The Next Market Day
|
Dr Ranbir Laishram
This place we call home — hills and plains.
Fear changed it.
People speak in careful steps.
The news circles like a bird of prey.
Markets were music. Now they are quiet.
Festivals once laughed. Now they watch.
Names matter here. Tribe. Town. Tongue.
Those names build fences.
Neighbors become lists.
We forget simple kindness.
Roads that held song now have checkpoints.
Children learn who left by whisper.
Rumors move faster than aid.
Half-truths fuel full fires.
Some profit from our anger.
Most of us hide the wounds and go on.
Still, life goes on. Quietly.
Women stitch names into quilts.
Parents sing songs like prayers.
Teachers count heads as hope.
Old people hold easier days in their mouths.
To change, unlearn the boxes.
Start small. Share a cup of tea.
Fix the community well. Invite stories home.
Small acts make trust.
We can’t erase the past.
But we won’t let it write the future.
Turn from markets and songs that praise sorrow.
Build everyday kindness. Return borrowed tools. Keep promises. Repair the broken.
Start now. Turn checkpoints into shade trees.
Let children play where they used to.
Remember honestly. Repair openly.
Let the next market day come with reunited laughter.
This place we call home — hills and plains.
Fear changed it.
People speak in careful steps.
The news circles like a bird of prey.
Markets were music. Now they are quiet.
Festivals once laughed. Now they watch.
Names matter here. Tribe. Town. Tongue.
Those names build fences.
Neighbors become lists.
We forget simple kindness.
Roads that held song now have checkpoints.
Children learn who left by whisper.
Rumors move faster than aid.
Half-truths fuel full fires.
Some profit from our anger.
Most of us hide the wounds and go on.
Still, life goes on. Quietly.
Women stitch names into quilts.
Parents sing songs like prayers.
Teachers count heads as hope.
Old people hold easier days in their mouths.
To change, unlearn the boxes.
Start small. Share a cup of tea.
Fix the community well. Invite stories home.
Small acts make trust.
We can’t erase the past.
But we won’t let it write the future.
Turn from markets and songs that praise sorrow.
Build everyday kindness. Return borrowed tools. Keep promises. Repair the broken.
Start now. Turn checkpoints into shade trees.
Let children play where they used to.
Remember honestly. Repair openly.
Let the next market day come with reunited laughter.