It must have been difficult for him. It must have been difficult for them as well. After all, it is never easy to say goodbye to your loved ones, and that too when the goodbyes are permanent. The elderly woman must have been waiting for months; just a glimpse of her child, her flesh that means everything to a mother. Her body may no longer keep up with the shreds of time but her spirit burns with the desire to get hold of her child. To the rest of the world it’s mere minutes but to her, its eternity. Only she knows the pain of waiting; tears so often they no longer need to remember the flow.

But the elderly woman is not alone. There is someone else too: the wife of the man whose name has been written on a death note. What of the sacred vows she must be thinking. What of the union. A government has issued visas to the two females on ‘humanitarian grounds’. She must have been waiting for the date, for the visit, and that too on December 25. But this Christmas is different. There is nothing to celebrate. There must be something. December 25 is a joyous occasion. A brief moment of reunion but time is one thing you can’t dictate.

He must have been a good man once. Innocence must have been his plaything once. He must have had a past; of all the memories he collected as a child before Fate eventually interfered and took him under its guise. What good is a fate if it blinds you with hate? He was born free, he had a choice. Why did he choose death over destiny? His loved ones, his humanity, his individuality….. Were they all worth sacrificing in the name of ‘national security’? Fifteen minutes is all he has. Will he be able keep up with the guilt of betraying his humanity? Will he apologize to THEM? Will he be able to forgive himself? Why did he? Why did he choose some senseless killing over life itself? He could’ve been something else….. A doctor, teacher, scientist, philosopher. Why did he tangle himself in these mindless proxies between two senseless nations who, for the past 70 years, are preaching nothing but HATE.

All these barbaric acts, all in the name of a so-called national security, fueled by a narrative that preaches violence and hate, mean nothing. His loved ones will cry a river but that won’t change anything. He had a choice, he made one.

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