Team 15 - Where I Learnt how to Debate

‘Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is process. Working together is success.’

These are a few words which I came across on Pinterest, a site I was thoroughly reluctant to visit but was inspired to by a very joyful and ambitious Eshna Sobti. But before I write this letter to the both of you, Eshna and Arianna, I want to clear out a query that has been addressed repeatedly. This is indeed an exceptionally formal letter. I will try to attain the highest levels of verbosity through this letter and I hope, both Eshna and Arianna, that you will have to indulge in hours or even days of hard work to write a letter of this caliber. My evil intentions are already coming into play so in order to prevent the most horrendous, soul-sucking and narcissistic side of yours truly, sitting on the chair that I have a passion falling off of, I wish to convey some of my heartfelt feelings and express my gratitude in this letter. In this letter, I will take each part of the above quote, dissect it into the three sentences and connect them to certain experiences I have found worth preserving and reiterate them to you.

The first part is about coming together. When I was first introduced to the very idea of a certain prodigy named Arianna Goel joining our team, I was extremely hesitant to converse with her and the sheer idea that I would have to spend the next few weeks making a whole new plan with this young legend actually gave me jitters. I think it was our second meeting, correct me if I am wrong (Oh who am I kidding? I am never wrong. I am just as certain that it was our second meeting as I was when I said we thrashed the negative team yesterday ), I was trying to show off my writing skills to the both of you and I was extremely smart that when the screenshare option was still on, I wrote a message to my best friend saying, and I quote, “ARIANNA IS AWESOME.”

But then came Arianna to dutifully dullen that amazing moment by breaking the ice and telling me that my WhatsApp was visible and ruining that moment. That is so you, Arianna. Anyway, after that ‘incident’ as I have henceforth referred to it, I was ashamed to even look young Arianna in the face. But I let time take its course and I witnessed that time does heal an awkward moment. (I have no idea as to what I am saying. I think I just made up my own proverb or whatever). I think a few days after that ‘incident’, Arianna either must’ve forgotten it, which means she has a horrible memory and may be on the course for Alzheimer’s, or, she must’ve let bygones be bygones and acted super mature but personally, I thought the latter was very unlikely because it is very improbable that you would see a six year old, sorry, sixth grader, (I know you don’t like it when I talk about your age) act that way. But boy was I wrong! And due to my horrifically horrendous and unlucky fate, this was not the first time something like this would be happening.

Throughout the course of prep, through all the anti-Gandhi speeches and throughout all our discussions, mini debates and our silly talks, there are a few things that have stayed the exact same way. Our confidence, I don’t know from which galaxy Arianna gets it, our love for books, Eshna – you must have some sort of reader’s disorder, our passion for debating, our humor, our love in despising our so called ‘Father of the Nation’, Eshna – you’re so right when you side with me on this, after all, it is me you are teaming up with, and the last item on this list, Arianna’s efficiency and ability to prove Eshna and I wrong innumerable times. The last item on this list, I don’t know about you Eshna, but I will certainly try to forget the number of times Arianna has corrected me, but it will be a very long time before I do so.

To Arianna – You are a bloody genius! I know you listen to songs unheard of, except those by Sam Smith and I said you look like Ishant Sharma, a bowler to has no talent whatsoever, and is coincidentally from Delhi, let me tell you one thing. Looks can be deceiving. And though, in my eyes that tend to thoroughly malfunction, you may look like Ishant Sharma, you are a gazillion times ( I don’t know if this number exists because, Arianna, you’re the one who does all the calculations and predicts our win loss ratio and always gets it right) talented than I would have ever imagined. To think that someone born on the 6th of January 2009, someone so young, you are practically like a toddler, would come to the nationals and make some of the best debaters in the country look like utter fools, it is magnificent. It is as something that you would pay to watch and something that you would die enjoying but not get to watch again. It is sort of like what about happen if there was a debate between myself and Aanya, and I was speaking against Gandhi.

