The Streets of Sadness

The Streets of Sadness

When you stepped out of your home, you stepped out into excitement. You stepped out with expectations of sights unseen, sounds unheard, new smells and experiences, never experienced before. The buzz of the traffic, the jostling crowds on the streets and the lights and colors of the display windows. Life had new meanings and messages for you every time you were on the streets. Every day was different and brought you something new. Outdoors was where life was, for health, entertainment and socializing. You jogged the streets, you met your pals at the corner café and took the doctor’s advice to breathe in the fresh air, outside. The parks were breeding grounds of health and new friendships, and played the music to match. And the stone benches on the street were where the elderly met on evenings for a tete-a-tete and watch the youngsters hurry through life.

That was just a year ago – overnight the world changed. It is as if a gruesome ogre cast a black blanket of fear over the falling dusk. The setting sun no longer had the crimson red you see on blushing face of the pretty girl. It now looked like the red flag that that signaled danger and death. Outdoors has become ominous zones, where a deadly enemy had laid a trap – for you. It is as if you were now the hunted, no longer the glorious hunter. Suddenly the lights on the streets, or what little is there, is no longer a beckoning sanctum of warmth and excitement. The window displays are dark and the streets forlorn. The traffic had disappeared and your corner café stays closed. The street benches have become the sleeping quarters for street dogs and other vermin. The music has stopped playing in the parks.

Today we stay indoors, cowering in fear and awaiting for unseen, unknown voices to tell us what is good for us. We venture outdoors, just to fetch the milk and meats we need for our kitchens and for medications that are needed. Even so we do not just walk into our houses, with that carefree jaunt but with care, washing and sanitizing ourselves before we step in.

Well if you were to look for a silver lining, one with a touch of sarcasm could say, none cared where we went earlier. Today your wife cares, as does your neighbor. But the icing on the cake is the posse’ of policemen, who stand at the corners, concerned about where you are going, when you are likely to return, what you are going for. Well now even the policeman cares.

The world has done a complete circuit now- What Next?!!!