Youth Voices: On being human - Reflections on my last 24 hours in India

As I prepare to leave India for Seoul in less than twelve hours, time feels even more fluid and nebulous than ever before.

There's an ungraspable, amorphous feeling that accompanies the night before an early morning flight, the last day of a trip abroad, and the final days of school right before summer break. Being the sentimental person that I am, in the last blinks of time that close out a particular season of my life, I approach every moment as if it wouldn't just be another ordinary moment in my everyday life and cradle it with a newfound tenderness. Tuesday becomes the last Tuesday in 2024 here in India, the last day where tomorrow will be Wednesday; dinner becomes the last time watching Ram press his spatula into the golden-brown paratha on his pan; even walking up the stairs becomes Ah, that's the last gecko I'll see crawling above me as I approach the second and third floors.

As cliche as it is, the saying the only constant in life is change rings clear and true, especially in transitional, liminal moments like these ones. Personally, knowing this phrase and going so far as to repeat it to myself in the mirror to internalize it still doesn't ease the heaviness in my chest, comprised of overwhelming love, gratitude, and ease right alongside helplessness, a sense of loss, and a healthy dose of denial (if that even exists?) that I feel with every changing tide. Our resistant to change is so human of us and connects us all; we can kick our feet and hide out under the bed in our dorm room (true story) to try and fight the passing of time. Last night, I even tried my "stay up as late as possible" technique I use to extend my last day in a place as much as humanly possible. Was it worth it? Somewhat. But no matter who we are or what we do, time doesn't discriminate. It simply keeps going; trying to fight against the constant flow of time only wears us out, both mentally and emotionally...[CONTINUE READING]