Nostalgia of the Unknown and the Life on Hold

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Can we miss experiences we have never had? People we have never met. Places we have never been. I have come to realise that we can. And I know once you finish reading this, you will too.

When I started looking for places to start my Masters journey, I was deliberately looking for places away from home. Not because I dread the warmth of a family and the peace that comes with familiar places, but because I wanted to explore life for what it truly is and be responsible for my own self for once.

As luck would have it, I did end up in literal heaven on earth, a sprawling 300 acre of forest land for a college campus with deer and peacocks to accompany my walks to the department. I found a family in my classmates and seniors sooner than I ever have in the two decades that I have walked on this earth.

Now the catch is, I am sure you must have guessed it already. Neither have I ever set foot in this place that I now call home nor have I ever met the people that I call my family. And yet, I feel this eerie sense of nostalgia every time I look at pictures of the campus. And I can already sense the ebbs and flow of emotions in the people from the department.

We have inside jokes, unsaid quips and unrequited devotion to each other sitting miles apart. My heart wells up every time I see their faces on camera, even if it is for the shortest of time. We even have nicknames for each other for crying out loud.

All of this within a mere span of five months. Despite the fact that I don’t even know how tall half of them are gonna be standing next to me, how far the department is from the main gate, and how hot the weather is gonna be.

So here’s to all the 1st year college students waiting to set foot into their college life. Here’s to all those new job recruits waiting for that visa to fly abroad. Here’s to everyone who has their life on hold for a year now. Hang in there! We are in the end zone now.

And the day we cross over to our new reality, I swear we will be so much stronger, grateful and resilient than we ever could be. So here’s to hoping, our life on hold restarts to the best chapter of our lives ever!

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