Sruthi Lingam
Sruthi Lingam and I are two peas in a pod. Two of a kind. A matching set. Double trouble.
Since we met, we have always done everything in our lives together.
I mean it – two years of being debate partners, spending vacations at the camps our mothers hand-picked for us, after-school Starbucks Sidekicking sessions (that end with one of us consuming an entirely too sugary concoction). If you see Sruthi, I promise you’ll find me closely following.
We are the embodiment of “if you’ll do it, I’ll do it.”
It’s how we both came to join The Sidekick in our junior years. It seemed so obvious to join: she loved photography, and I loved writing. We were already a dynamic duo with our complementary skill sets. As I reflect back on the past two years we’ve been on staff, it’s this duality that made us so dependent on each other, our passions for even rubbing off on one another.
Now let me tell you a few things about Sruthi. She’s a fiercely loyal friend, unabashedly truthful, and a camera whiz. All those traits go hand in hand when you’re part of a student newspaper. I’ve started and ended most of my coverage or gallery assignments by sending a text to Sruthi.
Sruthi!!! Respond ASAP!!!! What lens do I check out? Why are these photos so shaky!?! Wait, what’s aperture again? Hold on, how do I write these cutlines?
Her response is always denotative of her nature – tempered, patient and wise.
Calm down! What photos are you taking? What shots? Hold on, I’ll FaceTime you.
Sruthi is always there for me, or there with me. She has had to endure many mornings starting off with such panic, induced by my overall lack of photography skill in comparison to her natural talent for it. She’s had to deal with my impatience as she carefully arranges and photographs all the snacks we get together, because she has an eye for aesthetics, while I only have an eye for yummy food.
If you’ve seen any improvement in my ability to focus my lens on subjects in the past few years, you can forward a “thank you” to her.
But her skill as a photographer isn’t her only testament to her dexterity as a journalist. It’s her wit, her range as a journalist, her ability to help a peer in desperate need and her patience when doing so that makes her a valuable member of our program and friendships.
Our second year started and ended faster than either of us expected. We were again a dynamic duo, ready to tackle the CHS9 section and any challenge that came with managing stories for a school miles away from us.
Because of our new roles this year, Sruthi has crafted her skill as a writer and editor, too. She’s always taken the time to carefully look over all our visual media so we can feel proud of the work we’ve compiled when we hit post each time.
Despite being set on not writing when we first joined the program, I’ve adored reading every story she’s taken on, including a feature of hers which recently won a Best of SNO. Woohoo!
This fall, even though we’ll be over 2,000 miles apart, I’ll be fiercely cheering her on from the sidelines in all her journalistic and academic endeavors at Purdue University, who is very lucky to have her. Sruthi and I have always been best friends, but joining The Sidekick together made us inseparable.