“delhi and mumbai both wake up / to no notifications”, Harnidh Kaur
delhi and mumbai both wake up
to no notifications. no newspapers deliver,
and the air stills. there is no argument brewing.
no one has anything to say to each other.
we look at each other, bewildered. people ask
each other for names, for languages,
for introductions. we are learning how to be
human. i learn of how many stories travel by
metro from jangpura to connaught place.
elsewhere, my sister makes a friend in a
coffeeshop and does not wonder if she will
survive her latte. we become gentler.
our voices step off the octave we placed them
on. hoarse throats learn how to be quiet.
this is a new skill for us. we look at our hands
and realise they don’t hold lines anymore.
just the imprints of a mic held tightly.
the silence smothers us with how vast it is.
next day, the newspapers clatter off the press.
mass graves found. people suffocated to death.
no suspects yet.