India, Feb. 20 -- As my heels clicked sharply against the airport floor on a cool January morning, fresh off one flight and en route to another, a sudden cheer caught my attention. A young girl, her steps heavy with the weight of a towering trolley, was making her way to the check-in counter. Each time she turned back, her family-an eager crowd of parents, siblings, and relatives-erupted into waves, smiles, and cheers, as if willing her forward. But what she didn't see was how their faces fell the moment she turned away. Perhaps their encouragement was as much for themselves as for her, an unspoken understanding that this was the beginning of something entirely new-both literally and metaphorically. I smiled, remembering my first time fl...