By Calla Doh
2024 Borlaug-Ruan International Intern
I have a riddle for you all.
What is something fundamental to the nature of our universe and our human experience, yet is seemingly impossible to define?
Time.
Time is a funny concept. It’s not exactly a dimension, because unlike space, we can’t move freely through time as we please: no matter what we do, time keeps chugging forward. Similarly, in Aristotle’s words, time is neither a measure or something measurable, yet it is both a measure of change and measured by change.
If your head is spinning and you feel existential dread starting to creep into your consciousness…me too. Time can feel like an (endearingly) annoying younger brother doing the exact opposite of what we plead and bargain with it to do: hours, days, months seem to fly by when we want time to slow, yet time seems to slow to a crawl during periods we desperately wish to pass.
This paradox has unfolded in the span of the past 36 hours, from my 20-hour long journey from DC to Delhi to quiet moments spooning homemade Dal on to warm Paratha in the sanctuary of the cafeteria at the S M Sehgal Foundation in Gurugram, India…..[CONTINUE READING]