u/B7TMANN

My roman empire is the india in my head the one that never made it past childhood

The one that lived in textbooks and 15 august morning the one I thought we would grow into, not out of.

I grieve a nation like an ex lover still checking their last seen at 3 am in the morning wondering if we could've worked if we talked rather than yelling.

This country is like a house based on shouting perhaps not the right word? Should i say based on a foundation of arguments, hallways echoing with "my god, your god" like kids fighting over crayons while the damn drawing burns.

Harmony used to mean something, it used to sound like bell rings now it's the clash of swords madeup of opinions people like swinging headlines like weapons and calling it nationalism lol

and it hurt how politics drips like spilled ink over every page blurring prayers and languages and names until we forget who the bad guy/villian is and begin suspecting each other.

I grieve for the india we'll never have, the one without politics dripping like oil into our drinking water staining our throats until even our voices come out arguing.

I grieve for an india that could've been a garden but we turned it into a battle ground flowers uprooted to check what their religion was trees branches judged by what side their shade falls on.

What do you call a country where being different is a warning where a person is almost lynched just for breathing, where hands will not share water because the well remembers caste lines?

Not home not yet probably not anymore and maybe that's the tragedy.

We had the potential to be a sunrise but we keep choosing storm clouds smh lightning laced by pride rain made of anger floods of what ifs.

My Roman Empire is the India we never built.

The one i still visit in daydreams the one of unlocked doors and unjudged names, The one where 'different' didn't mean 'danger"

I'll always grieve it like a future lost between our fingers like a promise we didn't keep.

Like a country we could've been

Mine are:

• Sarkar

• Once upon a time in Mumbai

• Sharabi

• Madras Cafe

• Agneepath (2012)