For as long as I can remember, I have saved up every physical piece of memory possible - birthday cards, ticket stubs, and even a piece of broken tile from the classroom of the first school I studied in. More recently though, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about how the digital age has transformed how and what we remember. My YouTube account has archives of the Hannah Montana lyric videos I used to edit and upload when I was 11 years old, for example. My SoundCloud account already tells the tale of a teenager obsessed with EDM transforming to a young adult who appreciates a good Indie song. Digital photographs are one such form of memory I keep going back to, and I’ve got plenty of them due to a camera-obsessed dad — so here are parts of my childhood, captured digitally.
I have a lot of cousins. We spent many Diwalis in a row, gathering to burst crackers in our grandparents’ terrace in Chromepet.
A “surprise” birthday party for me when I turned 10. I knew about it and got dressed up in my favourite churidar set before getting “surprised.”
The gang and I at a crocodile park in Chennai.
Another gang and I at Marina Beach (when it was still relatively clean) one early morning. We arrived there by cycle.
I can only assume I forced my brothers to take this photo with me.
Somehow still my closest friends.
A group of seven 13-year old girls brainstormed on what the perfect hangout activity was and came up with this.
My drinking habits took root at an early age.
There was a vision here; I’m just not sure what.
Clearly, I have not changed at all.