HNLU: Death and Reincarnation

That first day,
Those laugh riots,
That first song,
Those bus rides,
That hail storm,
Those silent nights,
That first crush,
Those coffee swigs,
That long walk,
Those last minutes,
That life,
That place…is no more.

While it died a painful death,
And the flames on its pyre still linger,
Another life beckons.























































































Its plunderers are still at large,
And saviours, it never had,
Yet, another life beckons.

If skullduggery succumbs to uprightness,
And hypocrisy gives in to humility,
This life could well be a better one.

The Gathering...

On that grey afternoon of the 3^rd of September, I happened to be in a congregation of people who had gathered by the Arabian Sea to witness the culmination of Ganesh Utsav. To be surrounded by a million people from different walks of life was in many ways an incomparable and yet a strange experience. The fear of a stampede breaking out or of a bomb going off only added more to the adventure. As the rains came down and I made my way out through that sea of people, taking refuge under one umbrella after another, I kept wondering about the sheer vulnerability of our existence.