Uni Nonfiction Writing (Ekam Ghotra)

          As many other families did, we got our dog, Millie, mid-quarantine, as we suddenly found ourselves with adequate time to train a puppy. My family had wanted a pet dog for a long time but knew that it would take a significant amount of time to train a puppy, and even after that would be a big responsibility. The COVID-19 pandemic had suddenly forced both of my parents, as well as my sister and I, to stay home from school/work, and so after a bit of research, we found a nearby breeder with an Aussiedoodle (mix between an Australian Shepherd and a Poodle) that we all loved. I think Millie can best be described as a bit of a weird dog. In the immediate weeks after we got her, her favorite thing to do was simply to find an air vent on the ground and sleep on top of it. In fact, when the air conditioning wasn’t on in her house she would often bother the first person she saw until we turned it on. A more recent habit she has picked up is sleeping on he...

Someone's name serves as their central part of existence. When you are born, and you have no significance outside of the happiness your family feels as you enter the world, you are given a name. That name defines you until you grow to define yourself. Oftentimes, our names will be what lasts through life with us the longest, longer than any one person, often longer than any one object. The cultural, historical, or personal significance of a singular name carries silent importance. That is why, as often as our name just becomes something that we respond to, it's important to take a step back sometimes and reflect on what your name means to you, perhaps what it has done to you or for you as well.  My name has also always been a central part of my identity, but not always in a positive way. In my culture, "Ekam" is not an uncommon name and carries several special meanings. The primary ones that parents often have in mind while naming their kids are "oneness" or...