25th july 2023, driving back to home from market. "sir ye gulab lelo" he said- a young boy in his early teen. "nahi bhai, nahi chahiye" "please bhaiya lelo" determined he is and between me and him there are 120 secs of the traffic signal. I got irritated and turned away, thinking who would buy red rose on a rainy tuesday evening. Maybe a romantic one? desperate to go to lover or a hard working husband reaching home late on his marriage anniversary day? "fresh rose hai bhaiya" heard him again knocking on my window. rolled my window down and told him, "mai kya karunga bhai iska?" "lelo bhaiya please" says my man "aree kiske liye lun? akela hun mai, koe nahi hai jisko mai ye de sakun" i said and suddenly felt a bit more lonely, the lonliness that we all name sometime as solitude and try to not face the reality that "me" is all that we have now. suddenly my attention goes to him drenching in heavy rain and...