June 24, 2026

Story

Phone manners, growing up

Phone manners, growing up

I remember as a lil kid, I was "best friends" with Parthiv Hirdaramani. Mahesh's kid. Who does textiles or something.

I think he was one of my first. It was actually, I guess, Udhantha or Chadu, my cousins, then Parthiv and Mikey.

But see, back in Sri Lanka when they didn't have a 011 + 2, on the landlines, I would always call up Parthiv, ask his mom for permission to send him over or spend the day or whatever, and so I would call the guy up.

And I was under 12, or 11, so I would call with the landline, no mobile phones, and I would ask for Parthiv from the guy's mom or whatever.

And one time, his older brother picked up, and I was like, "Is Parthiv there?" or I doubt said "Can you give the phone to Parthiv" just as much as I doubt I asked politely, "Can I talk to Parthiv?"

But he was like, "You gotta ask, May I speak to Parthiv, please?"

Or something.

Parthiv would swim at our pool all the time, and he was using the iron and ironing out his clothes, and stuff, as a small kid.

But then Mikey, then Udesh, then Pooja, and then Valerie or Ryan, and then Alex, became my closest friends.

I think if I get married, I'll likely call Valerie up to be the best girl.

She's apparently done ML at MIT and NYU valuation -- and has a fund to manage, she helped me in a gigantic way.

I think I'm sort of a softy, a Swifty, and Mikey likes Arctic Monkeys and stuff, so I would only perhaps enjoy the same music as Pauline.

I guess, with Udesh, we did a lot of Halo 3, and I idolized Mikey over it.

I have a soft spot for people like me.

I NEVER watch sports. It's how it is.