On being on the cusp of 22.

Today is the 21st of June, 2016. That means I'm a 21 year old only for 6 more days. Unless I die within that time, there is no forever21 tag for me.

See, that's the thing about 22. There's nothing fabulous associated with it, you know. It's just two twos. It's pretty much like 21 minus the fancy tags.

There are ages which come with a lot of hype. For example, 13 is your official entry into teenage. For the rest of your life till you become an adult, you're in this category called teenage and with it come tags like "rebel", "awesome", "crazy", "sweet" and a gazillion others. And then comes 18, which is when you finally become an adult. 19 is when you're an adult and yet a teenager. 19 is basically you at your most clueless. 20 is the mark of you finally feeling like an adult, since the teenager tag is lost at 20. 21 is again all sorts of awesome. You are, for all intents and purposes, an adult at 21. And there are international fashion brands that have immortalized this age as the coolest in names like "Forever 21".

In reality, 21 didn't give me the expected high of being an adult. I was just as clueless as I was at 19, except I saw more of the world and people around me. I remember, I had made a list of countries to visit before I turn 25, the day before my 20th birthday. While, that is something to strive for, I realize, the chances of that list being ticked off fully are minimal. But I did travel a lot this last year. They were definitely places not in my little "to visit" list, but the places were worth all the travel:

1. Varkala. This is one place I had been wanting to go ever since I saw a picture of the Cliff beach in a supplement of The Hindu long back. To think, I had lived in Trivandrum for around 3 years and it finally took me 4 years of college life to actually go to Varkala. Varkala was all things amazing. Friends, beach, beer and a car trip!

2. Kutch! Yes, I went to Kutch this year. I saw the white salt expand over to the horizon. I saw the sun set at the Rann of Kutch. And at night, I saw the sky smeared with a million little stars. I met and interacted in broken Hindi with the people from Hodka village and ate their food! I bought some Kutchi clothes and handicrafts to serve as souvenirs. I also found two great travel companions.

3. Goa! This was a trip of a lifetime. I went there with my brothers and sister and we ate, drank and made merry! The beaches, the sun, the English breakfast, the scooter rides through the narrow roads, Goa was worth every sweat that we broke there.

4. Pondicherry! Yes, at long last, I got to see the French remnants of Pondicherry. The colourful French style buildings adorning either side of the roads, the beach road with buildings on one side and the coconut tree lined Rock beach, the Aurobindo Ashram and the Auroville beach! And ofcourse, we toured the place around on cycles.

This might seem like a little achievement to the ardent travellers among my friends but it's a jolly big deal to me. I've never been on such a sight seeing roll, you know! And it felt incredible.

That reminds me, the first trip I did on turning 21 was when I went with Aswathi to Fort Kochi. Man, Georgie, you are a bringer of fortune!

Well, though I still don't know how to adult, I'm doing the "youth" part pretty well, I guess. 21 was brilliant. But being the lazy bum that I am, I still have a long way to go in completing the "to read" list I had made for 2016. Boy, that'll be the biggest hurdle for the 22 year old me. Books! And maybe some more travel. On I march!