purple premises

[prios]

Radiation Hazard

Sridhar Suresh Babu, the lost playwright

Your thoughts make your decisions. Your decisions make your actions. Your actions make you.

So by transitive property, your thoughts make you.

I was a normal kid, until that day... That fateful day...

It rained ash from the sky, we rejoiced, we played with it. We didn't know the dangers it possessed or it's origins.

We were kids after all.

The very next day, many of my friends fell sick. They vomited and had fever. The men of the village attributed it to the food we ate. They were adults, they probably knew the best. They gave us some medicines, we ate them.

I woke up the next day to the sound of sirens and loud announcements. I could sense a palpable confusion with dad and mom. Men, not from our village, in hazmat suits, entered the village. They asked us to evacuate the village as there had been any accident in the power plant nearby. We evacuated later that evening.

We are now a family without home.

For the next month we were at a camp setup by the government. At the end of the month mom and dad died. They didn't even let me see them one last time. They called it radiation poisoning. Apparently it would be harmful for me if I see them. I didn't know what it was back then.

I was a kid after all.

Now, I have cancer in my lung, liver and pancreas. The doctors tell me it is the late effect of my radiation exposure at childhood. My demon is still haunting me.

Your thoughts make you, something my father used to say.

No dad, you are wrong.

It isn't my fault that our family is shredded like this. It isn't my fault that the nuclear plant exploded. It isn't my fault that the government didn't anticipate such an incident and wasn't prepared to handle it adequately.

My thoughts didn't make me.

We are all caught in a complex web of causality. They way our lives go isn't decided just by us. Multiple factors interact to decide what happens. The pursuit of power, money and strength ruins the life of many, the expendable simpletons like us.

My life is not in my hands.

It isn't an universal dictum that good people get good things. Wake up! Life is much more complex and complicated that that!! Lots of forces interplay and screw you around....

All I wanted was a normal life with my family. My dad, my mom and me. A simple life. All of it gone to dust, over a simple negligence.

I was kid after all and I deserved better....

[prios]

The birth of uncomfortable silence The growth of our differences The death of our love

Sangeetha S, the looking glass

[prios]

The Premise of Forgiving

Dakshin Padmanabhan

The last and final quote which I would like to divulge to you is delivered by none other than the protagonist himself, Prince Myshkin. Myshkin is invited to a dinner party which is organised by Aglaya Ivanovna and her family. The purpose of the party was to present Myshkin to their social circle so that they can determine whether he, in the eyes of the attendees, is a suitable groom.

Unfortunately, the party goes horribly wrong for Myshkin. He gets very animated while speaking to one of the party guests and utters some words of wisdom before he gets an epileptic seizure a few moments later. This seizure prompts the guests to believe that though the prince is an amicable and well mannered person, he is not in good health and hence is not suitable to be married to Aglaya Ivanovna.

The author Dostoyevsky is actually trying to use this spectacle as an autobiographical reference to his own epileptic seizures, which were typically preceded by a feeling of oneness and an understanding of everything. Myshkin gives his take on the foolishness of Man in the following lines-

“You know, in my opinion, being ridiculous is sometimes even a good thing, and better than that: we can forgive one another more quickly, and acquire humility more quickly; after all, we can’t understand everything at once, we can’t begin directly from perfection!”

Myshkin means to say that Man is definitely not a perfect being and that making mistakes, paradoxically, is the only way to reach the “so-called” perfection that Man aspires to achieve in his lifetime. The fact that people are not perfect makes it very easy to forgive one another for their mistakes. This very logical argument throws light on the fact that, in life, sometimes aiming to be the best person without any flaws can turn against you, making it harder to forgive others and behave with a humble mien. Becoming a perfectionist makes one arrogant and cold towards others ; holding grudges becomes second nature.

Forgiving is an act of Man that, among many other noble qualities, distinguishes him decisively from other organisms that roam this Earth. In fact, it is a quality that is even said to bring one closer to the divine. As the great English poet, Alexander Pope has neatly expressed it – “To err is human; to forgive, divine”. Dostoyevsky is basically extrapolating this by saying that making mistakes is actually the basis for learning how to forgive a person. Every person has that small bit of divinity in them that helps them to forgive other people, in spite of how hard it might be. However, in reality, this argument may not hold true in all situations, for there certainly are some mistakes that people make that go against humanity, and therefore, are out of the purview of this discussion. Examples of such heinous acts are many, in fact, in this present day and age, countless.