You are, truth be told, one of the most amazing speakers I have come across and I want to thoroughly thank you, Arianna for motivating me each day, for bringing me up each day, for laughing when I fall off my chair, though that is not appreciated, for singing the ‘KC Undercover’ theme song with me, for bearing to listen to all my humongous and prolonged raps, for all those things, and for the sole reason of being there for me. Throughout the course of the debate, I have realized to never ever generalize and underestimate someone, especially a six year old, sorry, a sixth grader, because there is this girl who lives in Delhi, who looks supremely different from her google profile picture and who is hell bent on proving others wrong, always being right and at times, giving a piece of her mind to her teammates, yes, I experienced it first-hand today and I loved it, a girl who has constantly continued to amaze me, Arianna Goel – that girl is you. And observing how much I know about you; I was deeply offended and extremely melancholic that you were unable to decipher what my trademark quality was.

The second part says that keeping together is progress. And yes Eshna, it definitely is. Starting off with that extremely detailed and well-worded email that you found thoroughly difficult to reciprocate, all the way to today, when by my calculations, we’ve won the last debate, but you don’t think so. I am sure that you would’ve read a book on how to calculate wins in a debate or something because according to my knowledge and considering that I have a sea much wider and deeper than yours in terms of knowledge, you have read a book on every single topic there is a book to read about.

You bloody bookworm! Your constant rants, your sudden wails and screams that frighten us to the core, your hate towards Gandhi, your amazing stories about how people tore your bookmarks or whatever apart, how you went and gave those idiots a piece of your mind, how you opened a lunchbox that nobody could, it has been an awesome journey and I am eternally grateful that I got to spend all those moments preparing with you by my side, constantly giving your all.

I think it was around three weeks ago when our plan was going nowhere, Arianna was new to the team, we didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or anything and I remember, after the regular two to three thirty discussion, I called you up and we talked. And we talked and talked and talked for like two hours until you had to eat lunch, at five in the evening. Even now, after knowing you for like two months almost, spending a majority of my time talking to you, listening you complain about the mediocre plot of a huge Hindi skit where a guy talks about his family using a tree as his metaphor, to showing me the first part of the book you wrote, to making a foolish argument that Percy Jackson is better than Harry Potter, to me correcting your every Urdu word that you misinterpret as Hindi, there is nobody that eats LUNCH AT FIVE PM!! You are by far, the most weird and unorthodox person I have met, due to that sole reason but that is what makes you special and unique.

You have been someone who has constantly listened to me bragging about myself, laughed when I make the most stupid jokes and pulled me up when I have needed it the most. You are the person who makes me do more and pushes me to go that extra mile, to be kind and not swear as often as I do and to be extremely empathetic, just like our 1000-point system that the negative teams can’t get enough of. I might not even have met Arianna if you weren’t in my team already, and who knows, if I wasn’t in your team, I guess I wouldn’t have even made it this far. It was you who and Kiya who carried the team in the Qualifiers and this time around, it was you and Arianna. Eshna, I just want to thank you for all those times I have gone on and on about myself and you have bothered to pay attention, because nobody in their right mind would do so.

But that is exactly what I love about you. You are never in your right mind. You are constantly engulfed and immersed in the world of books and I am so happy that in a few years, when and if I come to Mumbai, I will hopefully get to see you. I think, through all the people I have met in life so far and considering that I am an amazing person who has met millions of individuals, you are by far, someone I have connected with on so many levels, and someone who I can talk to, nonstop. I admire your perseverance, especially when people call you a nerd and a bookworm or whatever. Do know that I am always here for you, just as you were and are for me and if there is one thing that won’t change or won’t go away, it is the bond we share. Oh, and also, another thing that won’t change will be me turning your Urdu into Hindi.

Eshna – I just want to thank you for all that you’ve done. From staying up so late, helping me work on our speeches, cut it down and help me prep during qualifiers to the amount of prep we’ve done for Nationals, there are innumerable memories that have wrapped themselves around my mind. The day I realized you were a Disney international fan, I was thrilled. Overjoyed. We share so many things in common and I feel that it would be wrong for us to not be friends.

