Name

Waking up from sleep at noon,

on a bright sunny day,

I prepared a cup of coffee for me.

You see that's what my sleep cycle is nowadays,

with everything coming to a standstill.

The real human connection is lost,

The human touch from the one we love.

And as I sit by the window,

there was music,

with birds chirping around

in the silent city.

There was something haunting about that silence,

that was making me restless.

I remember once maa telling me,

to open the box that is kept in my room,

whenever I feel lost.

So, I stood up and searched for that box

it was kept on the third row on the shelf.

and for once there was serenity inside me.

As I opened the box of memories,

at once my eyes stumbled upon

the pair of brown sparkling eyes in a photograph.

All the memories came rushing back to me,

I put the cup of coffee aside.

I could hear a voice in my head,

which used to call me up daily and ask,

"Chai peene chale?"

I wonder if you still remember it.

The first summer we spent together.

Where you introduced me to chai.

When you used to hum 90s music,

I used to dance on my own pop beats.

When you used to have gola,

I used to have a hot bowl of soup.

That when you used to call my name,

It felt like a feeling.

When you left exactly 346 days before,

you took a part of me with you,

but left me with something to hang on.

Now, I dance on 90s classic music.

I have gola even during winters.

Although,

A cup of chai was replaced by a cup of coffee.

Tears rolled down my cheek,

because I haven't seen you

in so long,

At that moment,

maybe it was the connection,

maybe just a mere coincidence.

My phone rang,

all the alphabets hung around each other to form a name

A

Y..

The distance between those letters was the distance between us. With surprise, I was looking at that familiar name. like an old favorite book, which is now covered in dust. As I picked up the call, I asked, "When this is all over, Chai peene chale?"