Gone are the days when you could put an upside down

container on your head

and pretend to

be a fireman

or a space cadet

or zombie.

Gone are the days when you could laugh out senseless

and roll on the floor

thanks to a

fart or burp

or other bodily sounds.

Gone are the days when dewdrops…

For the first time in two weeks I was able to comfortably lounge in the backseat of my dad's Honda Civic. The cyclists who appeared from nowhere ceased to elicit a "watch out, you'll hit him!" shriek of terror; I stopped cursing the motorcyclists; turned a blind eye toward the rickshaws; and didn't care about cars being driven so close alongside ours that I could roll down my window and touch them without having to ever so slightly stretch my arm.



Yesterday for the first…