Out of the 7.8 billion or whatever number of people live on this blue planet, it is only you that I can share my anti-Gandhi thoughts with, it is only you to whom I can quote Mahabharata dialogs and it is only you that I can talk to for an eternity and not once feel bored because when I run out of things to talk about, and I think I will because my life isn’t that interesting, you will definitely bring up a plot from one of the billion books that you have come across in your life.

The last few months have been nothing short of a dream Eshna, and that is all thanks to you. I would’ve never imagined, five months ago, that I would be able to open up this much to new people, work with them and get along, let alone writing this oversized letter. It had never once occurred to me that I would talk and connect to someone so much and I am truly ecstatic that someone finally appreciates my verbosity.

I will most certainly present to you an article on why I loathe and detest Gandhi at the earliest. I will also try and make it as long and as loquacious as possible, so it is of utmost difficulty for you to read it. Finishing off on this second part of the amazing quote that I found on Pinterest, again, something that you recommended, I want to thank you for bringing out a side in me that I thought never existed, a side that was once a myth, but now reality.

The third part of this quote talks about working together, leading to success. And indeed, from my past experiences with the both of you, I have realized that this quote cannot be truer. From working hard every day, somedays more than others, to passing qualifiers to going through to the second round of nationals to being one of the undefeated teams, I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to work with the both of you and I wish to work with you in future tournaments as well. You guys made me realize a lot of things and talking about our experiences, opening up to each other and just randomly talking about a plethora of topics under the sun, singing our favorite Disney theme songs and ranting on and on about books and the so called ‘Father of the Nation’ were indeed some of the key highlights of a time spent very well with you all.

My sole aim of writing this letter was to make tears run down your cheeks as you read this, and to think very highly of me, but I doubt that will happen. Anyways, I am happy that we have done exceptionally, throughout all the debates and all the contests. There were definitely some bumps, some occurrences that happened in the heat of the moment, but all of those moments were a part and parcel of our journey, of getting to where we are now.

I admire numerous things about you Arianna, one of them being that you are six years old, and a ton of things about you too Eshna, one of them being you eat lunch at five pm. It still isn’t humane, but I’ll let that one slip. The one thing though, that I thought made us stand out, got us a cut above the rest, was our confidence and our collaboration. Day in and day out, in and out of one debate, no matter the result, we had a sense of confidence in us, especially Arianna, and not even for a single second, even when we were being battered, or rudely spoken to, did we let it slip.

The both of you have been my pillars and my support systems for the past two months and I am regretting that the tournament is over so quickly. This will always be a memorable time spent and the team will be one I will never forget. I will do my best, once this pandemic is over, to visit the both of you at your respective cities. Both of you should plan together and most certainly come to Manipal to visit the beautiful nature and serene beaches. You will realize the true comforts of a small-town life as opposed to living in big suburban cities. But again, I am getting ahead of myself.

I wrote this message with a purpose in mind; to make both of you cry, to make me look magnificent, to test out my writing skills and my verbosity and the one sole purpose, to tell you both what you mean to me. Ending this letter, once again I would like to express my sincere gratitude and feelings and tell you what amazing friends, teammates and people you have been. Thank you.

But ending this note, on a high, I will leave you with a few tips.

To Arianna – Listen to some more popular songs and accept that you are a six-year-old.

To Eshna – Learn to accept drama and start writing more. You read a lot, but I don’t see much of your writings.

I hope the both of you have thoroughly enjoyed reading this humorous letter and now think very highly of me. Keep me up on a pedestal and keep remembering my fruitful words. See, this is the narcissistic side of me. You wouldn’t want to meet that person.

But anyways, I want to end this letter with one last line, something I think you guys will cherish forever and never forget it. Something I think will be key to these memories. An amazing act of gracefulness and gratitude. Of course, it was carried out by me.

I quote myself when I say:

“I am find start dating my name is Eshna I am down years old.”

Thanks Guys,

Prahlad