By Gunika Virlley
Nothing will ever be the same again..
will it?
Gone are those leisurely trips to the markets
where you could walk aimlessly
looking at mundane earrings and matching necklaces
sipping cold coffee. .just breathing in the cacophony of it all
the hawkers rubbing shoulders with you,
pestering, to buy some faux leather belts with jazzy buckles,
women diving into a heap of multicolored kurtas, one size fits all!
Prams with howling kids, little kids, big kids,
men with oversized backpacks, following oversized women,
all crammed into by lanes haggling for stuff
Colourful cushions hanging from one end of the rope
Beanbag stuffing from the other
Can you ever now walk through a cloud of bubbles
blowing through the pink bubble stick
through that crowded market maze?
Can you ever feel that slight cool tingle when it touches your face as it bursts?
Can you, now, ever open your mouth wide so bravely, to swallow that fire paan ?
Or to just stick out your tongue
to lick that softy ice cream
dribbling down the waffle cone
on a warm summer evening?
Can you ever sit around your loved ones
laughing with abandon
taking bites from their plates
taking a sip of their drink?
Acts of love are now
staying away from each other
Acts of kindness are not holding hands
Acts of bravery are now hiding your face
behind masks
All of a sudden, a new world has emerged
An alien one…. a lonely one….. a world like no other…
But yet the beauty of nature remains…
Constant and full of hope
As a new dawn breaks to bring in the light
Swallowing the darkness of yesterday
It’s message clear…
I can do without you…
But can you?
