Connection has become rare even as our loneliness becomes common." - A thought on poetry, memory, and life beyond tears.
Have you ever felt that your emotions don't rise the way they once did? That somewhere along the way, your tears, grief, and tenderness lost their easy language?
In a world where we seal ourselves inside the glass tanks of routines and expectations, a strange kind of emotional curfew settles in. I was exploring this very theme in a recent audio journal of mine, reflecting on how we lose the ability to feel and how we reclaim it through stories.
A poet once noted that stories survive us. We see this in Hemingway’s heartbreaking six-word story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." It holds the weight of an entire world. Inspired by that minimal yet profound form, I’ve been writing my own six-word stories to capture the raw edges of life, death, and human suffering. Here are a few:
Dreams and darkness eventually fade away.
Embrace life, not suicide.
In love, mirror is unnecessary.
Today, our cities are full of skyscrapers and noise, much like the shocking air pollution of Delhi. We long for the quiet, moonlight-drenched forests of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's Aranyak or the maple trees of Ruskin Bond. Yet, we are profoundly disconnected. I recently recalled a tragic story of a boy in New York who wrote, "If someone smiles at me when I walk down the street, I won't choose death." No one smiled. The boy chose silence.
This is the ultimate challenge of our age. Through our wounds, all the knowledge of humanity enters. We learn life through experience and loss. If you ever feel that numbness, maybe it's time to return to poetry, to memories, and to the quiet space of the human heart.
(If you are interested in a deeper audio journey through these thoughts, you can listen to my full 10-minute monologue here: https://youtu.be/DTcDQn0wftI