She showed me in, into the room of wonders
Of what's left after the dead are ashes
Rummaged through the blue plastic bags
That once was somebody else’s
A woman’s red glass bangle
A teddy bear with one hand wrinkled
A half worn out cricket ball
And a bus ticket from Andheri to Juhu
As if a story unfolds in front of my eyes
Say dead men tell no tales
And yet in those inanimate things
Was hidden love for all those years
A new bride’s wrist once held this red bangle
And in her doe shaped eyes gleamed
The hopes of a new family, on her wedding day
Hopes that died when those eyes closed
A little girl had once hugged that teddy
And lullabies from her rosy lips that sung
The song of love for her imaginary friend
Love that died when those eyes closed
A young boy had played with that ball
For Sixes and Fours on the Mumbai lanes
Posters of cricketers plastered in moss ridden walls
Little joys that died when those eyes closed The bus ticket from Andheri to Juhu
Had seen a busy office goer’s breast pocket
who dreamed of his own house, his own car, a vacation abroad
Dreams that died when those eyes closed
These inanimate lifeless objects
Were once someone’s hopes or another one’s dreams
But now they lie in a blue plastic bag
In the morgue of a hospital - Amlan
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