There’s a boy who travels in a train
Which takes 40 minutes to college
So he has his headphones on
And he reads
He reads while travelling
And he travels to read
He reads while coming home
While going to a new city
While taking a flight
When travelling alone
In a cafe while having breakfast
At the beach waiting for sunset
At the park, at the lake
He can talk to people instead
And he reads anyway
There’s a boy who learns the business
At a startup which is also his first job
He learns PR, marketing, event management
And googles what is a Product Manager
He learns branding at an agency
Which pays him 28,000 per month
He learns to work with people
And that its difficult to work with people
Who gets into trouble every week
Who fakes it till he makes it
Who finds the people he loves working with
People who are friends
People to eat with, to dance with
To laugh, to fight, to walk with
He can probably do this forever
And he doesn’t anyway
There’s a boy who makes time to eat
Sometimes a sandwich, a pasta
Sometimes he walks to the place
Where he can get a samosa and a vada pav
A treat means taking the rickshaw
And ordering a dessert at home
He eats with time and comfort
And then takes a stroll in the neighbourhood
He discovers a small diary
Black cover, blank pages
Spiral binding from the top
He buys it once, twice
And until it isn’t available
He can find a different diary
And he doesn’t anyway
There’s a boy who builds a home
With plants, books, a kitchen
Filled with all the necessary cutlery
Windows, curtains, a mirror
A nice bed, and an average sofa
There are trees, there’s a terrace
There is a sea, and a shoe rack
Enough time to cook, to sleep
To make chai, to be good at work
It’s possible to live here more
And he leaves anyway
There’s a boy who leaves
The town he grew up in
The place he shared with flatmates
The trains he travelled in
The cafes he liked to have coffee at
The short stories he wrote
The certificates he won
The school, the college
The cabs that go nowhere
The road where moon shines the loveliest
There’s a boy who leaves
His parents, his sibling, his cousins
His nieces who are full of energy and chaos
His friends with whom he had
His first beer and the first cigarette
His friends with whom he learned to play football
His girlfriend when she had suicidal thoughts
His friends with whom he first went to a club
His friends with whom he smoked his last cigarette
His girlfriend again when she left her job
His friends with whom he cooked
His friends whose contacts he memorised
His idea about the things he likes
His idea about the relationships he wants
His expectations, his beliefs
His version of who he is, who he has to be
There’s a boy who can stay
And he leaves anyway
There’s a boy who goes into the sea
Thinks he is the sea
Becomes the sea anyway
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First published on 21 October 2024