My favorite story of Kavi happened in Mrs. Antilla’s English class. We were told to consider the ethical paradox described in the classic thought experiment called “The Trolley Problem.”

The story is you happen upon a train track to which five people have been tied down to. A train is coming and will certainly kill all five people. There is no time to attempt to untie them. However, you are standing by a switch – a switch that will change the path of the train onto another track avoiding the five people who would otherwise die. The catch is that on the other track there is one person who is tied down.

Mrs. Antilla gravely looked around the room and asked, “So… is the correct decision to pull the switch, killing the one person who otherwise would have lived were it not for your intervention? Or should you leave yourself out of the equation entirely, allowing the tragedy to unfold as it would have had you not been around at all, ending with the death of five innocent people?”

“Kavi, what do you think?”

Kavi, nonplussed by the moral gravity of this tragic scenario leaned back on his chair, shrugged his shoulders and curtly responded, “Eh. Depends if they’re white.”

Kavi was the first person I met before attending Michigan for undergrad. We met the summer before starting school while I was visiting family in Houghton where our serendipitous friendship unfolded (Kavi was actually forced to hang out with me by both our moms). He brought me to his friends house and introduced me to guitar hero and took me to the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight. He was outgoing and kind and made me feel far less terrified to move to a state where I knew very few people. Upon arrival to Ann Arbor I started to rely on his crazy genius brain to help me survive learning C++ in engineering 101 and he graciously kept me afloat. He met my gaggle of brown girls (AKA my roommates and bffs) and instantly developed friendships with all of them individually. He could become close to anyone and I sincerely admire that about him. My roommates and I especially loved keeping tabs on Kavi’s love life-primarily because it was farrrrrrr more entertaining than any of ours. When I say entertaining I really mean-extreme? sincere? overthetopcrazy? When he loved someone he reallllly loved them. There really was no in between. Drama always ensued and there were many many many giggles. He blushed like a newborn baby and it was glorious. LOVE YOU FOREVER