by Anantinee ‘JHUMPA’ Mishra

‘Moments of today become the memories of tomorrow.’

Have you ever had that one moment in your life when you just want to sit down and get lost in the lanes of your memories? Get lost, and find yourself again in those moments stored carefully in some corner of your brain, to be revisited? Again, and again?

I certainly have.

I once heard that memories are like a box of sweets. You open and taste one of the delicacies, and it is impossible to leave at that. Your hands seem to have a brain of their own in that matter because they automatically move towards another.

Our memories are really the same. This one connects to that one, that one to another one and the cycle is never-ending and extremely pleasurable.

Have you ever felt that fond, gentle smile that curves our lips, our brain reacting subconsciously, as we relive some cherished moments with our loved ones? Or maybe the rush of affection filling your insides, stretching you out, as you looked at a photograph of yourself wearing bouncing pigtails, or maybe your kindergarten uniform? And that unexplainable, indescribable, and undefinable light-headedness when you saw the big, wide eyes, even bigger, goofier smile? Or even the prolonged plague of what if’s that would fight for a constant dominance?

I will not say how did I feel when these things happen to me, because that is something that needs to be felt not understood.

If you ask me, the taste of memories has always been bittersweet. There is regret somewhere also, for not doing things the right way, a melancholy acceptance too, because the past cannot be changed no matter how wonderful the concept of a time travel machine sounds in the fiction books. There are happy memories too, but there is always a bit of sadness on the fact that these moments are now gone. And, that mix of joy and sorrow, melancholy and candidness, is the perfect example of the taste of bittersweet.

But in the end, it comes down to us, you know? We can either accept the part, good or bad, likable or non-likable, we played in these fragments, and remember the happiness of the good ones, and the lesson of the bad ones. Or, we can lament and grieve over something beyond our control, therefore even destroying the good parts.

I could debate on the topic of memories for hours if you ask me, but I would like to conclude by saying that memories are too important to lose with the wind. They are an integral part of our past, present, and upcoming future. These fragments should be cherished, forever.

About the Author:

Anantinee ‘JHUMPA’ Mishra is a prodigy author, poet and TED speaker. She is twelve years old studying in std.8th at Apeejay School, Saket, New Delhi.  She has published two books and many stories and articles in magazines and journals. At the age of ten, she published a 21,000 worded anthology of stories called ‘Treasure of Short Stories’. Last year her debut Novel ‘Manhattan to Munnar’ got released. Recently she has been conferred with a title ‘PRODIGY AUTHOR’ and an ‘HONORARY DIPLOMA’ by the Hon’ble Vice President of  India Sh. M Venkaiah Naidu.