Sirisha: It was very expensive to stay in a hotel. Manjula: My dad and our uncle thought, if it falls on us, then we will die. But we didn’t know, will it fall on us? Will we be there the next day or not? Now, if we think about it, we are laughing.
For two or three days, we were eating, partying, and everything. We stayed together, with uncles, siblings, and my dad’s siblings. Sirisha: They were assuming that the Indian Ocean, it may fall on our place also. Sri: Do you want to talk about Skylab? There was a space station that was crashing in 1979, and there was a scare that it would land in India. He always told the family how much he missed my uncle. My dad passed away two years back, in 2019. He was saying whenever he was sick, my dad was always there. Sirisha: I was just talking to my uncle yesterday. That’s what we learned, and that’s what we are trying to teach our kids too. That mentality continued even when they were older. They would go as guests so nobody knew they were strangers. When they were hungry, they used to look for weddings. So they used to drive 160 kilometers, watch the movie, do the shopping, and come back on the same day. They lived in a small town, but the big movies came into the big city. My dad and my uncle did everything together-studying, watching movies. Malareddy Kankanala ( left), Sirisha’s father and Sri’s grandfather, and Kishan Bhagyanagar ( right), Manjula’s father and Maneesha’s grandfather, in India in 1995 (Courtesy of Sri Muppidi) Similarly, Manju Auntie and my mom used to call each other’s parents aunties and uncles. So I call Manju Auntie “auntie” because she’s older. Sri: We typically call everyone aunties and uncles, even if they’re not blood relations. Here, you call people by name no matter what age you are, but in India we don’t do that. Manjula Kanukuntla: The culture here and in India is different. Read: How one friend can change the course of your life Even though we are not a blood relation, it’s more than that. My sisters all are in India, but here she’s my sister. Even though came, it’s continuous-me and Manju also are like family. Every festival, we celebrated together, like family. Sirisha Muppidi: They went to the same college, and after that they both worked for the government. Sri: As a result, our grandmothers also became friends. Our grandfathers were best friends for their entire lives. Maneesha Kanukuntla: We’re not exactly sure when they met, but it was definitely early childhood. Sri Muppidi: They grew up in a very small village in India. Tell me where it all began-with your grandfathers, right? Julie Beck: Your families have been friends for generations. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Maneesha Kanukuntla, 22, a sociology major at California Polytechnic State University who lives in San Luis Obispo, California Manjula Kanukuntla, 52, a UPS-store owner who lives in Cupertino, California Sirisha Muppidi, 49, a clothing-boutique owner who lives in Dublin, California Sri Muppidi, 26, a venture-capital investor who lives in San Francisco
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