MyStory :: Close Encounters of the Nice Kind :: Close @ Raffles Girls' Primary School

Aavishka Ragam, 15
Student
Methodist Girls' School

Alyssa Ang, 15
Nanyang Girls' High School

Aavishka Ragam and Alyssa Ang claimed they have nothing in common.

That, according to them, is about the only thing they agreed wholeheartedly.

Then they were quick to qualify that “opposites attract”.

“It is great because we will always have contrasting views,” said Aavishka.

“And that makes life interesting,” Alyssa said.

But the daughter of an engineer and civil servant was quick to add, “We share the same good core values.”

Aavishka, 15, was born in Hyderabad, India, but in actual fact, she is a Singaporean in every way imaginable.

First of all, she was “made” in Singapore but delivered in Hyderabad, because her mom, Vardhani, a former software engineer, wanted to be around close relatives for support during childbirth.

As soon as she was born, they returned to Singapore, where her parents have been working and living since 1989.

In 2005, the whole family decided to take a big step in their life and took up Singapore citizenships.

“It was a difficult decision because all our relatives are back in India,” 44-year-old Vardhani recalled.

“We like it here,” she said, “and we are used to life here.”

But things weren’t always easy for the new immigrants.

When Aavishka started primary five in Raffles Girls Primary School, she found herself in a class where most of the girls had already been classmates for a few years and just preferred to stay in their cliques.

It didn’t help that she was one of the handful minority students in her class.

“I was feeling very lonely and left out,” she recalled.

“I tried to join them but somehow, they kept turning me away.”

And that was until Alyssa came along.

Now a Secondary 3 student at Nanyang Girls' High School, Alyssa said, “I’m not the very sociable type and I certainly don’t go around joining groups.”

She added, “Although I don’t get very close to people easily, for some reasons, Aavishka and I just clicked.”

Aavishka, now at Methodist Girls' School, remembered her early impression of her close friend.

“She was eccentric – always reading – so I thought she was a mugger.”

“She won’t even look around,” she added. “She would just read, in a very focused manner.”

Alyssa said, “Aavishka and I clicked quite well from the start, and we began to go for recess together, discussed all things under the sun, and also studied together.”

“Admittedly, we sometimes talked, and doodled instead of listening in class.”

Eventually, Alyssa’s love for books grew on Aavishka, who also picked up reading.

She said, “When you read there's a lot of new things you learn not only from books, but from when you share them with friends and stuff.”

The fact that Aavishka had few friends, somehow, bewildered Alyssa a little.

“I thought she was very lively and talkative,” Alyssa said.

“I wondered why she didn’t have many friends,” she added, “but then in a way, I kind of understand because I know when cliques are formed, people tend to shut newcomers out.”

Alyssa said, “We are both open-minded people, who would accept a variety of friends, and only minded if the person is not nice as a person.”

“Otherwise,” she added, “things like race and age did not matter at all.”

Once in a while, their culture and traditions became topic of their conversations.

Aavishka said, “When we had Chinese New Year concerts in our school, it would always be in Chinese, so Alyssa would be translating everything that they said.”

“During Deepavali,” she added, “I would bring traditional Indian sweets and other things to share.”

“And I would be telling Alyssa about all the things that I would be doing for the festival.”

With their schools just bus stops away from each other, the two girls still see each other and have a lot of fun whenever they do, though most of their meetings were unplanned.

Alyssa said, “I feel the friendship between us got inexplicably stronger, and has continued till today.”

“I think because we're friends from different races,” Aavishka explained, “our bond is even stronger.”

“Because it makes the friendship rarer and more special,” she added.

But they still insisted on talking about their differences.

Aavishka said, “Alyssa won’t tell me anything though I would feed her gossips.”

Alyssa said she has no interest in receiving juicy details about other people.

They, however, agreed on one other thing – that they were both not very good students.

“We didn’t really mug,” they said.

“Contrary to popular belief,” Alyssa added, “the students in the top class don’t really mug.”

Still, Aavishka remembered that she was good at Mathematics while Alyssa fared well in Science and English.

And just like all kids, the two girls fought, but only once they said.

They were supposed to enter a competition and had their share of work carved out nicely, and so they thought.

“Alyssa was supposed to be writing a story but she got story and asked if I could chip in,” Aavishka recalled. “But I didn’t do it in time.”

“We stopped talking to each other for a few hours,” Alyssa added, “then we just texted each other to say ‘sorry’.”

After their PSLE, the two went on a study trip together, and it was their first time without their parents in tow.

“We were roommates as well,” she added, “and we learnt more about each other then.”

“We have a habit of calling each other every day,” Alyssa said.

“It is either MSN or calls,” she explained. “Email is too slow.”

“We compare curriculum but not results.”

“Aavishka, being Aavishka,” Alyssa said, “liked to invite friends over to have fun in the holidays.”

“Through those visits as well, I had a glimpse into her daily life when we weren't at school.”

“The fish head curry her mother prepared for the group of us was awesome, better than those at because they were made personally.”

For some reasons, Aavishka just couldn’t wait to spill more dirt on Alyssa.

“She talks about anime characters!”

“She is not fashionable.”

“We just talk about random stuff,” Alyssa protested.

“Alyssa is an open book that is very hard to read!”

Not to be outdone, Alyssa said, “I try to depend on myself as much as I can but Aavishka is definitely someone I will turn to.”

“You don’t need to have many but you should have a few good friends,” she added.

Looking at Aavishka, she said, “A good friend is someone who doesn’t judge me.”

And then they laughed.

July 14, 2009, in The Sterling, Upper Bukit Timah.