Exodus Day, one year in

This very day, the 13th of March, marks one year of booking the soonest flight ticket I’ve ever bought, a flight departing the very next day. I am a planner by nature and born of an accountant. I track Skyscanner like a hawk two months before flying anywhere and formulate mental spreadsheets about price fluctuations.

But the 13th of March 2020 was a turning point, and a special day because of it. A week prior I had full intention of staying in Oxford over the Easter vacation, so that I could revise for finals and also finally spend a term break fully in the UK. The weather was finally getting warmer and the skies a little bluer, and late spring was arriving beautifully. Then the day before the 13th, I read a Facebook post of a nurse in Italy, describing in great detail the pains that the coronavirus had caused, before clearly enunciating: England will be next, surely and devastatingly.

It was just after lunch, and I was in the Maths Institute (there is a decent cafeteria there) with my usual group of friends. I checked the time, and it was about midnight in Singapore, and I knew that my parents would probably be sleeping, but I called my dad anyway.

“Should I come home?” I asked him.

“Sure, come home,” he said, which was the response I expected but still needed to hear.

Shashvat will have his own pivotal moment to speak of for Exodus Day (commemorating this day was his idea to begin with, and he has his own story), but in any case we booked a flight on the 13th and departed to our own rooms to pack up our things. Days later, news spread about the NHS being overwhelmed with patients, stressed to its limits.

The true Exodus Day, the literal exit from the country and the last day I spent in Oxford as a student, was the 14th of March and is documented cheekily in this vlog here.

Exodus Day represents to me a day of rapid reconfiguring of mindsets, quick decision-making, and trusting my gut. I went from being convinced I was staying to convinced I had to leave in a matter of two days. And I was lucky to have left for Singapore early, because the early timing allowed me to emerge from my house just a few days before nation-wide lockdown/’circuit breaker’ started. It allowed us to get flights, on SIA no less, for 30% cheaper than flights a few days after. For me it wasn’t like these were life-or-death things, but for Shashvat it kind of was, because the timing allowed his visa to be approved, while many others’ after were denied.

It represents also the friends and family who made a potentially painful plaster-rip a lot more fun. Shashvat was there all the way. My parents were a joy to come back to. So many of my things I left behind in Oxford were taken care of by Lama, who was an absolute angel. I got to have brunch with my flatmates and closest friends in college before flying off. Shashvat and Jason were there the whole way, and Amber most of the way too. I remember also having dinner at Rick’s and then ice cream at G&D’s with Thania on the 13th, which more heartfelt than I expected. A few small tears were shed. I didn’t get to meet Michael, but we messaged about all the mess as well after dinner.

I miss Oxford, and I miss the UK. I miss being a student and wondering about which cafe to go and study in. I miss going for Sunday brunch at The Hub cafe in Kellogg with the crew, studying with Michael and whoever else in the empty co-working warehouse space on Saturday, walking down Jericho street, dipping into charity shops, having long chats with my flatmates in the kitchen.

It’s good to miss it, and it’s good to remember. But as I have been saying recently – we press on.