UNSETTLED SOULS..

As twilight descended upon the necropolis,
Silencing the birds and the rustling of leaves,
I stood under the boughs of a leafless tree,
Laying a wreath upon my friend’s grave....

GULAB BAGH

MAXIMUM CITY.... AND I ??

As twilight descended upon the dead city and the noise of traffic reached a crescendo, I stood wistfully looking out of the window, wondering what the world had come to....

Beyond the iron bars, green flares flickered amid the constant criss cross of shadows. It was a remarkable sight in many ways, only to pierce the heart of a city which had long forgotten to look beyond its own vendetta.

The sky was an explosion of multitudinous colours but perhaps, an unhappy one. Faces seemed blurred, slowly losing their meaning of existence. Rooted to the ground, a million thoughts danced in my mind. However, I was unable to assign them a definite rhythm or a concrete vision.

As I struggle to put my thoughts into words, often stopping mid sentence and trying to gauge their intensity and origin, the world moves on. In the transformation of a bud into a flower, in the groan of trucks plying on the road, in the struggle of the poor to make their daily ends meet, a heart bleeds devoid of any emotion. And I like a parasite, consume civilization’s resources, eternally ungrateful....

...OUTSIDE THE WINDOW

The first shafts of light that escaped through the drapes illuminated the corners of the room. Sweat throbbed in my temples as the sun beat down on my face. The world outside seemed alien to me. As Beethoven played somewhere in the background, I fell into a trance, untormented by ghosts of the past...