India, July 12 -- It was my birthday, April 7th, and I had just flown from sunny San Francisco to snowy Ithaca to visit my brother, who's doing his PhD at Cornell. A day earlier, I had been walking in the sun with my cousins, sipping coffee in cheerful cafes, feeling light and free. Now, I was indoors, surrounded by silence and snow. The sky was grey, the temperature had dropped below zero, and everything felt cold and still.

I remember thinking, why did I leave California? I could've been celebrating in warmth and sunshine.

And then something shifted.

As I was scrolling through Instagram, a reel popped up. Two young people in bright athleisure were twerking to "Rock That Body" on a Kolkata footpath. It was funny, bold, and so unexpect...