Foil, Agarwalla explains, is a literary device “which refers to points in the poem where the poet does not directly praise the victor, but instead uses another topic or theme to create a contrast which then affects the praise.”

“I found that in some sense, foils for extraordinary victors—for tyrants or kings—were really focusing on the power aspect of the tyrant or king,” he says.

On the other hand, Agarwalla found that foils for aristocratic victors focused on the community or group to which the person belonged.

“I sort of showed how often these foils…are chosen based on the position of the victor,” he says.

At Cornell and Harvard, Agarwalla was active with student government. He likens Undergraduate Council meetings to speaking in ancient fora.

“I like the arguments, I love problematic procedure and I like to debate,” he says. “I feel it’s almost like the Classical, Athenian thing, where you go into the Forum.”

In addition to Pindar, Agarwalla names Sophocles and Plato as his favorite Greek authors. His favorite Latin authors are Virgil, Cicero and Catullus.

Agarwalla’s roommate, Michael Alperovich ’04, characterized him as a serious student with “an unrelenting focus on his academics.”

“It drives him; it envelops him; it also defines him,” Alperovich says.

Due to this drive, Agarwalla graduates summa cum laude today.

Another roommate, Austin G. Dever ’04, says Agarwalla also knows how to have a good time.

“Pankaj doesn’t drink but buys every remote acquaintance in the bar multiple rounds of whatever they want,” he says.

During the summer, Dever says Agarwalla volunteers with the Prince George’s County Fire Department in Maryland “because he loves the atmosphere and challenge.”

Recently, the friends went to see the movie Troy, which is based on the Iliad by Homer—another one of Agarwalla’s favorite authors.

“Pankaj got so worked up at the film’s inaccuracies that by the halfway point he was remarking, ‘This is crap,’” Dever says.