“Very talkative,” history teacher Carol Green said of senior Tanay Kamat. “And on point.”

Whether he’s throwing an aptly-timed sarcastic comment or expressing genuine enthusiasm for a subject, Tanay lightens the mood with his sense of humor.

“Being funny sets the mood of a group,” he said. “If you’re a funny person, you get other people to laugh, and even if someone’s in a bad mood or something, being sarcastic helps them laugh and gets them into a better mood and hopefully resolves any conflict.”

He motivates himself through a philosophy of positivity.

“Everyday should be a good day, regardless of what grades I get, or if something happens to me,” he said.

Tanay’s friends know him for his sarcasm — “half the time it’s funny, 10% of the time it hurts,” according to Sparsh Chauhan (12). But underneath the surface, Tanay is helpful and kind.

“He’s exactly like a teddy bear. He’s warm and cuddly, he’s sensitive,” Sparsh said. “If I’m ever in trouble, I know he’s there.”

Some might mistake Tanay’s love of banter for a purely happy-go-lucky personality. But as his friends know, his underlying work ethic drives his academic endeavors.

“He doesn’t procrastinate, he does all his homework, he writes super neat and organized, and he is really organized in general and he is super hard working — he isn’t afraid of the grind,” Sparsh Chauhan said. “He knows when to be focused and when to relax.”

Tanay aspires to be a software engineer in the future, and hopes to be working for a technology firm in Silicon Valley within ten years, following in his family’s footsteps. Both his parents and his older brother, Varun Kamat (‘14), work in the technology sector.

“My parents had a pretty hard journey, coming from India to here,” Tanay said. “What keeps me motivated is making them proud because they’ve given me the best education that I could possibly get. So I think just doing what they expect of me and maybe even fulfilling that and exceeding their expectations keeps me motivated to do what I do.”

While Tanay describes himself as a hardworking person as well, he still keeps a laid-back perspective. In typical conversations about senior stress, he laughs almost as if the very idea is foreign to him.

“I’m not really a stressed person, no,” he said. “Wherever life takes me, I’m going to enjoy it.”

Ultimately, baseball is his primary way of relaxing and spending time away from academics. As a pitcher and first baseman, he has developed his game through observation.

“I watched what the good hitters did and tried to emulate that,” he said. “I just used my failure at the game to fuel my success.”

Mike Delfino, Tanay’s high school baseball coach, has known him since 5th grade. He notes Tanay’s growing role as a leader on the team, and appreciates his commitment and coachability as a player.

“When he’s with a group he’s comfortable with, he can be outgoing, and he can be kind of a jokester,” Delfino said. “But a lot of the time he’s very quiet and does what he’s asked, and knows when the proper time is to be funny and the proper time to be respectful and to listen.”

As a club and school player who led last year’s varsity team to a winning record, Tanay is serious about his improvement. But he makes sure to always enjoy what he does on the field.

“It doesn’t really matter what happens at each at-bat or whether I don’t catch the ball or something,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what actually happens as long as I have fun while doing it.”

Additional reporting by Humans of Harker managing editor Melissa Kwan.