Let Me Tell You About Aliza
A few days ago, we lost Aliza Akhtar ’22 to a tragic car accident. President Rafael L. Reif announced the passing to the MIT community last week, but I think many of us can agree that those few words didn’t do her justice.
Because if you were a friend of Aliza, you would know that that email hadn’t even begun to encompass the wonderful human being she really was. And if you didn’t know her, then you wouldn’t know what you were missing. While I hope these words can color in some of the grey spots you have for this bright and brilliant young woman, I must admit that I will also fall short in describing all that she was. You could only comprehend her true charisma by witnessing it in person. But I’ll try anyway. Let me tell you a little more about Aliza Akhtar.
She was overwhelmingly caring and kind.
Aliza was the kind of person that would drop anything to help someone. If you were having a bad day, she would stop her work to give you hug and then make a list of all the wonderful things in your life. If you hadn’t seen her in a while, she would make you feel so special whenever you reunited. She loved her parents so much. She would gush over them and her two sisters and would talk to them for an hour if she said she would just say hi for five minutes. Her older sister is pregnant with a baby boy and she would always call the baby her own and follow its growth using an app. She was so excited for that child. I remember we were at this Mexican restaurant in New Hampshire and we were eating these disgustings chips and salsa, and she kept assuring us “No, they’re actually pretty tasty guys” just to keep a positive attitude. I would see her work on 042 psets with some of our MSA friends an hour before it was due and she would always say “it’s a little rough right now, but we’ll be good”. That was Aliza, always seeing the bright side.
She was ambitious academically and professionally.
She was a die hard 6–3, and always talked about how she would help provide and take care of her parents once she could. She just loved coding and she would tell you all the time: “wow I love coding”, was a direct quote on several occasions. She wanted to work at a satellite location for Google or Microsoft so she could wield the big company influence while also having more intimate work culture. She was headed to Barcelona this summer for MISTI and was already so excited to make weekend trips to see her friends all across Europe while still learn more about the thing she loved the most academically. And boi was she creative. She told some damn good stories as god in a game of Mafia.
She had the best smile.
Like literally a million dollar smile. You would have the worst day ever and then go see her and she would make everything better. She would ask you if you wanted mango juice or ice cream and a big wide grin would plaster her whole face. It would be the cutest thing ever. Her eyes would get smaller but not in a concerning way, like in a way that you knew she was so genuinely happy. She had these flower earrings that matched her personality so perfectly too. She bought them over IAP during her GTL Mexico trip. She said that she thought about haggling to get a lower price, but then decided it was better to support the street artists. The earrings and that smile were an unstoppable combination.
What else? She liked Dominoes, loved actually. Like really loved and would order it on the weekly at midnight. She embraced her Pakistani heritage to the max and we would regularly gush over butter chicken. She was one of the few people I knew who rocked bangs. Her knee high boots were such a power move, and of course, she was a spectacular friend. It was Eid on Tuesday (a Muslim holiday following a month of fasting), and I couldn’t help but think of her and how now I would have to go through countless Eids without her. But, I know she’s grinning that beautiful smile at us from heaven. Eid Mubarak Aliza ❤, we miss you so dearly.