As soon as they took her away, a dark night set over our hearts. No one wanted to talk or laugh. We escaped into our own screens, work and entertainment. Things started to go down south. We functioned completely normally, but a slight hint of additional responsibility or stress, we gave the truth away. Almost as of it were an excuse. Instead, it was fact.
Sailing through calmly, across a storm, we continued with our existing commitments, felt little, ate on time and slept on time. There was no time to think. There was no time to feel. There was no time for death. We were too busy for death. So, death, just walked away. We all tested negative.
She was at the hospital, recovering. Recovering and living. Alive, interactive and active, with tubes and sharp pins trusted into her skin. Tests, upon tests, of health and patience, we waited on days, to return to making travel plans. A few sunsets later, it was just the same. They called to tell us that we should stay in. We should wait.
As soon as they took her away, a dark night set over our hearts. She wasn’t Covid-19 positive yet. Her lungs had started to give away, her heart’s secret, that she had been hiding for too long. Mother had been yearning for something that was long lost in everybody’s thoughts. Happiness. A birthright pursuit of happiness.
Published by Pranjulaa
Poet’s bio:
An Msc in Creative Industries (Management) from Birkbeck, University of London, I wrote my first poem when I was only 13 years old, and currently I hold a collection of about 800 poems. I was enrolled into Poetry College, Batch of 2019 in Mumbai, and have Msc in Creative Industries Management, from University of London (2015). My poems have been published on Poetry Nature, Poets India, Image Curve and Nocturne Journal, amongst others. An author to “Short and Sweet Story”, published at Storytel as an audio book, I am now working on my first independent book of poems. Recently, I won a cash prize for a poetry competition based on a painting organized by Arts Illustrated and NDTV Mojarto. You can read some glimpses of my poems on @poetrybypranjulaa
I continue to work as an independent art consultant and researcher while managing my venture, Pranjal Arts which has a private collection of around 200 Indian art paintings.
List of awards:
•Awarded Scholarship for Creative writing by Mayo College Girl’s School, Ajmer(2011)
•Represented Birkbeck, University of London at British Chamber of Commerce Conference in London, UK as Potential Leaders of the future. (2015)
•Venue Ambassador, Birkbeck, University of London (2015)
•Invited for the “Thrive” Conference on Arts fundraising in Bath, UK (2015)
•Awarded on International Women’s day for showing international leadership in the field of Indian dance and poetry (2016 )
•Awarded the Lions Pride Award during the international service week.(2018)
•Selected for World Governance Expedition to Russia, organized by Vision India Foundation (2019)
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Pranjulaa Singh 