Bottomline: To err is human, and to forgive is human too. It is a quality that we alone as a species have and share exclusively with the divine alone. Forgive people for their actions, provided that their actions are within the boundaries of what society finds humane! It certainly may be hard, but do not let those negative thoughts fester and bring you down….

[prios]

As he laid back on the bed,gawping at her sitting by the edgewondering if she'll walk out leaving the door tohis heart wide open or shut them forever tonever return.

Sunav Nayagam

[prios]

The Premise of Love

Dakshin Padmanabhan

The penultimate quote on display brings out probably the most sensitive but powerful feelings that one can possess- love. The context in which the quote appears in the novel is quite peculiar. The two love interests of Prince Myshkin, Aglaya Ivanovna and Nastasya Filippovna,  are actually having a verbal duel to stake their individual claims for his love in his presence. This is a very important scene in the novel because it portrays two real types of love that can exist-

1. Love for one’s  true personality and character- as exhibited by Aglaya in the subsequent quote 2. Love out of compassion or even to some extent pity- Myshkin’s love for Nastasya Filippovna

Aglaya speaks the following words to prove her love for Prince Myshkin and discredit her rival-

“I must also say to you that I have never in my life met a man resembling him in noble simplicity and unlimited trustfulness. I guessed after his words that anyone who wanted to could deceive him, and that whoever deceived him he would later forgive, and that is why I fell in love with him....”

Aglaya loved Prince Myshkin for who he was as a person. She admired his humble nature and the fact that he was brutally honest. She also found that though he could be easily tricked by others, he did not take it out on them and above all else even forgave them. She did not use Myshkin’s kindness for her own personal advantage, even though she knew full well that she could do so easily and even be forgiven for the same.

However, on the other hand, Nastasya Filippovna is taking advantage of Prince Myshkin’s sympathy for her. Myshkin begins to love Nastasya Filippovna because, though she is viewed as an immoral and deceitful lady by the general public, he is able to discern that deep down there is some innocence in her. This is what attracts him to her, apart from his physical attraction to her beauty. Nastasya uses this attention to ensnare Prince Myshkin and keep him bound to her forever, even though she does not have anything to do with him for a major chunk of the novel. In fact, she is in a relationship with another man, Rogozhin, even at the time at which this conversation takes place.

Now, coming to the business end. Who won this duel? You might be thinking Aglaya, but think again! Myshkin, thoroughly flabbergasted by this spectacle, made the mistake of telling Aglaya that what she said about Nastasya was unpleasant and made her unhappy. This enrages Aglaya and she leaves. The scene ends with the Prince gently stroking Nastasya’s head. Despite the fact that there is someone who truly loves him for who he is, he still prefers to allow his pity to take the better of him and love the woman whose primary aim is to toy with his emotions to feed her unstable ego.

Among all other arguments which I discussed pertaining to the protagonist, his handling of love, by far, is the only pretext where calling him a complete idiot is warranted. The fact that he is humble, can forgive easily and is truthful are qualities which are viewed as foolish by other people simply because they are jealous and want to pull him down.

Bottomline: It is unfair to say that love is always blind. Of course, it may be instinctual initially but it is upto you to control those emotions at the outset and assess the person with clarity of thought for who they really are. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to say whether you’ve actually made the right choice. Do not let pity or ego be a part of this- it defeats the purpose!

[prios]

Eid

Ashna Nizar, Mirage of Curiosity

"Noora! Noora! Wake up it’s time for Suhoor." "I’m up Omar. I’m up ! Stop screaming" "Noora, I saw the clothes baba bought us this Eid. Ummi hid it in her wardrobe." "Come on Omar. Three more days and it’s Eid. we will get to wear it then. Let’s be patient." - that afternoon at Attareb market, west of Aleppo, Syria- "Omar, lets go to the shoe shop. I need to get a new pair of shoes" "Didn’t you buy one last month Noora?!" "Pleaseeeee Omar" "Alright alright" - soon, it was Eid. Noora woke up- "Omaaaar Omaaaaaaaar!! I can’t see anything. Babaaaa Ummiii! Omaaaar" "Don’t cry my dear. Don’t cry. Baba is right here." "Baba why can’t I see anything ? Why have you tied my eyes shut? What happened ? Where is Omar ? Is he okay ? We were going to buy shoes and then all I could remember was seeing Omar shield me and there was a real loud noise. Something went in my eyes. BABBAAAAA WHERE IS OMAR ?!! BABA WHERE AM I ?!" "Omar isn’t with us Noora, he isn’t with us anymore. Now you have your baba and me alone. Your sweet brother, my beloved son is now with the Lord" "Be strong Noora. Baba is right here Noora. Be strong." "Ya Rabb!  May the rest of the world have a peaceful Eid ya Rahman! Please give my brother a place next to you in heaven ! May all the other kids wake up with eyes to see ya Allah. May this fate never befall anyone one else."

