ClaireMahima ClaireMahimerson

Name, Hometown, School, Major:
ClaireMahima ClaireMahimerson (Claire Kao and Mahima Chablani), Santa Monica, CA and Pittsburgh, PA, SEAS and CC, Civil Engineering and English

Claim to fame:
Claim to flame, you ask? Collectively we’ve infiltrated each other’s worlds of COÖP, GSAPP, WKCR, and Carman 7 (2012-2013). But we’re probably better known for NOISE: If you hear anyone around you screaming “Uncle !” in place of curse words or “Thanks, Mom !!” to a stranger, that’s us. And why do we scream intimate names at sometime-strangers? Because addressing people as family automatically makes your day warmer, it’s fun you should try it.

Where are you going?
Community Food & Juice for huevos rancheros, then home for 5 seconds, then NYC for hopefully 20 seconds or more.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2018?

1) To find, cultivate, and gather The Good People. You’ll know who they are. Your freshman year floormate who helps you move out, even though you exchanged five words all year. The girl from your NSOP group who isn’t afraid to say “hi” to you three years later. The boy who walks the extra block with you because you were mid-thought. The Good People may not be your best friends, and they may seem invisible, but they’re usually in the most obvious spaces. Hold onto them. They may be situated in a different world than your own, but your shared values allow you to intersect from time to time.

2) You can breath life into your passions, shower thoughts, and aspirations simply by saying them out loud. The second you utter your thought aloud, it becomes real, alive, confident and grows into something much bigger. If you speak openly about your passions, the world around you will conspire to make them materialize. You never know who’s sitting next to you on an airplane.

3) To take your time. Your classmates will be chowing down on their Milano sandwiches as they walk to class and eating their Ferris pasta in the elevator. Set aside 15 minutes to eat well. Or to do whatever it is that you cherish. Throw away the phrase “I don’t have time for this.” You can make time for whatever you decide is important to you. That said, if you don’t want to do something, then don’t do it. Be honest with your friends. Don’t feel pressured to come up with elaborate excuses if the feeling simply isn’t there.

Back in my day…

We weren’t friends. Mahima was that hip Indian girl with purple glasses and Claire was that wannabe NYU biddy. ClaireMahima could be glimpsed freshman year in small waves on John Jay 10, where Claire and Mahima both lived. ClaireMahima was then spotted sophomore spring for a full 3 hours at a marginally awkward Andrew Bird concert. Claire even tried to switch seats. It took a full 2.5 years before ClaireMahima struck gold. Thing we learned #4: don’t write people off. The cosmos will align when the time is right.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer.

We’ve double handedly resurrected, at very high volume, the letter q. Kidding=quidding, cool=quell, etc.

15. NOCO=Noquita

16-17. Joe Coffee=Joe Qoffee

18. Columbia=Columbiqua

19. Kumquat=KUMQUAT

20. Leigh=Laleighqua

21. Sabrina=Sabriqui

22. Sarah=Sariqui

23. Claire=Quiqua

Apologies to our floormates (RICAAAAAAAAARDO and Meheula).

Write your most memorable note from the field.

40s on 40 was hotly anticipated by ClaireMahima ClaireMahimerson. The night of the event, ClaireMahima arrived, mingle, and was having a grand time…until Claire got bored and asked Mahima if they could go home. Mahima responded with a devilish twinkle in her eye and said, “Wait, before we go, we have to set this night on fire!”

ClaireMahima, with a new mission in sight, sought her victim. She found one in Dakota Ceneta, with his mile-high cheekbones and in all of his Sophomore glory. He too had a devilish glint in his eye as he masqueraded as a member of the Class of 2014. Claire took one hand, Mahima the other, and they began to sway with Dakota. ClaireMahima silently communicated to her two selves that she would start singing Dakota’s name to the Star-Spangled Banner. “O say can you see by the dawn’s early light,” became “DAa-ko-ta Da-kotaaa DAAa-ko-ta Da-KOta.”

Despite the fact that the North and South Dakotas could use more national attention, Dakota did not take kindly to the patriotic rendering of his name and ran away in fear. ClaireMahima left in the midst of her own side-splitting laughter and subjected everyone she came across with the same treatment. Shoutout to Ben Xue who took it and ran with it, joining in on the joyous singing of his name up and down 114th street.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?
Oral Sex !!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 We love cheese !!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing to do before graduating
Delete your Facebook for at least one semester. If you don’t have one, high five!! There’s a strange sorcery to social media, wherein everyone else’s lives look that much more **sparkly** than our own. But things always look grander on Facebook. Skip the virtual interaction in favor of good ole eye and physical contact. Text your friend. No, call your friend. No, knock on their door.

Any regrets?

Not giving the people around us enough “medicine” – beautiful, wonderful complimentary truth-pills that the humblesons around us hate to swallow.

xoxo, ClaireMahima ClaireMahimerson