Cheers To All Things Unfamilar.

As we cautiously tiptoed into 2021, with many wary of the famous New Year resolutions and grandiose vision boards, the world swelled with collective optimism - naked relief and hope. We hoped for that new spark that comes with a new year - the same spark of several lights and colors that glisten the sky on the 31st; the fireworks accompanied by many merry wishes. That always did the trick.What a year, 2020!Confined to our four walls with family and friends, zooming screens, and TikTok challenges, our fireworks were as loud, colorful, and glistening more than ever because the world as a whole heaved a sigh of relief.Finally!Finally, what?Finally, how?We had spent months of 2020 holding our breaths for 2020(1). Another chapter. But dare I say the same book.The same tedious, outrageous, overbearing book - every page flipping on its own, as if to say,“Ready or not, here I cooommee!”Ready or not, it did come. Not ready at all, we all watched as life unfolded.Being fully aware of the facade behind a new chapter, I packed my bags and journeyed to my birthplace.The same place that when I graced her dry and patched walls, incredibly familiar door creaks, and antique artworks, I took for granted. It wasn’t a pilgrimage, yet I had hoped for cleansing along the way. Even though, for far too long, I had fantasized about leaving behind that place and never coming back.Who needed the dusty old town when you could have the shining blazing lights in the York?But on this day, I stuffed my bags with some clothes, snacks for the road, and some classic novels of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus, and Americanah, just in case I got bored with my screen.I went in search of tranquility, familiarity, memories that brought back memories, smells that whisked you decades back to the living room, sharing Grandma’s food on her favorite stool. Not a care in the world. Not a tear because there was no cause.Somebody take me back in time! Back in time, when people could lean in for a kiss, forget themselves in tight embraces and bump into each other, only to become lovers ten days after. Take me back to the time when we could all sit in the comfortable darkness of the theatres munching on some popped corn, with friends, family, and perfect strangers – strangers we could see beyond their eyes and register the curve of their lips. It is the little things. It was always the little things.Hungrily, I drove in search of the small things to remind me that though the ground beneath my feet had moved, I was still standing. Maybe wobbly, maybe one-legged, but I wasn’t bent and subdued on my knees.Maybe, I could begin again with a new slate, you know? A fresh start for 2021 was only ideal after a whole year of harsh and gory realities.Along the journey, however, I had no clue for what I wanted -A fresh start, a thrust to the past, or a damn revolution!And as I twisted the knob that opened to me a flooding sweet, nostalgic past, my one leg finally gave way from under me. And I was on my knees. Subdued.Even there, the pain of what once lived tugged restlessly at my little, fragile heart. Now stuck between my endless yearn for the past and my present disdain for the present, I would undoubtedly settle for a damn revolution.A complete overhaul of all once known!Nothing would ever remain the same - not the past, not the present. But the future, no one knows, yet I would wager that in the deepest confines of my slumber.Let’s write a new book. No one cares for another chapter in the same ole book.And after an eternity on my knees, I wobbled up on one leg and sped far away from the scraps and aches of yesterday.I guess what I’m trying to say is, I have learnt to hold on to that which I have control of and let the chips fall where they may, for those things that decide to go haywire. It is such a vital master key to sanity. Some might say life.That said, cheers to never looking back, good riddance to the hurt that comes with the regrets, and let’s hear it for all the things new to come - all things unfamiliar and fresh. Your time starts now!