Prashant's Solace

Once upon a time in 21 st century India, there was a city called Garbage Nagar. It was frequented by foreign tourists as well as domestic tourists. Upon visiting the city, one would think that 21 st century introduced a new concept of modern living far ahead of its time. Gigantic domes of garbage were found on every junction. Lanes and by-lanes were also beautified with neatly spread out garbage. Even road dividers were not made of concrete but garbage. No dump was left unturned for the convenience of Garbage Nagar citizens. Garbage Nagar’s single biggest facilitation, as one could guess, was the ease and leisure of disposing off garbage. One could just walk to the nearest street corner and empty the trash can. For kids it was like spraying beautiful colours onto a huge canvas. For busy Moms, the pleasure of throwing garbage was akin to splurging on shopping.  Citizens of the busy parts of Garbage Nagar didn’t even have to walk. They could throw the garbage right from

 ...Why? How? But she could have... Psychedelic Maya, was she? Did drugs prove her undoing. She was a free spirit after all but then, not the likes I knew of. A heightened sense of self and her environment overpowered all her other instincts. So how could she?  Since Jaipur, we had become good friends. A few misadventures aside, she enjoyed and thrived in Delhi. We went places, rather, I took her places where she never would have been in her wildest dreams. The Delhi of earthy delights, the bizarrely rich and dreadfully dirty lanes, the spiritual Delhi and the intellectual Delhi, the Delhi of spices, aromas and street-sides, the one of annals of power and malfunction. We were riding the wave of life. But Maya's crests and troughs were much bigger. She lived in two worlds. Curiously she disappeared for days. According to her it was required as the Israeli embassy suggested, ordered and advised. One time, she resurfaced after exactly two months. I used to pick her up