1. A Love ended with a lot of certainty, like a glass knowing its fate when released mid-air; ‘Goodbye.’
An ending secured with a double full stop.
One-the punctuation. Other-the word itself.
2. Another ended in acquaintance; ‘Happy Birthday!’
Only.
3. One looks forward. Still; ‘I will see you soon, 20__?’
Will I see you soon? Please.
4. Then a Love crept in disappointed; ‘I wish this could have worked.’
But do We?
5. There was another which was not convinced with its journey. Or rather, its end; ‘You moved on pretty easily, congrats :)’
Somewhere, I hope you did too. Somewhere, I don’t.
6. Somewhere within tens of chats, an old one pleasantly reads of eternal hope; ‘I hope one day we can be the crazy people that we were.’
And love replied, ‘We’ll get to be the crazy people that we were-if not in this lifetime, then in another.’
7. A Love was mercifully directed to death; ‘May you always be happy. My request to you is, please don’t try to reach me in anyway… I hope you will understand.’
I do. But I don’t. But I will, anyway.
8. One still sees his face. In a place called Nostalgia; ‘Well I hope New York is not wearing you down and you are still as attractive as you used to be.’
Sigh.
9. A Love also reeks of regret; ‘I don’t know what I saw in you.’
I knew then. I remember still.
10. But Love also chose a classic end; ‘Are you okay with being friends?’
No. I guess.
11. And once, it was too abrupt; ‘We’ll talk when we talk. It is clear nothing is going to happen right now.’
It was not.
12. There is one which stays. Always, yet never; ‘(typing…)’
A dog-eared bookmark in a novel called ‘Forgetting’.
13. There was a grave that was marked fresh, very suddenly. It reads; ‘I will be waiting on the bench, left side to the ticket counter.’
I wish I knew. I would have picked your favourite flowers before visiting.
Zenia Taluja, trained in the discipline of social anthropology, is currently working as a researcher in the development sector. She has spent most of her time working with agrarian and tribal societies in South India, studying gendered experiences of health and illness. While practising her discipline and conducting research, she started experimenting with forms, other than academic writing, to engage with and represent varied human experiences. She now aims to hone her skills in visual anthropology to tell stories and break away from the ideas of linear representation of realities.