Hello! Happy National Youth Day to you. 

In all honesty, I wouldn’t have bothered myself with this day, (one more day in the list of ever growing days to celebrate) had it not been for the those endless Instagram posts that flooded my feed today. Friends posting a photograph of their younger selves captioned 

What I would tell my younger “youth” self?  Hashtag #nationalyouthday

Did you know, National Youth Day is celebrated every year on the 12th of January since 1985 to honor one of  India’s famous philosopher  Swami Vivekananda. This day marks his birth anniversary and is celebrated in colleges and schools all over India.  

I googled a bit about this day and right then and there I decided I to write about it. It brought back flood of memories.

For the purpose of this post, I searched for the most acceptable definition of Youth, and here is what I found:

United Nations—without prejudice to any other definitions made by Member States—defines ‘youth‘ as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years.

I am not sure I agree with the age limit here Seriously 24? I am still youthful as one can be! I refuse to agree to the legal or otherwise definition of Youth ! 

Someday when I decide I have had enough of  it, I’ll enter the next stage of life, that I would like to call the post youth stage .* Power of positive thinking.* 

Until then, for the sanity of this post, we will stick to the UN’s definition.

The age of 15-24 was when we were defining  ourselves, exploring the unknown, excited about the future and we are not alone in this journey , I was not alone in this journey. I met a lot of people and some of them seamlessly became a part of my journey.

In no particular order I present to you a precious part of my youth: Renuka, Suman, Kirti, Sumit ,Anvita , Saurabh ,Anshuman, Bandi, Liz & Anup. 

These names here summarize the entirety of  my youth. I take pride in having  known all of them in my growing , defining, exploring phase of life. We may or may not be in touch with each other, it doesn’t change the fact that they were there with me, growing, defining their youth self  as was I. 

I met Liz a little after I had turned 25 , going by the definition she wouldn’t have made the cut, but hey this is my post and I can give or take few years.

Each one of them, knowingly unknowingly left a little bit of themselves with me , shaping me into the person I am today. I have endless stories about each one of them, some day I’ll  write  about all my favorites ones *Some day*. 

I  am grateful for all the experiences I have had, even the unpleasant ones. I wouldn’t change much back from those days. Specially the ugly ones, for those are the ones that taught me about love, loyalty, trust friendship, hard work and most importantly patience.  

I just can’t stop smiling as I sit here on my daughter’s pristine ( O.K, not pristine) white desk typing away, as these memories come flooding back.

The bunking, dancing-on-the-stage , the fretting-about-passing-the-exam and begging everyone-for-the-notes days! And when those got over, there were the I-have-a-job , I-have-a-boyfriend, making-new-relationships, Chandini-chowk-dinner-dates followed by endless gossips every night days !

 My youth is an amalgamation of all these experiences , made by people who tip toed into my life , shaping my today  one stroke at time.

What I would tell my younger  “youth” self?

” Inhale the new experiences. Dream uninhibited. Travel , go globetrotting with your girlfriends  . You will get only one chance at it. Make it worthwhile while it lasts.” These memories will soon weave into exciting tales that you would share and laugh at 20 years later.

As they say Hindsight is 20/20. 

What are we if not, for, the memories we create with the people who seamlessly enter our lives.

What would you say to your 20 self ? Who do you see when you close your eyes and go back in years? I would love to hear about your experiences!