[prios]

A Sky Full of Stars

Sridhar Suresh Babu, the lost playwright

"Leave me alone, dad" squealed the son, clearly dejected. "Get out of the car, champ. I wanna show you something." "Argh! Why do you always do this to me?" He bickered as he got out of the car. "You always pull me to places I don't wanna go to, don't ya?" "What other job do I have other than annoying you?" They climb up a small hill. The terrain was unforgiving in the dark moonless night. The kid, an early teen, huffed and puffed as he walked up the steep hill, his father behind him, taking his time and making sure his son doesn't misstep. As they reached the top of the hill, the father who was quiet till then starts talking. "What do you see when you look up?" He points to the sky riddled with stars in the absence of light. "The sky" "What else?" "Stars?" "Yes, the stars. You see champ, we are a lot like stars. There are lots of stars in the universe, red stars, blue stars and even white ones. But however massive and vibrant they are, most of them are alone. Far away from other stars, so far away that it takes the light from these stars millions of years to reach the other stars. If a something happens to a star today, we wouldn't know it for millions of years. By then, it would be too late, the star would have disintegrated and dissipated into the nothingness of the cosmos to form new stars and planets." "Dad, your point?" The father puts his hands around the son's shoulder and continues "Yes, what I'm trying to say is, you tend to isolate yourself whenever there is trouble. It's natural. But then, whatever happens, even if it's really bad that you think that you may not be able to face your life any more, come out, take a step, a leap of faith. Trust yourself, fight your demons and win them. You are made of stardust, my child. You may stop shining, but you will be reborn into something stronger, something more beautiful." "Yeah, whatever dad. You and your theories..." said the annoyed son. The dad smiled to himself. Years later, the son stood in the same spot with his little daughter. His hands, around his little angel's shoulders. He looked up at the sky, wondered, with tears in his eyes "Are you still out there?"

[prios]

The Premise of God

Dakshin Padmanabhan

The third quote that I want to display to you is one which is certainly controversial, but in my mind it is a universal truth.

This quote is uttered by Ippolit, who is one of Prince Myshkin’s acquaintances. Ippolit suffers from tuberculosis throughout the course of the book. He lives with the knowledge that he is going to die. Initially, Ippolit feels as if the world owes him for his suffering and expects everyone to sympathize with him. However, later when he knows his end is near, he transforms into a person who has no regard for his disease, but at the same time tries searching for life’s meaning and finding a connection with the divine. He says the following, during a long discourse titled “The Explanation” which he reads to Prince Myshkin and others:

We greatly belittle Providence by ascribing our own conceptions to it, out of annoyance that we cannot understand it.

This quote sums up the concept of religion. Religion was created because it was too hard to understand the intricacies as well as the enormity of Nature. All religions are trying to solve the same thing, i.e., different ways to trying to understand why Nature is the way it is and how it came about, in the perspectives of different individuals across varied locations all around the world.

All major religions of the world show a higher being in various forms that has the ability to perform miracles or defy the forces of Nature, which somehow solve the questions that were left unanswered otherwise. Religion is needed to fill this gap. It is only when religion is tampered with that things get muddled. If it is solely a device created by Man to make him content with how he has come into being and why things are the way they are, why does he use it to justify so many other aspects- be it good or bad?

Imagine that religion is just a solution to an excruciatingly difficult math problem. Some people write all the steps and come to the solution in one way. Others take short cuts but also reach the very same solution. Others may not even come up with a solution, and choose to accept things the way they are. Why can’t each and every religion just accept one another as different ways of solving a very much familiar and common conundrum?

