New Delhi, March 5 -- Wait - has it really been five years? It feels like we blinked and somehow fast-forwarded past an entire half decade. One moment, we were disinfecting groceries and hosting Zoom happy hours; and the next, we were back to airport lines, packed schedules, and a world that barely paused for breath. Time has always been a slippery thing, but something about these last five years feels off.

How did we get here so fast? And why does the COVID-19 lockdown still feel like it was just yesterday?

March 2020 was when the world hit pause. Airports emptied, city streets grew silent, and entire countries retreated indoors. What started as "two weeks to flatten the curve" spiraled into months of uncertainty. Time felt stretched, ...