What is love? I asked this question to myself many a time. Everyone defined it in their own way, but nothing matched. I am still in search of a definition that convinces me.

I sit here silently seeing you move away to the distant shores, this distance is not just physical. Physical distance can be scaled, what about emotional distance??

Is my love that feeble that it could not hold you back? I sink under the weight of my love. My feelings towards you choke me...

The more I think about you, the more I feel the void. Life has already become lifeless. I started existing rather than living..

Carry on my friend, whenever you see a falling star, wish for me that aleast in the next life, we should be together....

Now that the run has started, I am puzzled with some questions
What are you running away from? Yourself, me, or society?

Years of moments together now fade into memories
but their freshness still lingers not allowing me to accept the truth.

Gone are the days filled with long conversations
now long pauses of silence mark our togetherness.

Love should be a walk together not a chase.
So here I stand hoping you to take a U-turn.

If you come back, my prayers have been answered
If you don't come back, I feel happy at least you reached your desired destination.

When we put down the balance sheet of our life, there is always a deficit created by these losses than gains we get from our monetary wealth. No money in the world can pay back the value of the pen you lost which was gifted by your best friend. No emotion can describe the loss of a person who means a world to you.

There are some imminent losses too. This is the real nightmare. Neither you can prevent the loss nor you will be able to come to terms with life. This grief of loss collapses you from within, coping up becomes difficult, and life becomes a burden.

We grow out of losses in life, and catch up, and move up with life, but there are certain losses where we cannot move up with life, but drag on with life, no matter how rosy life has previously been. They say time heals, even if it does not heal, it is enough it does not trigger more.

It was not difficult to locate him, and as we approached his ward, I became anxious. I pulled up my courage and went to him. He was in a conscious state and was surrounded by his family members and friends. They are all visibly shaken by his plight. It seemed like he was the only son in the family.

Slowly, my friend started conversing with his friends while I stood as a silent spectator. It was learnt that the father of the boy wanted sue the bus driver, but the boy was against it but would not give reason. The doctor came on rounds and objected to too many people around him, so we had to leave temporarily.

The next day also I managed to pull up my friend to visit him. The boy knew that his life span was reduced to a day or two. Both his kidneys were badly damaged. He wanted to donate his organs that are intact and asked the doctor to help him with necessary paperwork. The doctor was willing but was apprehensive about the boy's father.

While we were about to enter the room, there was a serious conversation going on between the father and son. "Daddy, let us be practical, even if we spend all the money, there is no guarantee that I will survive. When death is inevitable, let me face it gracefully." The father was not the one who is easily convinced, "My son, the thought of you dying itself is something which we don't want to live remembering. When you are not there what difference will it make for us by your organ donation? Our plight is still the same." The boy knew his count down has begun and he must convince his father as quickly as possible. He mustered strength and spoke to his father, "If I live with all my organs intact, my life at the best would be 100 years, but both of us know it is not going to be more than a day. I want to live long, if not in one body, in different bodies, sharing their emotions, happiness, each and every single moment of life, dad, please give me this chance, I want to live, to live, and to live..." A disturbing silence followed.

I stood praying outside not knowing what else to do. The father was like a bundle of sorrow, not able to come to terms with what is happening and not having the courage to fulfil his son's wish. Finally, when the doctor came on the routine visit, he signed the consent form. My eyes were already raining not knowing how best to express my feelings towards him. The next morning when we visited him, he smiled and slowly started slipping into sleep, I knew it was not the regular sleep and rushed out to get his father who was talking outside with someone. When the father came in, he held his hand out, as if seeking a promise, and when the father laid his hand in it, he smiled and his hand dropped.

He was no-one to me, but at that moment I felt a strong sense of attachment towards him. His silence influenced me as greatly as his conversation and I carried his inspiration in my heart and to live after death.