Tanya does spill colours (and gossip, of course) with her art, conversations, perfectly curated playlists, and sometimes merely just her presence in the Board. She has the courage to say out loud the things most people would not, and I love her for it. To accompany her exceptional eye for art and video editing skills, she has the humour of a late-night meme lord.
She will sit and talk about absolutely anything with you, but also has zero tolerance for nonsense and will shut it down the second it gets stupid. She has a certain weakness for chatapata chaats, especially gobi noodles, and rasmalai. She loves rasmalai, but the others who claim to like rasmalai are “performative” because only she “has the right intentions with rasmalai”, her words, not mine. There isn’t anything that could come neck-to-neck to her love for her sister; she cares for her very deeply.
She also enjoys going on trips and is said to have the ability to plan a trip from scratch in just a day. Despite this spontaneity, Tanya also has a lore (or two) of adventures, which may have led to her sleeping in a bus stand at night. Only one person can confirm the accuracy of this rumour. You can convince her for a hangout, she will definitely agree, but will she show up? That, only time can tell. Tanya is also known to cancel plans at the very last minute, and you might even get a casual “Dude, I fell asleep” text hours later.
She is down for any adventure, but her favourite one is staying out all night. No, she doesn’t mean the one where you have a structured plan of everything you will do in those 8 hours. She means figuring out things as you go, which might include sleeping on the bench in a park… knowing her, that would be fun too! Anytime you tell her that you want to do something, her immediate reply is “Arey, toh do it na” because she really does live by that.
Tanya also has an exceptional photo face—she’s an excellent poser; every smile and hair flip is perfectly timed. Her wardrobe and accessories are so amazing, makes you want to steal everything, or maybe it's just the way she pulls it off. She also has very strong political views. Before you get into an argument with her, just remember she knows her stuff, so come well-read. She can go on for hours and will patiently dismantle your argument piece by piece until you’re either convinced or questioning everything you thought you knew. And somewhere between thoughtful political takes and aesthetic photo dumps, you’ll still find her faithfully liking every Rakhi Sawant reel; she describes them as “iconic”.
Knowing her for the past two years, I’ve come to see her as someone confident and free-spirited. She lives for adventure, embracing every opportunity that comes her way without hesitation. Whether it’s agreeing to go on a trip when you have 50 rupees in your bank account or the way she is always unhinged, everything about her reflects authenticity and a constant hunger for new experiences, and gobi noodles, of course.
Tanya, every conversation and hangout with you has truly been such a joy. Never stop living life vicariously on behalf of the rest of us who cannot. <3