The harsh truth which Ippolit feels is that even religion cannot solve the riddles and inner beauties of Nature and it is just a misguided attempt by Man just because he is sick and tired of knowing that he can never decipher it. By creating religion, he feels that we underestimate Nature. Though many may disagree, I feel what he says makes some sense.

Bottomline: All religions are an effort to solve the fate of people and their role in Nature. If all religions have a common goal, why not accept each religion for what it is and not interfere or tamper with it in any way.  And, if you don’t believe that religion can solve the common problem, leave it to science (though even science can’t answer everything!).

[prios]

Strangers

Anirudh Janardhan, the midnight poet

Some days Spent in my memories I reminisce When we were only strangers So much simpler back then No promises to be kept No expectations to be met When we were strangers No past to haunt us No future to debate And only the present mattered When we were strangers Before hearts were broken Before time was lost Before we hurt each other When we were strangers Now when I look into your eyes And you look into mine Our story plays back And we both know We are no longer strangers

[prios]

Being a Man

Vineeth Suresh, Short Weird Poet

The title in itself might faintly suggest an impending journey through the mind of an extremely chauvinistic individual..... However, the truth is far from it. The title is meant to be sarcastic..... A satire on how society seems to deem certain things as normal... and anything that goes against those things, as abnormal. Let me explain... For instance, take the case of a guy who puts up a bunny as his profile picture....A guy who's above 18, a guy who is now on the cusp of entering into adulthood... into proper "manhood". Now, if society and peer pressure are anything to go by, as far as being a normal straight male is concerned, this guy is committing nothing but a sin....people are jeering at him and ridiculing him... Why?  Because he chose to put up something cute and cuddly as his profile picture... Something that is, in their eyes, supposed to strictly be a girl thing alone. But, take a moment to think about this.... What if the guy in question really got genuine joy and happiness from observing or looking up cute and cuddly things?  What if that is his source of pleasure?  Why is he not being able to share that joy without facing the ugly wrath of jokes and ridicule from his fellow peers?   This is just one of many instances in today's world. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in today's world.... A world where we are supposed to have come a long way from silly age old traditions and beliefs... And yet, here we are... Nothing but a couple of Neanderthals pounding away on tiny glass screens..... It is sad indeed, that society expects all males to be tough, to be strong, to have perfectly toned bodies, to hate the colour pink, to be rough and think rough, to suppress any and all tendencies to cry, day in and day out, 24/7..... Does that mean that a flabby, emotional guy who doesn't hesitate to cry or express emotion, and who is wearing pink.....  is any less a guy? It's a glaring flaw in society.... Something scarily predominant in the media, among your friends, everywhere.... A flaw that is slowly eating away at the minds of the young and gullible... And turning them, nay, forcing them to be someone they aren't... Just so that they can be as cool as Mark... Or not get beaten up by Joe....

[prios]

Troubled Waters

Sridhar Suresh Babu, the lost playwright

Where I come form fishermen to venture into the sea, but coming back, is always a question. Shootings are very common, a daily news which we all choose to painfully ignore. This is one such incident.....

As I stand at the edge, I wonder, What went wrong? Dim moonlight Striking the water Being the only light As we ventured Into the deep, dark sea. Suddenly Bullets swished around, Grenades launched. At few defenceless, Helpless, Fishermen. My little brother, Venturing into the sea, For the first time, Lies lifeless next to me. So does my friend. As I held their bodies, Warm blood soaked my shirt. I thought, What did we do? We don't deserve this. We aren't criminals, We are people, Just like you. We put our lives On the line, Sail into the vastness of ocean, For a living, For a morsel of food. As all my crew die one by one, I realise The hopelessness of the situation. The respect we have For a fellow human's life. My crew is the only family I had. Now that they are all dead, I stand up, Ready, To take a bullet to my heart. 

[prios]

Travel: A Memoir

Ashna Nizar, Mirage of Curiosity

March 30th 2015, Allepo, Siriya.

Allepo is nothing but rubbles, and among the chaos, with my entire being covered in thick layer of dust, I wandered in search of someone who’d call me ‘Mahmood’ with love. All in vain. My home is where my parents and my siblings rest, under the pile of dust, steel and bricks. I still remember the last time I bid my mother Salam. Her face was fresh and bright, minutes before my walls came tumbling down over them.

Without a single soul to hear my cry for help, I stood by them for two days. The cold nights chilled my bones and eventually my heart. I can no long feel the pain. I travelled all around the city to find solace, but Allepo is no longer home to me. The starry nights when I sleep in the refugee camp with hundred other men is the only good left. I must leave.

