Janaki's Blog

  ….congratulations! You made it! 2020 has felt like a test of patience, and although the upcoming year doesn’t look like it’s going to be sunshine and daisies right away, at least we’re moving on from the one that started it all. The coronavirus ended up being a dark horse of sorts, pushing past every other catastrophe to emerge as the victor. So many protests, marches and fires around the world and at home, but with the virus always looming in the background. During January, I was back in Riyadh, mourning a vacation I had made the most out of. The weeks had flown by too far for my liking, but the fun had to end at some point. And as I waved my parents goodbye and rolled my suitcase away past the gates at the airport, I’d consoled myself with the thought that I’d be back when the semester ended. A couple of months later, after we had our college fests and wrote a couple of exams, everything abruptly shut down. At the time, an unexpected break from college life was a small blessing, an

This is probably the first time that everyone (and I really do mean everyone) can unanimously agree on how bad the year’s been. Unwelcome surprises, roller coasters that have gone more down than up, classes on Teams everyday while trying not to fall asleep. This New Year’s, instead of making a resolution I’ll never keep, I would like to give some shout-outs. For years, my blog has helped me record every detail I’ve wanted to be able to revisit, and this post will be dedicated for this very purpose. First of all, I would like to Taylor Swift for the Miss Americana documentary, the City of Lover concert, the music video for The Man, two new surprise albums, the Long Pond sessions. My ears have remained blessed throughout the year.  I would also like to thank my school friends for always being ready to trade gossip and nostalgia (also Sauda is an aunt now! Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!) Now, moving on to college: Sreya and Sesha taught me a lot about K-pop musicians. They also adopted a cat (and nam

“Pass it through the window.” Lina’s outstretched hand was trying to grab the pencil pouch bag Akshara was extending to her. Our classroom was visible through the window on the wall perpendicular to the balcony we were standing upon. If you reached out, you could just barely high-five someone in class. But right now, we were on a different mission. Lina grabbed the pouch, but it was only when its contents fell out that that we realized it hadn’t been zipped close. We screamed for no reason from the first floor, watching the pens that had fallen out bounce onto the ground.  Eva’s face was the physical definition of oh no, especially since it had been her bag passed through the window. It was safe, but half empty.  “I can’t find my ID!” Eva rummaged through it, and came up empty-handed. She took off back to class to check if she’d left her ID there. The rest of us peered down below, and watched a couple of boys walk briskly into the building. We hissed to get their a