In 7th grade, Rushil really had only just begun playing tennis. We are trying out for the Solon Middle School tennis team. Tryouts are a 5 day affair, Monday through Friday. These are tough and highly competitive days full of match play. Day 3 arrives, and we there is no Rushil. Day 4 and Day 5 are just the same - no Rushil. With that, no middle school team for Rushil in 7th grade. But, it was too late. The ambition and determination was set. 8th grade, Rushil makes the team. 9th grade, we make the high school JV team together. 10th grade, Rushil’s hard work lands him a spot on the Varsity Team where Rushil and I partner for a run for a run in the doubles post season tournament piecing together win after win to qualify for the District Tournament. This is what I see in my friendship with Rushil all of these years. This is what I come to expect in our relationship - ambition and determination accompanied by hard work for a lethal combination to any goals or obstacles that come our way.
My favorite memory with Rushil has to be all the fun times we had growing up. Whether it was doing puzzles in his basement, going to FOGANA dance practices, playing video games, or hanging out in my van we always managed to have a good time. Once he decided on Pittsburgh for college our friendship grew. Puzzles and video games turned into long talks about life, and of course, still video games (I will always be better than you at madden). I will always cherish our long talks about politics, life, family, friends, goals, careers, and, politics. Rushil is hands down the most genuine guy I have ever met in my life and I could not be happier to be a part of him and Sonali's special day.
P.S. If anyone was wondering, my least favorite memory of Rushil was when he asked me to write this blurb.
One of my favorite memories with Rushil is early in college, just after we kind of started getting to know each other better. Rushil wanted to get food and took me to a little hole in the wall place called maximum flavor. It was a tiny cafe with maybe 4 seats inside and he ordered a paneer chutney pizza that he claimed was the best thing ever. I hate to admit it but he was right. We went there way too many times over the next few months. That place was special because we went from two people who kind of knew each other to best friends. The restaurant no longer exists, but 6 years later I’ll be standing next to Rushil as his groomsman…hope they’re serving paneer pizza at the reception.
My favorite memory of Rushil and Sonali goes back to a blustery cold night in the hills of Pittsburgh. It was September 6th, 2015 and we were all leaving a great pregame at Neel Brahme’s decrepit old house off of Bryn Mawr, ready to head to the OLDP party at Xtaza that night. I had met Rushil a few days prior, and found him to be one of the nicest guys I had met in my few weeks at Pitt, so I gladly hopped into his uber to head to the club. Sat right next to him, he had his arm around a beautiful young lady that I had never seen before! I’ll never forget when I asked who she was, they both looked at each other, broke out into a huge smile and with a huge swell of pride Rushil said, “this is Sonali, my girlfriend”. They had just recently started dating and you could feel how elated they were to be in each other’s presence and all I could think was—damn they look so cute together. Over the years I’ve seen their adoration for each other just continue to grow and honestly I can’t wait to watch them look at each other the same way they did that day...but this time in full wedding garb and getting ready to spend the rest of their lives with each other.
One of my favorite memories of Rushil came during the time of his 21st birthday. Now when most kids celebrate their 21st, they throw huge parties with as many friends they can think of. Some even like to pick a destination to travel to since it’s such an incredible milestone. All of these options would’ve been perfect for Rushil since his birthday fell right in the middle of his spring break. However, he decided to spend his 21st back in his hometown with just myself and our other friend Jigar. We booked a 2-star hotel in downtown Cleveland and spent the night going to different spots in the city that we never got a chance to explore when we all actually lived there. We even got to take him to the casino for the first time where he may or may not have lost a couple dollars (maybe more than a couple…). We came back at night and spent hours just talking. We talked about friends, family, relationships, and reminisced about our favorite moments at Pitt. For anyone else, this probably seems like an average night but this is when I realized that a huge priority for Rushil is the people he decides to spend the important moments of his life with and not so much anything else. As someone who has had many crazy and memorable experiences, this night will forever be one of my favorites and I’m hoping Rushil knows that.