May 28th, 2015, the middle of nowhere.

The sea is calm, but my mind is stormy. I’m not afraid of being drowned. I’m afraid to go back to the war torn land I used to call home. I have no will to live. I don’t fear death, but dread having to live life without a purpose. So I decided to travel. To some place where I can dream again.

It’s been five days since I’ve been on this vessel with 274 men, women and children. We get to go on deck of this container ship for fifteen minutes every two days. Food ran out and so will water in a matter of days. Yet my hunger feels better than the crippling sense of loneliness back in Allepo. We never sleep for more than two hours at a stretch, yet it was more peaceful than Allepo.

Where will the vessel anchor ? No one knows. We just keep travelling until we make it to a distant shore alive or rest beneath the violent waves along with our dreams and desires. All we do aboard is pray.

June 14th 2015, Antalaya, Turkey.

275 boarded their hope to freedom. 32 made it to the shore. The journey claimed 64 souls and the bullets fired with great valour by the Turkish coast guard claimed the rest. I swam with all my night, despite the million times my arms and legs gave up, something pulled me to the shore.

January 3rd 2016, Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul, the most beautiful city I’ve ever witnessed. The nights were cooler than Allepo but the stars were the same. Instead of a hinder lost souls to watch the starry night I had Sana. She too, is a traveller. She was the something that pulled me towards the shore. We travelled all across the city with whatever we had. Found solace in each other. We had something to call ours, again. Something to lose.

September 24th 2018, Paris, France.

Sana, little Hamadan and I are travelling again. This time not as refugees but as real tourist, to the city of lights. To celebrate our life, the life we no longer had. To celebrate our dreams. To salute the numerous travellers who decided to take up the journey like us.

[prios]

The Premise of Routine

Dakshin Padmanabhan

The second quote that I would like to share with you comes at a time in the novel where the author, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, wishes to enlighten his audience with his personal struggle to depict “ordinary” characters in the story, in order to make them interesting.

What he means by ordinary are those characters who are commonplace and lack no strange or original qualities that attract attention. While he finds it a hassle to depict them, the author admits that without such characters, the plot is incomplete in its chain of events and becomes implausible. He gives the following explanation for such types of characters-

"The very essence of certain ordinary characters consists precisely in their habitual and invariable ordinariness or, even better, when, in spite of all the extreme efforts of these characters to emerge at all costs from the rut of custom and routine, they still end up remaining invariably and eternally bound to routine, then such characters even acquire a kind of typicality of their own- an ordinariness that is on no account willing to remain what it is, and at all costs to become original and independent, while not possessing the slightest means of independence."

In the narrative, the author cites two characters in the story who fit this description. They are Gavrila Ardalionovich and his sister, Varvara Ptitsyna. He then subdivides these “ordinary” characters into two-

1. Those who are “limited” 2. Those who are “far more intelligent”

The “limited” ordinary characters are those who who imagine themselves as unusual or original, and take enjoyment in this without any hesitation. Varvara belongs to this category. She spends her days doing what she needs to do for her family, including caring for her sick father and her husband, without any feeling of resentment that her life has become a vicious routine. She takes pride in what she is doing because she feels that she is very important to the balance of the family. She never once questions the fact that she has no ideas of her own, because she believes that she does. It is this false optimism that triumphs.

On the other hand, there are characters such as her brother Gavrila, who are “far more intelligent” in the sense that, though they believe that they are men of genius and are completely original in all they do, they have the ability to realize that they are actually average. They are constantly at wit's end with their inner self, and are unhappy with the fact that they are ordinary. In other words, they find reasons to demean themselves.

Bottomline: Even if your life may feel like an endless routine, embrace it. Don’t think about it much, because if you do you will feel irksomely unhappy and will never find an escape from it. Be in the first category of people described by the author. Who knows, with a positive attitude and confidence you may be even able to break the cycle of routine!

[prios]

You were my cocoon, The one that made me a butterfly. Now, I fly, Bearing in my heart, I destroyed you on my way out.

