A quiet love

Palakdeep Bassan

Despite the fact that freshman Palakdeep Bassan had accidentally thrown a piano on her little brother three years ago, each time he goes into the kitchen to get Goldfish, he’s sure to ask her if she wants some. He knows how much she loves the salty snack. Even though she says he’s “a little demon” most of the time, it’s these little gestures that Bassan thinks are “the sweetest thing.”

Bassan and her brother are only a year apart, and she believes this has fostered a unique kind of love between them. Just like her brother knows about her affinity for Goldfish, it was Bassan who bought him a set of Legos recently — his most coveted possession by far. She knows that he enjoys spending time alone and noticed that he’d developed a hobby for building small contraptions. 

For Bassan, though, the most meaningful part of their relationship is when they defend each other to their parents. Though they know that getting caught up in the crossfire of a scolding match is essentially an invitation to get yelled at as well, Bassan and her brother don’t think twice before getting in the middle of things for each other. 

“I don’t really talk to him about things in my life,” Bassan said. “Our relationship is defined a lot more by these small moments of closeness. It’s that quiet kind of love.”