"Ae Waqt Ruk Ja, Tham Ja, Thehar Ja
Wapas Zara Daud Peeche
Main Chhod Aayi Khudko Jahan Pe
Woh Reh Gaya Mod Peeche...''
(Oh time, hold still, stop, wait
Start running backwards now
I have left myself at some point
That road is long gone...)
Remember those lyrics from the 90s most popular movie DDLJ? Yes, the whole India crooned these lines as Kajal and SRK lipped the soulful song. How we all wish for the time to stop at those bends of life where we left our most cherished memories. Recently, accidentally my mother came across an old prescription of mine of 1998. And an epiphany occurred to her that every 8th year of the decade has been a milestone in her daughter's life.
1998: I was just a school-going teenager aged 14. But the year was significant in the sense that I was recovering from a serious illness in that year.
2008: It was the year I appeared for the West Bengal Civil Services. I had left the campus job offer as a Software Engineer (Trainee). Not just the job, I didn't utilize my GATE rank which could have easily landed me into one of the prestigious IITs to pursue masters. Leaving everything for the sake of civil services seemed almost akin to putting all my eggs in one basket. And I was scared that if I failed to crack W.B.C.S., my career would be doomed. That year, my 24th year, turned out to be a major milestone in my life, as that was the year of my one and only attempt at W.B.C.S.
2018: I am the single mother of a 6-year-old boy now. Leaving behind the tumultuous years, life at 34 is on the threshold of another major change.
2028: I'll mother a teenager and god knows which crisis of adolescence we both will have to face.
But time flies as if it has got wings. And we go on achieving new milestones, adapting constantly with changes occurring with time.