Sridhar Suresh Babu, the lost playwright

[prios]

Masks to Machines

Suja V

What is it that makes humans humane? Is it evolution? Or is it our superior intelligence? One can argue that our emotions set us apart from all that surrounds us. When I was upset over a matter or another, a few days back, everybody around me wanted me to stop being sad. They said "Cheer up!" or "It could have been worse" or even "Think of others who got it worse than you." People wanted to tear my sadness away, piece by piece. Thy didn't care about the fact that I had not confronted my feelings yet or even come in terms with what I was feeling at the moment. The simple truth is that I was not ready to be happy just then. Healing is a process. It is not a switch that you can turn on. Call it peer pressure or whatever, but at the end of the day, I had to put on a mask. At the end of the day, I was neither happy nor was I sad. At the end of the day, I felt blank and cold. A few days later, I was laughing with my friend while she was narrating a funny anecdote. I was gasping for air with that delicious ache in my belly because I was laughing too much. When my friend said "We should stop, or else we will jinx it, and we'll be sad and end up crying tomorrow" I was still gasping for air with that feeling in my stomach when she said those words. The happy face in front of me sobered up into a poker face within a few seconds, leaving me behind to ponder over the meaning of all this suppression of emotions. Day in and day out, we suppress our anger, our sadness, our happiness, and our disappointments. Why? Somewhere along the line our society took a misstep and decided that expressing our emotions is a sign of weakness. At least once in our lives, we have been told to stop crying, because "Big girls or boys don't cry." Most days, we are overwhelmed with what we are feeling, and there is no way to release the pressure. No outlets. Our minds slowly start becoming pressure cookers, until one day we are diagnosed with a plethora of illness starting from anxiety, panic attacks, depression and list goes on. True, there are instances which should be ruled by logic alone. Decisions to be made by the brain rather than the heart. But then, why are training ourselves to be cold and calculating in every aspect of our life?  Maybe we've fooled ourselves thinking that, this is the way to be a perfect being. Isn't it funny, that day by day, we are building new machines to be more human and day by day we are becoming more like machines?

[prios]

The Premise of Money

Dakshin Padmanabhan

I recently read a novel of the title “The Idiot” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Although it was written in 1868, the book succeeds in exposing the harsh realities and perils which one must face in life, still applicable to this day. The author does this by employing the use of an almost God-like protagonist, Prince Myshkin, who is deemed “an idiot” by others in the story. This is precisely because he cannot see through the deception and sarcasm of the other characters, who eventually take advantage of him and ruin his life. While reading this book, I came across some thought-provoking quotes which were mentioned by the characters. I would like to share them with you, dear readers.  

The very first quote from the book comes in the context when the protagonist, Prince Myshkin is in conversation with Gavrila Ardalionovich, in whose house the prince is residing on rent.

Gavrila Ardalionovich is in love with a woman, Aglaya Ivanovna. However, he is coaxed by another man, Totsky, to marry another woman named Nastasya Filippovna, who was Totsky’s mistress, for a sum of 75,000 roubles as dowry. The prince questions Gavrila about the morality of the situation. Gavrila gives his reply, in which the following quote appears-

“The most vile and hateful thing about money is that it even imparts talent. And it will go on doing so until the end of the world.”

These words sum up his argument. He would even sacrifice true love so that he could reach a reasonable status in society. He means to say that if he had money, people would consider him a person with talent and ability- as opposed to his current condition where he lacks money. It is more than fair to say that such a mentality among human beings exists today as well.

Morality becomes secondary to money. Money has become a means to obtain the illusion of originality and talent - and claim it as our own in order to be accepted by others. This goes against the meaning of talent, which are the innate skills given by Nature. The flipside- that is, talent bringing money, is altogether a different topic of discussion, which is moral and the way things should be.

Measuring the worth of a person based on their money and not on their actual prowess has been an age-old practice created completely by Man’s insecurities. In fact, astonishingly enough, when I google the definition of talent, one definition is given as “a former weight and currency, used especially by the ancient Romans and Greeks”.  This word was used interchangeably! Case in point.

Bottomline-Judge people based on their true talent and not on the money they have. Don’t let money be the impostor it was designed to be for all these years. Or, though contrary to human psyche and instinct, try to judge people less in general.

[prios]

Seas

Ashna Nizar, Mirage of Curiosity

I sail my own wind, my love. Though the memory of your fragrance ushers me closer to shore. This azure sea hoarding treasures meant for me, makes me forget. For all the starry nights you and I spend gazing at the sky, seven seas apart. We will have as many from our palace upon my return. Forever in love, Forever yours.