What is childhood if not old perfumes, foods, candies, and clothes? Without my long lost friends, I am nothing but a shell of a human without memories. I find myself yet again nostalgic for something I will never know again. With a sense of foreboding, I move forward but every time I catch the scent of an old perfume I’m taken over by a feeling of reminiscence and sadness. Time passes faster than anyone can notice, One day it’s all mundane the next you’re seeing it in photos. I begin the process of healing every few months but I’m taken aback by the image of my younger self. A happier self. Now I’m left with nothing but the dreading uncertainty of whether 10 year old me is proud of me or not.
My childhood room was full of dead hobbies, old locked diaries left forgotten and that one rubber bracelet. Ma has kept it all with love, she tells me the same stories of my childhood and I listen with the same wonderment every time. I hope to meet the cheerful little girl who spent days making drawings and showcasing them proudly to her parents. The ones framed and kept in the living room. I hope to gaze into her eyes while she glances at the wonderful future she had battled so much to attain. And I hope to tell her one day that every scar she gave me made me a lot stronger and I am really proud of that.
- Sharanya Tyagi and Sanjam Singh
