Auld Lang Syne

 

I spoke to an old friend

From many, many years ago -

The wonders of rebuilding connections

Via social network topologies

AI - 1, Humanity - 0

 

It felt like yesterday

Fresh like a summer’s rain, all over again

I was joyous at first,

Ah, reminiscences, filtered memories

Those sepia drenched college days,

Dismal examinations,

And lost loves proving

Age of Empires was a better investment

Of our times

 

We talked as if nothing had changed

Though everything had

I had moved continents,

He country,

While both had moved

Onto other chapters, maybe books

Or even bookshelves, libraries…

 

For those moments few

It felt good,

As if we started

Exactly where we had left

Aeons back

Such is the strength

Of friendships past

 

Yet, there was an emptiness

Not of the past,

But that of the present –

Yes, we started where we had left

But that is also where

We had stopped.

 

The conversations lingered

In the past

There was very little of the present

That we could relate to -

His prestigious title of GM

Could not see the golden sunset

Of my impoverished backyard

While my somnolent suburb

Could not work till 11 pm workaholic nights

 

The truth was

We were not even close by

To restart new chapters

To be written together;

Being nearby cannot be beaten

Even by the best of technologies

Proxemics – infinity, AI – doesn’t matter

 

We are frail human beings after all

Our connectedness means a lot

Alas, we cannot write

On two different books

So far away

And expect the stories to read seamlessly

 

We are often too far removed

Estranged enough

Maybe exiled.

Those who are not,

Are blessed

In ways that are unfathomable

Over lifetimes

Those who are -

Sometimes try desperately to draw

Straight lines of connection

On a sphere of lost times

And wonder what went wrong

 

Others

Don’t even try –

Wise to know it is better

To leave bookmarks

In the distant pages

Of long closed books.

 

Even the shelf life of friendships

Need more than memories

Filtered through the sieves of time

 

We disconnected the call –

He is looking over, perhaps

At the dazzling neon lights

Of a city life

Wondering of all those

Who couldn’t make it

To the dizzy heights of his life.

I look outside

To see the shimmering stars

And wonder

Of all those

Who couldn’t stray into the dark

To see the swirling arms

Of the Milky Way…

 

17^th August 2025