Partnership Reviews: That Old Reoccurring Partnership

As early as in Season 1, two people from sister colleges (and competing sister colleges at that) were paired together for  two tasks, just like the rest of their peers. What the Panel did not know back then, while making this random sorting of partners, was that this would be one of the most powerful and reoccurring partnerships on SA Volunteers.

"Ideally, you partner with one person only once as a Volunteer, simply because, we want everyone to have a chance to work and interact with each other," says Shriya Gautam, who plays the head honcho of all the tasks allotted to the volunteers.

This was a rule Vedant Chandel and Rakshanda Thakur were not going to follow...

"Not because they are such rebels, but because, somehow, they always end up being sorted together, in the most serendipitous ways despite the best of our efforts," the Panel answers, admitting that maybe it's not such a bad thing after all.

Vedant was labelled the Panel's Favourite Child the moment he handed in his first task in Week 2, Season 1. Rakshanda, meanwhile, came a notch higher in the Panel's notice for her site cover of Aguada Fort, Goa in Week 1 itself.  Naturally, there was a lot of talent on both ends.

"Thrice, in our three seasons so far, they've been partnered together. They started with a coinage report based on the workshop in Season 1 and then went on to write one of the best essays till date on the archaic art of Chamba Rumal Embroidery. For Season 2, they interned under me for Monastic Palaces of Ladakh and now, they began Season 3 with a research on Textile cultures. Besides, they also did a regional archaeology task on cyst-burials of Himachal Pradesh and Sculptures of Kangra, handing in two essays of outstanding research work in just one week," Shriya enumerates, beaming with obvious pride.  "I am the first one to oppose their  repeated partnership because that means restricting their interaction with other people but as a mentor, you cannot deny, this is by far, the most successful research partnership in the entire group!"

And they enjoy working together!  Always have. Their partnership reviews on the Volunteer Group are the wittiest ones and they clearly enjoy the leg work, too.

                                     "When I was paired up with Vedant I had absolutely no idea who or how this person was, the only thing I knew was that he had a talented sister, " Rakshanda says with that affable laugh of hers. "We decided to meet and discuss the two tasks we were to do together. I thought we would be really formal and subjective  and that we would be done with at least half the task during that period. "

"But it was only a misconception," she adds, still surprised that she ever expected Vedant to be businesslike.  "We prepared a rough layout in about 5 minutes or so and then we talked about everything and anything except the task."

And that's when a strong friendship was formed, founding an even stronger research partnership. 

"He's cooperative ,understanding and it is fun working with him, it doesn't feel like work at all," Rakshanda said in her first partnership feedback to the Panel.

Vedant, meanwhile, had a lot to say, with a lot of pointers just like the conclusion section of every research paper he has ever written:

"Rakshanda Thakur is you meeting all your Partnership Goals!
1. She is passionate about her work
2.A little laid back at same time, which helps if you are the lazy one in the partnership 
3. Genius smart
4. Almost punctual (not really but again more punctual than I am!)
5. Understanding like really understanding!
6. Funny and doesn't know about it!
7. Also will laugh at all your jokes.
8. Favourite words - Sorry and Hanji (again all you need from a partner  but yes a little less of sorries would be better!)
9. Respects all your work
10. Appreciates your contribution (a little extra, to the point where you can't stop blushing )
11. So, yes, best partner ever!
Rest of the people... I give you the right to be jealous! 
Also forgot: Best bubble blower in town!"

The Panel, however,  didn't realise what they had created until the two of them interned under Shriya.

"You'd think you'd be exhausted by the end of it and I'm not going to lie-I have been in case of some interns," Shriya laughs. "These two were different,  though. They were even better than some research partners I've had to team up with back when I was studying. There's just no mess, no fuss and all the professionalism with the least bit of anxiety on all ends."

No wonder the review from her as a Task In-charge in Season 2 reads as follows:

Research partnerships are a lot more different than any other kind because a lot can go wrong while working together.  You can either become completely useless because you're such good friends all you do is talk. Or you can start picking out what's wrong with the other instead of looking at what's right! However, that's not the case at all here and we're in Season 3 now. In fact, they are just as surprised as we are, that they're still working together. See for yourself:

It's that time again. Here are ten more reasons as to why Rakshanda Thakur is The Best Partner there is:
1. She is still a genius
2. She is still hard working
3. Nobody else is going to give up on a Ladakh trip for work, yes Ladakh!!
4. She is the only person who can travel 11 hours and still be ready to work.
5. Nobody knows Himachal better than her (no one here, okay maybe Shriya can be exception.)
6. She says "thank you" a lot less often now.
7. She helped me figure out my family history (while working on the task!)
8. She knew how you weave threads out of a 'takru'. We could have faked an entire interview, (or maybe we did).
9. She still does not give spaces/gives extra spaces after commas and between references. Gives a person with OCD a lot of fun work.
10. She appreciates the work of a partner.

So, that's it for this one. Give us another task together for more!