February 21, 2024

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick
How do I think another day on so many problems?
Who are all these problems affecting…
It seems like so many,
But how can I not contain my excitement about so many solutions

Who is willing to hear us out?
With our long list of questionnaires?
Who wants to join us on this creative journey
All of this new discovery…

These big ideas wrapped around our brains
Like gift-wrapped clues highlighted with our exhaustion
It’s like someday, there is so much hope
Hope for re-invention, clarity, and progress

Somedays, I am ready to pop
And in some ways, I do

We all have days behind closed doors, deep in our cocoons
Between illness, recreation, and epiphany
I only leave to scavenge for sustenance
And run back to my dorm with my many thoughts, my many worries
It’s like I have been searching for something deeper
By lining my walls with sticky notes as if Einstein has latched to my heart

Even with a brain drained with fatigue
Mushy from all the working, studying, and play
I can count my graces
For every moment, for every discussion
My team brings me home
Their thoughtfulness each day reminds me why I am here

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick
I know our clock is coming to an end
2.5 weeks until the dreams of home will finally stop
It seems almost like a fever I can never shake
But the end doesn’t seem as scary as it was days before
I have learned so much about starting, stopping, restarting
Restarting, Pivoting, whichever makes you more relieved
The hard work is becoming more transparent in each subsequent step

Now I ask myself, from time to time
How can I be of service in your grand challenge?
But, who is that ‘your’?

I don’t know yet, but Bangalore doesn’t just stop here
There’s a Bangalore at my front door
There are many Bangalores with explicit and implicit issues
All around each of our homes if we are being frank

But I am here.
I am near,
And I can’t seem to shake this feeling that Bangalore,
With what I have called the city of concreted dichotomies,
Has shaped me to stand on pillars of change.

Even though I must admit,
Change is hard.

By Aaliyah