#daniel challam

People keep telling me, "The world is a small place." I've never been one to think twice whenever I hear so, But it's not like I believe every word they say either. And so I find myself, Running, running, running. Running, running, running; I run, I run, I run Away from all the chatter, The words running in my mind; And I look up. I look up, And stop for a moment, I stretch my arm out, And reach for something to hold, But when I spread out my palm, I see nothing. I see nothing; I keep looking up, And I fall between the cracks, Wondering if there's someone out there, Looking back at me, And asking themselves the same question?

The same question? I know nothing with any certainty, And I certainly know nothing; But this I do know, That everytime I look at the stars, I don't just see them as bright lights Hanging in an empty space; But rather, I see them as holes in the sky Shining through. Shining through, As possibilities in an impossibility; For it is only when you gaze into infinity, Into the Unknown, That you realize, The Earth- Is a tiny blue dot, And you- Are an even tinier dot, Lost in a swimming pool. Lost in a swimming pool, Of infinitely colored dots and lines; And only in the darkest moments of your life, Do you really start to feel the weight of gravity; But life is too short. Life, is too short for you To say, That you are afraid of the dark, To think, That the darkness is a bad thing; To believe, That monsters hide in the dark; To feel, Small. Small, For it is only in the darkest nights, That the brightest stars shine. But then again, Who ever told you the night was as black as ink? It is a perfect shade of royal indigo, And it is sparkling, Don't let go. Don't let go, Because even though we may be in the gutter, Mr. Oscar Wilde, We sure as hell, are looking up. Looking up At the same stars, But seeing different things; And if only the whole world Could just stop, Breathe, Get together, Count to twelve. Count to twelve, And just look up at the stars each night; I bet the world would've turned out a whole lot differently; We'd turn out differently; You'd turn out differently; I'd turn out differently, We'd, Never be the same. But things are never ever the same, Are they? And sometimes, We end up forgetting who we really are. "But are we human for gazing at the stars? Or do we gaze at them because we're human?" Human, Because some things are better left unexplained; Maybe at the end of it all, That's what life is? Just a wink of an eye? Just the wink of an eye, In the grand scheme of the universe, Where Every face is another tale; Every day, another page; Every step, another word. Another spoken word; And all men and women are merely players- Cameos, sipping coffee in a corner; Or as my friend Zoya once described: "Merely the salt in a cup of tea, Forgotten orange traffic lights, And blue moons." Blue moons in Every moment, Every touch, Every breath, Everyone. Everyone- Seven billion lifelines, Simultaneously drawn, Like my friend Snigdha's chalk lines: "Marks left, Here and there, There and here, Everywhere," On the blank canvas of a lonely planet; Amongst seven billion other lonely planets. And amongst seven billion other lonely planets, An intricate entanglement of chaos. The world begins and ends in stars.

The night sky has always amazed me; and I for one, believe in the power of stargazing. For it is only when I look up to the stars that I truly feel my own smallness and insignificance- I am simply one living organism on a tiny planet, and the Universe is one humongous ball of collisions and chaos; all of which are beyond my human understanding. But I've learnt, that the answer isn't always something you find in a book of solutions. Maybe, the answer lies somewhere in asking the right questions. Just maybe? This piece is inspired by a night I spent, camping in the woods last winter. It was probably 1:00 AM in the morning, and surprisingly not that cold. No breeze through the trees, not even the slightest hint of crickets chirping in the background. The whole world was asleep, dissipating into a dream and I was wide awake, laying underneath a blanket of stars.

Credits to Zoya Chadha & Snigdha Shahi

Photo Credits: Daniel Challam

Daniel Challam