When I Grow Up

I cannot believe 2024 is drawing to a close, mostly because 2025 will quickly put me on the other side of my twenties. This is all the more evident when I look at my social media feed – weddings, engagements, promotions wherever you look.  It reminds me of the famous Rachel Green monologue in season 1 of Friends – although I love getting coffee, even if only for me.  I might have had the most unplanned and unpredictable year of my life yet, and at this point I am just relieved to have made it till here.  And I have returned home for a few Kodak moments of my own – the family vacation, after five long years.

Family vacations were a big part of my childhood. My father loves to travel, whereas my sister and I inherited my mother’s motion sickness. There is quite a lot of video evidence of my shenanigans in various Club Mahindra resorts across Central and South India – Coorg, Ooty, Kodaikanal, Panchgani, Gir and home-ground Munnar. My father was the planner, organizer and sponsor for all these, I was the unsolicited assistant getting in the way of every hotel and transport reservation. As I would inevitably get reprimanded in a new pincode each time, my sister would happily watch with her hands wrapped around a snack box as my mother recovered from her allergy to AC, heat, motion, sound, smell or whatever caught her and her immune system’s fancy that day. We would then trudge along, from one historical monument/temple/deity to another. Without fail, my father would find a south Indian restaurant for a breakfast of idlis while my mother would look for veg meals at lunch. It’s a sentiment I have questioned before on this blog, but not to my parents (of course).

It isn't the best week for me to be going on three flights and switching between two suitcases, with only one day of rest in Kochi. Somehow, I was having trouble reflecting the happenings of this year as December progressed – how do you give feedback to yourself when you don’t know what the ideal way to spend your 25th year was? However, as soon as I landed in Kochi and heard the familiar twang of “Any international passport holding passengers?” with that heavy Malayali accent (“Enee indernashnel passport holdin paessengurz?”), the worries took a backseat. Also, a small shoutout to the domestic bank salesperson for congratulating me on switching out of a sales role, as I waded through paperwork.

Before my parents yell at me to close the laptop and finish packing, I should mention that it wasn't all gloomy in the year of the dragon. The uncertainty of 2024 did teach me more about myself; such as when exactly some of my strongest traits (that I took for granted) go into hiding or which fitness plan suits me the best. I built new friendships and professional relationships, I managed to improve my living situation and travelled to places I hadn’t been before. It had a good mix of delusion and denial, but also resilience and hope and so many happy memories.  For next year, when I grow up even more (sigh), I daresay I have a clearer plan in place – which I shall get into after a food and family fun-filled holiday that includes NYE on a plane while hovering somewhere above the Pacific Ocean. Cheers!