Buying hope

Ashwin Goyal

Nov 11, 2023 — 1 min read

I can picture it so clearly: all my friends huddled around the ultra high-definition TV, laughing and cheering. We're lounging on plush, cushioned seats, the latest console glowing in the corner. I can hear the collective gasps, see the fists pumping, feel the breaths held.

So, I swipe my card, and it arrives. But the friends, the laughter, those nights – they don’t. There’s just me, sitting alone, the TV quiet, the controller silent. I bought hope – a vision of a fulfilling life – but received something incomplete.

Yet that hope, it’s stubborn. So, I hop back online, scrolling and searching. Believing that maybe this time, the promise in the ad will be fulfilled. That top-of-the-line speakers with earth-shattering sound will fill the gap between the life I have and the life they promised.

Being followed

I run, my breath ragged, heart pounding. Every turn I take, they're there. I can't see their face clearly, but their presence is unmistakable. I duck, swerve, and twist, trying to lose them. Their eyes, void of emotion, follow my every move. It's like

Being a rebel

The world wasn’t fair, I knew that. I knew that the invisible societal structures weren’t designed to benefit me. I broke the rules, not out of malice, but out of a deep-seated belief that the system was flawed, that it needed someone to challenge it. My rebellion was