New year and growing up
A hurried countdown from ten to one followed by a cacophony of "Happy new year". The whole of Mumbai and the stretches of the Queens Necklace: The Marine Drive, echoed with loud bursts of firecrackers to be swallowed by a cloud of dense white smoke. I lay curled in my bed shivering in the chills of the remnant of the December night. As 2019 was stuck in its metamorphosis, chaperoned by the ticking of the infamous clock I was undergoing my own metamorphosis, chaperoned by time itself. The outdoors resounded with laughter, cheers, giggles, greetings and more laughter. I played the "2019 English blockbusters" on Spotify and commanded Alexa to amp up the volume to a maximum of ten. My efforts of drowning the mirth of people by the hollowness of hideous lyrics of the blockbusters seemed futile. Not giving up, I tried to fill in the void left by the last day of the year with a quick phone call with my parents. Phone calls at home had reduced into a routine, an obligatio
