COMMUNIQUÉ

I have been sustaining with grief in my chest of late. Each morning I get up and drink grief as my detox drink. People tell me I’m pessimistic, and exaggerate my grief, but what shall I do when every morning at 6.55 am the hawker hands me over the newspaper carrying all the sorrows of the world. While I have a glimpse of the headlines and check Page No 4 to see if my column or poem is there, my mother serves a high grief intake breakfast and garnishes it with dreams shattered. I savor it with utmost love and head out to work. The 1 hour long commute exhausts me, so I reach work and dip the tea bag of grief in my favorite mug to relish its aroma. As the clock struck 12.22 pm, I opened my lunch bag and had bites from a boulevard of broken dreams and shattered hearts. Work is fun nowadays. I no longer crib about my less pay or my difficult boss, for as dusk creeps in; the cocktail of grief intoxicates me. Oh! I love this Utopian state. Maa tells overdose of grief is making me obese, but my dietician told me that medical science has no solution to cure grief. There are no squats or crunches to burn calories of grief. Grief has been causing me acidity of late. Some experts on life and health have suggested that I should laugh a lot to burn the calories of grief, but I tried and kept on trying, until I dozed off in my king size bed due to exhaustion.Grief again comes to swallow me while I am asleep,like you swallowed all my happiness and made me apathetic.

Shilpa Roy

14.09.2022