DEATHS ON THE CAMPUS

Is it easy to remember or to forget? When all around you see faces who are close to you physically but are light years apart, does it make you cry in the middle of the night? I drive the same route every day. I see the same trees and lamp posts day after day. What difference is there between the trees I see and the people I see on the road? Are they all there all the time and just exist or are they living a life with a role linked to my existence too? 

I have seen people agitate and cause road blocks when a tree is brought down, or a river path is changed. Not many of them stand up when a loved one is neglected or feels that way. This week, Indians have stood up for two students who lost their lives in different parts of the country. The voices are loud, the debates are louder. I wonder where the friends and relatives were when the young brains were forming the ideas to take or give up lives. Is a suicide a solitary act of a solitary mind, or is it a sign of a decaying social network, where all are too keen to see the trees by the road, but forget the people they meet every day.

I had promised to write the second part of 'Treasure Chest' this time, but I think that will have to wait. Richard and Dana were kids on college campuses. They are gone now. Regions, states, colour, language, appearances are all we ever cared for. Even now we fight for the same. When will we ever become Indians, or is this all that is what India has finally become, a collection of biased vengeful individuals? I hope not.