Hello everyone, I’m Ben. I first came to Swain in fourth grade and was placed into Ms. K’s class. Pretty soon enough, I had met Arnav. He actually managed to be in my home classroom for the next three years as well. Right from the start, I knew I liked him. Always bubbling with energy, Arnav became a friend very quickly. Over the next few years, we’d become even closer as we experienced middle and high school together.
I had no idea he even had a brother, as Dhruv was in Mrs. Reger’s class. But soon enough I came to realize we actually had two sets of twins in our small grade. I have many fond memories of spending time with Arnav, whether it be at birthday parties, playing games at recess, or him laughing endlessly at me when I had flunked the spelling bee after not knowing how to spell the word “Raisin”.
One fond memory I have of Arnav and Dhruv is participating in the seventh grade production of The Comedy of Errors, in which, my system of differentiation between the two of them, being that Arnav always wore blue and Dhruv wore red, was completely shattered as they played a set of identical twins and wore the exact same costume every day. Funnily enough, this experience led me to get to know both of them even better, and afterward, I didn’t even need the clothing clues anymore.
Because of our tendency to be placed within a lot of the same classes, Arnav and I worked on a good number of school assignments together. Seemingly no matter the circumstance, if we were selected to work together on a project or other, he’d be willing to put up with my annoyingly-perfectionist methods (of which Dhruv can definitely attest to) in order to get it done.
As I got closer to Arnav, one thing that stuck out to me was his capability of genuine honesty. Aside from never really lying to anyone, he was always the perfect person to talk to about any subject, really. Whenever I was having any sort of tough time with anything, Arnav would be the person to talk to, as he’d always find an amusing end to the situation, and help me put things into perspective. He also was someone who was honestly interested in anything you wanted to talk about. It didn’t really matter if he knew much about the subject, he’d be curious enough to ask questions until he understood your interest.
Another trait of Arnav’s that will definitely stick with me is his perseverance. From getting back on his racing bike to fighting to make it to the game last Wednesday, Arnav wouldn’t give up on a challenge. He’d work diligently to meet his goals and handled every obstacle with confidence and positivity.
Despite difficult circumstances, Arnav would power through and never be pessimistic. He was able to bring a smile to anyone’s face during even the hardest times, and always had a great joke up his sleeve.
I am extremely happy to have known Arnav and his family. Thank you.