2 April, 2020: Shivani Kshirsagar

Hyderabad, India

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The Sky Changed Colours

Instagram: “It’s raining in Hyd?” “Yes.”

Windchimes, pattering drops on the plastic roof heard from the drenched balcony. The sky's the color of sun that has been wiped by cloudy handkerchiefs.

I look ahead - the glow of my laptop - academic essays -

The sky is lilac. But softer. I could almost feel it. Like a petal on a quivering pond. The furthest on the violet spectrum, closer to fading into white nothingness. A color that holds on for identity, for mere existence. 

I look down - Whatsapp, IG, Twitter - the blur: Corona, creativity, quarantine, now trending: hashtags, hashtags, hash hash haichoo: oh shit Corona! - I can hear virtual sneezes: behind the bars of the hashtag, we are virtually prisoners; we are the virtual generation -

The rain has stopped. The trees, and the wind chimes are still. The laptop plays the piano. 
The agarbatti breaks the still air. Conversations in the house break the silence - 
Ma: “I think again it started पाऊस-ing.” 
Raining. पाऊस: Marathi: rain. Written in the Roman script: paus: paus-ing - pausing.

Pausing



I am Shivani Kshirsagar. My surname literally means Ocean of Milk. My name is a shoutout to the goddess Parvati, the other half of the God of Destruction, Shiva. But on the internet I am Girl With the Mane because my hair is a stubborn bit*h.

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