তখন সময় থমকে দাঁড়ায়

Sitting at the last floor of Acropolis, A heard a bus conductor shout "Ruby Ruby Ruby". Covid scare, even though has brought life to a standstill, A was so glad for these comfort noises which are clearer now.

O kept talking about the rights and wrongs of life, the fairs and mostly unfairs that they face, cry and eventually give up on. S gave occasional nods to it, mostly acknowledging the new decade of life. Three unclear lines of smoke made their turn towards the sky that pointed towards Gariahat. The sky looked orange and yellow on that side, west is it? The other side still had an Autumn blue to it. The city had a trademark humid evening air almost making A feel guilty of not wanting to settle here immediately. Almost consoling, 'someday when you're at a better place, someday!'. By now S had shifted to the dreamscape that is on the cards and all for good; O approved of the domestication that would save most of their wreckage, almost blocking A-s sky viewing. In the dying light A noticed, how there are darker worry lines on their foreheads. Were they always there? Or are these age lines? A must have had them too then. When did they get so old? When did they get so calm? When did they start to form clear sentences that made clear sense without inviting immediate retaliation? What is this life full of incomplete stories and unknown impossibilities. What have they become? 

In the silence of the evening, A could hear some other bus conductor shout "Ruby Ruby Ruby". Noises, comforting noises. This will do. This is enough.