Vedanti Khannaani
Delhi, India
These empty roads
As still, as silent as their portraits and landscapes
Are as noisy as the yells of an infant
The noise of million broken voices
Adorns these empty roads
Even though fading
This noise,well amalgamated with cement
Is never evading
The noise circling those empty roads is too powerful to just be heard
I see it in the imprints of the shoes
Of little children rushing to school, undeterred
I hear it in the fallen bead of a girl’s anklet
Resting on the road, beside that dried leaf as if its own
I see the noise which might be a beautiful voice in the heart scribbled on an ice-cream wrapper between the names of two lovers
I see this noise in the shadow of the cars
Standing still at the commandment of that mighty red light
Taking a moment of rest before they start running again
Only to get ahead of one another
These empty roads should appear to me as the heart of the world
For just like a human heart
They have little choice in who walks on them
For the hubbub, the noise, the chaos
Never abandons them even in the most silent times
Maybe because sometimes the memory of the voice is louder than the voice itself
Maybe because it is this noise that keeps these hearts beating
And so I wish the silence of the empty roads never dies
May the silence of the empty roads never die
