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My river begins on April 8th, 2004 when I was born in San Jose, California.

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I was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome very early in my childhood. Nephrotic syndrome is an autoimmune kidney disorder which caused water to accumulate in my body. Sickness and disease would usually trigger it so, in order to avoid it, my mom homeschooled me throughout preschool. I eventually grew out of it but it definitely shaped me and my life, and made my parents sacrifice a lot for me.

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My parents and I have an extremely close relationship (while we may fight a lot now lol). At this time in my life, they were all I had and so I learned and grew a lot by observing them and aspiring to be like them. They are both my biggest role models and I love them very much.

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I am Indian American, and my parents immigrated to the US to seek higher education. Thus, when I was younger and even now, I frequently visited India to see my grandparents and other relatives. Because of this, I grew up knowing two completely different (yet similar) cultures. I quickly realized that there were many differences in how I was expected to behave and present myself. That cultural divide has really shaped and continues to shape who I am and who I want to be, with one of the most prominent examples being me going by a nickname ("Nammi") to "Americanize" myself.

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As a kid, I was always pretty ambitious and I actually had quite a bit of an entrepreneurial streak. In 4th grade, along with 3 of my friends, I started a truffle business called "Bliss in This". While we were not very successful (and our product melted faster than we could sell them :-(), I learned a lot about myself as a leader. I gained good communication skills as I had to communicate with the leaders of our school's PTA to get our truffles sold. I gained conflict resolution skills as a member of my team wasn't that involved with the business so I had to resolve that. Most importantly, I learned that leadership can be fun so long as you listen to your teammates and respect them.

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My river doesn't have many bends but the bends it does have are somewhat drastic. However, they quickly become steady again, just as I quickly adapt to changes in my life.

1. my Nephrotic Syndrome: that was the first major change in my life and, for me, it didn't feel very sudden since I had just entered the world. However, it did shake up my parents' lives and so it was definitely a change.

2. my return to school and move to Mountain View: after I recovered, we moved to Mountain View where I attended a new school and had to make new friends. While the move felt sudden and the change drastic, I quickly made friends and adapted to my new life.

3. Middle School: I had the best time in middle school and made some amazing friends. I had a very strong sense of self and felt very comfortable in my own skin. This was smooth sailing for me and I really enjoyed my time there.

4. Transition to High School: my transition to high school was very rough as I found myself constantly depressed and lost the sense of self I thought I had. Also, I found myself not liking my new school and finding it to be extremely xenophobic. The transition took a lot of time but I eventually adapted.

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In middle school, I made some deep and really close relationships with my friends. They understood me and really shaped who I am and who I aspire to be. Each one of them pushes me to be the best me possible and I am very grateful for them. I remain in touch with all of them to this day and I am a firm believer that I will be friends with them for life.

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I have been lucky enough to have my river be mostly smooth. There have been a few bumps along the way but nothing too life-altering or devastating.

One obstacle I faced was my transition to high school and confronting the xenophobic nature of my school community. This, along with a sense of sadness and loss of self, made my freshman year in high school very hard and I struggled to find genuine friends. However, I have grown and learned from my experiences here and wouldn't trade it for the world. I think that I have grown empowered to demand the change I want to see as well as made some great friends that make me feel like myself again.

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I am only at the beginning of my river's journey and I cannot wait to see what's just around the riverbend (haha). I honestly have no idea where my river will take me or what I will face in the future but I am open to wherever my future may lead me. I hope that the scenery will only grow and that the relationships I hold near and dear to me will thrive as I add more relationships to the mix. I will probably face more obstacles and many more bends but I feel that, without them, I will not grow and so I treasure all of the obstacles/bends I face.