1,776 hours

Dr. Suess, that wise man, once said, “Off again! On again! In again! Out again!” So, here I am, back after a hell of a year, some 25,000 exams, half the number of friendships, a lot of binge eating, a larger amount of binge-watching, and a lot of gaining sound wisdom. Part of the wisdom I gained reminds me now that a good sentence is good only as long as it’s not too big, so I’ll break up the activities of the past few months into short sentences for you.

First, I immensely apologize for having been in severe slothfulness – admittedly, I have become lazier than my usual self, and that is an alarming development that requires special attention, which we will attend to later. However, now that I am back to my happy, happy space, I will let you in on everything you have missed this past year.

2022-23 in all its glory

It began with my stress levels hitting, like, a million (which is not new), with a taxing first day of the last school year, a lot of homework, and some delectable canteen food. The year consisted of a grand share of my work as cultural secretary, an impressive lot of studying, a dramatic chunk of getting pressurized and internally dying, a lot of failed flirting attempts, a lot of sucking up to my marvelous teachers, a number of visits to other schools, and you know, you get the idea by now. Currently, after mastering my devils and getting through all the good stuff, here I am, a graduate. Which means, perhaps, partying and all the most unimaginable fun and loads and loads of free time. Wrong. It means making big decisions and pre-quarter life crises and too much time you don’t know what to do with it.

However, these past almost three months after the mammoth board exams’ conclusion was surprisingly eye-opening. Waking up late, becoming your own best friend, going out and then some, eating out, staying up late – these are the perks of a graduate student during their initial days: temporary relief and pure bliss.

Personally, here’s everything I did – celebrated the dawn of (apparent) impending freedom, celebrated my birthday with a pleasant flourish, went out (a LOT), watched TV, learned songs, performed some concerts, read some great books (book suggestion for those who want it – The Inimitable Jeeves is a must read), and learned how to drive a car. I got my exam results (which were pretty positive altogether), tried reading non-fiction, failed miserably at it, applied to colleges, tried making food, failed miserably at it, slept a lot, and gleefully succeeded at that.

So, in conclusion, after 1,776 hours (I am just scaring myself at this point), which makes 74 whole days, around 11 weeks, and lifetimes of lying around on the dole, the tigress is back in her den (yes, I mean me). So, hi there, and welcome back to you too.