Harison Xavier

  Everyone wanted to go to Veega Land (Now  Wonderla  ), as a little kid, I used to look into Veega Land's newspaper advertisements and dream about going there and enjoying the rides. Veega Land (Before changing the name to Wonderla) is a household name in my state when it comes to a vacation spot, I used to beg my parents to take me to Veega Land. I often get the reply "there is nothing there", "only rich people go there", "We don't have time", "You don't study well" and so and so. In my school days, our senior students often get the opportunity to go on a school trip to Veega Land. Even I would be excited and I would say to myself, "Just 7 more years and I can go to Veega Land, O Yes, I am so excited." I have met kids who were lucky to visit Veega Land early, they would share the experience they got and how they spend their time. They would explain like, the journey was tough till the location as they have to wake up early...

It started small, a good time to spend with special people. It was worth having friends so close and happy to spend time with them. Every day and time, new things happen and new problems come up and I was so engaged with them. I felt a great sense of belonging. I was happy. Spending time with friends, drinking coffee and eating, cracking jokes, and facing problems together and solving them. This is life, this is happiness. This is where I belong.  Then my  mind goes.......Wait a minute......... It is not real, you are not with any of your friends, you didn't spend time with anyone. It is the covid19 pandemic. You rarely went out. You rarely talked to anyone. You didn't solve anything. You were inside your room isolated. You are just binge-watching. I vanished for a while. I was running away from something. I just wanted to hide. I didn't know what I was hiding from. One thing I was doing was watching TV series, I never thought I would ever like one. I didn't like to be ...

  I wonder..... Why am I even writing this? What am I thinking about? What is in it?  20 years ago. I was sitting at an auditorium waiting for our annual talent show to begin at our church. I was with my classmates and as we are not the elite talented kids, we didn't have anything to showcase to the audience. There were around five hundred people in the auditorium, it was very noisy as people are talking to each other loudly and on top of that the music is playing. The show has not yet started.  I looked back, after a few empty chairs there was a middle-aged woman in a yellow saree sitting at a distance two other women, she was crying. She was crying like a baby would cry, didn't hesitate to hold back, everyone at the front is waiting for the show to begin. It feels like nobody sees her, the two women next to her are emotionless, she is crying.  Tears ran down her cheeks, trying to wipe away those tears with her wrist which is immediately replaced by more tears from ...