Congratulations Eli and Asha
Eli. Unpredictable. Rebel. Wildcard. Firecracker of ideas. Agent of mischief. Impulsive. Eli.
Eli and I were in the same cohort during my undergrads. Our first encounter was during freshers' week, at the midnight bop. The atmosphere was not great, and there was a thick air of awkwardness in the disco room, but no amount of embarrassment was sufficient to stop us from having a good time. Just the two of us, at the centre of the dance floor and no one else in a 10m periphery, spinning our limbs and heads to the rhythm of "Come On Eileen" like there's no tomorrow. Indeed a night to remember.
He studied English, but that is not what he is known for. Make no mistake though, because he is no fool when it comes to the subject. Smart one he is. The notoriously stressful tripos exams of Cambridge posed zero threat to the man. Back when the world was plagued by the virus and the nature of exams was altered from the traditional closed-book format to that of the unconventional take-home open-book form, at a time when the majority of English students would isolate themselves for the entirety of the 24 hours spanning the exam, slaved to their laptops in their room, polishing their exams responses to diamond-cut perfection with the help of any internet resources they could summon, I bumped into Eli strolling casually at the fields. Frolicking. Half-walking, half skipping. Not the slightest care on his face. "Shouldn't you be in an exam Eli", I questioned, and Eli waved casually, dismissing my query and told me he'd be fine. He came fourth in the cohort that year.
Everyone at college knew Eli. The students. The porters. The staff at the buttery, cafeteria, and Moller centre. Eli is everywhere and always, always, on the move. The typical academic life of the Cambridge student is way too predictable and rigid for Eli; his brain craves excitement and adventure, the same way a thirsty man yearns for the life-giving touch of liquid upon their tongue. To interact with Eli is to stand in a hurricane of pure unfiltered energy, where the winds of his fast-thinking ideas howl and strike you with ferocity endlessly till you collapse. One can hear the gears turning, the gears driving his hunger for moments of thrill, and they turn and turn. Every few minutes, they churn out proposals of absurdity and irrationality that would no doubt scare away the typical mortal. Crazy. Preposterous. But never stupid. Crazy because Eli ignores all the hidden non-spoken rules that keep society running smoothly, and acts against them. Preposterous because they often come entangled with great risks and danger, or would risk being judged by the condemnatory. But never stupid, because heck, they work. And Eli's ideas are a whole blast of fun. It is impossible to spend an evening with him and come out the next day unscathed or even having the slightest tinge of boredom.
He hitchhikes an abnormal amount, not just for the long hiking trips, but also for moments as mundane as getting to lectures (especially if he's late, which is often).
He considers every place of high altitude as a challenge, and one would find him crawling up trees, rooftops, monuments, and other places where he definitely should not be present.
The blood of the inventor runs deep in his veins, prompting him to try his hands at building all sorts of innovations; the latest one I heard was a pizza oven in his backyard, for he found an enormous pile of bricks, abandoned, walking distance from where he lived.
He draws.
He writes.
He sings.
And sparingly, he is no stranger to getting into trouble and having to face the consequences of some of his more questionable decisions; you can try making an educated guess on the number of times he has been arrested, I guarantee the actual number is higher.
And yet, (and I can proudly say I am speaking on behalf of all his friends), with all the many wild adventures we had with him, those are not the main reasons, the star ingredients, that make Eli the man I respect and admire deeply today. What really makes Eli shine in rays distinct, bright like a diamond sparking in soil muddy and dark, is his giving heart and the compassion and joy he welcomely shares with anyone that walks into his circle. It is hard to pinpoint an exact event that highlights his kindness, but I know that whenever I speak with him, I am relaxed, because I know I am being patiently heard, not critically judged, and the words that bear trauma and fear I have buried deep in my heart which I often find difficult to reveal, floats out of my mouth with consistency and ease of the flow of a river stream, just trickling down smoothly out my throat to his attentive ears. Eli's smile is more infectious than any pathogen, warming even the coldest and gloomiest of hearts. It is always a pleasure to see Eli, and transitively, it is my greatest honor to tell people that I get to be one of Eli's friends.
Recently, I, together with their friends and family, witnessed Eli exchanging marriage vows with Asha, his partner, at the Trinity Church in Skipton. And if I am being honest, I feel a pang of envy for their children, for I know not only would they be blown away by all the dad lore Eli will spring on them as bedtime or campfire stories, but they would also definitely be loved warmly by two tender-hearted parents, and I know Eli's and Asha's children will also not hesitate to share that love to everyone else they know.
Eli. Charming. Charismatic. The eternal artist. The campfire that unites us all. The one who leaves an everlasting mark of joy within everyone he touches as he walks down his path of life. Eli.
Congratulations Eli and Asha :)