A shattered couple, a girl without her sister at her wedding
a guy without his lover, a Royal Enfield without a rider
To think, that just a few weeks ago, were a bunch of friends out celebrating a birthday

Death, when imminent is still difficult to handle at best
Nothing in this world however would have prepared them for the horror that unleashed on that fateful day
All I remember is the call. Driving around as usual that evening, the tremor in the voice said it all

Accident, Basanti –
freeze frame; sheer shock, the numbness
Prayer on my lips, headed straight to the parking lot. Bound up the stairs and through the door,
only to hear those dreadful words that’ll forever be etched in my memory. “Tee geli”

Kaku – kaka crying, me stupefied, not knowing what to say, how to say,
mind in overload, mouth dry; unwilling to register the impossibility of what had happened

The cold numbness of the drive,
the chilling effect of those dreadful words sinking in,
the sheer weight of the thoughts flowing though my head made me want to throw up

3 hours later on the plane, Three guys, speechless in their own private agony
No words spoken, all thoughts silently understood
On the other side, a girl; a roomie, shattered, having witnessed it all
Another group in living hell
How does one comfort ?
Can one comfort ?

The final glimpse, the ground disappearing from beneath everyone’s feet
The angelic face, the uplifting, energetic personality, the memories of only the weeks before- everything comes flooding in
All misunderstandings left aside, just people united in agony, loss and grief

What was he thinking?

How could he have done such a thing?

Why her? Why? Why? Why?

No answers,
Just a cold silence
and the pain of an irrecoverable loss