How To Be Ordinary

Dear Upa,

                 I want it to matter.

I want a life that’s exciting, a life that fills my pockets with memories so much so that I can’t stuff anymore into them, and I want to be able to look back at my life when I am a 100 years old and be able to think, “Ah, yes, that was satisfactory”.

And by wanting a life that sets me apart, I prove that in reality, I am absolutely ordinary. There is nothing special about wanting to be special. It’s something that we all want, whether we’ve realised it already or are yet to-at the end of the day, all we want is to believe that our life is special, like some protagonist of a YA fiction novel. We’re all the same, we’re all ordinary.

I spent the last couple of days at vacation with my family, and ended it with a 20 hour visit to Mumbai to meet my favourite people in the world (you guys). It was the first vacation my family took together after an entire year and a half, and so much has changed in that year and a half that the vacation was long overdue. We didn’t really do anything special, but it was fun. God, it was so much fun. The 20 hour visit to Mumbai, though, made me a lot more emotional. Just the fact that so many people came together to meet me, or that I saw one of our friend’s face after 4 whole months, or that I was suddenly able to hug you, or that I was literally there so suddenly, made me feel like it was a dream.

And as I lie alone in my room in Delhi for the first time in 120 hours, loaded with late birthday gifts and cards that are literally the best things ever and a pocket full of memories that I made with my family and friends, I realise that I am one pocket closer to being absolutely ordinary. 

But when I remember the happiness I felt from being around my favourite people in the world, I think to myself, maybe being ordinary isn't a bad thing after all. 

Honestly? Being ordinary is great.

Bye for now,

Aditi.