Malhar Desai is a freshman starting his first year as a reporter for Aquila. His main interests include basketball and music. Listening to music is something he really enjoys and is passionate about. His favorite genres are rap and hip hop. Basketball is his favorite sport and pastime, and he has been playing since first grade. He became close with the people on his teams, who helped him to grow his interest in the sport. Practicing basketball has been very therapeutic and calming to him. Desai values humor most in a friendship because he likes making people laugh and views it as a very important characteristic in a friend. He believes that a conversation with someone is much more interesting when there is laughter. For his first year in journalism, Desai would like to focus on writing opinion articles for the newsmagazine based on his background knowledge and passion for music.