Editor’s note: Joy felt the need to speak to time, as if it has been a dear friend to him since long. Words did come out in the form of a letter and yet it found a complementary gift in Riturupa’s illustration. Thus a collaboration happened to add some flesh and blood to an abstract expression.

Dear time,

 

Writing to you as I will never have the courage to confront you. It’s been a while, I am seeing someone else. No, you can’t hold me alone responsible for this. Yes, I am responsible for the strain in our relationship by not valuing you enough in the last 16 months but you too have earned a reputation of being bad to worse during the same period. You are being blamed by everyone for all the suffering the world is witnessing now. Many are hoping you will turn good and bring brighter days but many, including me feel, you are only making the rich richer and the poor suffer more. I believe ‘inventions’ such as various new vehicles for commercial space voyage are amazing but right now ‘the necessity’ is to save the world from sinking under the filth of suffering and political injustice.

 

Even the omnipotent and omnipresent social media is blaming you for everything. No, I am not a social media fan but you are also responsible for this new era of social media expressing and also impacting every human mind. I can go on and on with the list of complaints against you to justify my decision of leaving you. As an irony, it’s easy to play the victim card with support from everyone whom/ that you created.

 

As for my confession, I have fallen in love with someone else – it’s ‘hope’. No, it wasn’t love at first sight. Hope was always there for me but I loved holding your hand and walk miles and grow old together. Now, I am madly in love with ‘hope’, who, as a true lover will always be there for me, no matter whether I chose a good or bad time.

 

 

Riturupa did Masters in Economics, currently working with PepsiCo as a part of their Data Analytics and Machine Learning team. Hobbies include Painting, cooking, singing and Travelling.

Joy is an investment portfolio analyst, who could have been a star cricketer. He sings, plays the guitar, drives cross country and manages to be there for friends, somehow always.