The day before Diwali.
Nov 17, 2022
An emptiness that pervades your sleep,
a bygone love affair and it’s bygone trance,
the hangover that lasts for months, sometimes years -
that’s what it felt like that late October morning.
Streets so familiar yet so unknown,
floods of marigolds lining them up,
shiny ‘Happy Diwali’ signs on oil dripped walls that could use a paint job.
A couple eats Jalebis and makes love,
a frail man rides a bicycle around the empty bazaar,
pigeons paint the sky with haunting swirls.
Why is everything so full of emotion yet so devoid of it?
The question hits you like a fireball.
The hangover is gone and you suddenly want a Jalebi dipped in love.
Time to go home,
time to be lost in the land of lights.
