All by myself.

I loved being all by myself.
When my friends would invite me over for lunch I would cancel,
Make an excuse of work;
Try to catch some quality lone time.
I liked being all by myself.

When someone would call me for chit chat,
I would wonder when they would hang up
So that I could finish my favorite book.
And when I put it down, late at night, maa would bring me a cup of coffee and something to eat.
And I would tell her to leave me all by myself.

When I'd see people talking about moving out to a different city for college,
I'd be all excited
To have a house of one's own; Decorate it the way one liked.
One could order pizza every night.
Or sit on your favorite bench in your favorite park until early morning.
And would not have to bother about curfew limits.
All I dreamt was being all by myself.

It's all come true. The house, the new city, the bench in the park, the pizza.
Everyone's on their own, providing for themselves.
Now I pick up the phone and look at the contact list that has just added numbers with time.
And I look at my favorite coffee mug and suddenly crave for mom's homemade pickle.
And I look at the book lying on the floor which has the bookmark my best friend made for me.

I have all the time I need to spend with myself. What else does one need?

But I have to admit: I hate it!
I hate being all by myself.

Inspired by the song: All by myself,by Eric Carmen. 

Photographs by: Shreyanshi Soni, Yoshieta Gupta