I

Vriksha stood quietly surrounded by a mass of people most of whom he did not know. All were male. The females stood in a group a short distance away. He did not understand. He thought that he should have wept by now. Why did he not feel like weeping. He did not know. He did not feel good about it. He had often thought that he could not feel anything anymore. He understood that there were advantages of being like that but he did not want to be like that. He had prayed to god to give him his feelings back. But did he ever have feelings?

A friend- one of the few known faces- came close, handed him a small wooden branch and said something in his ear. Vriksha complied and took a step towards the pyre burning in front of him and carefully placed the branch on the pyre. He stepped back to allow the others to do the same, and suddenly his eyes welled up. He started sobbing like a child. A friend hugged him to console him but this made him cry even harder. The friend took him and they both sat on a nearby bench. Vriksha stopped crying soon after and then watched the pyre burn- he sat quietly and watched the dance of the flames as they engulfed the body of his friend. Thoughts and stories came and went through his mind. This is what happens to all of us in the end, he thought. He sat and watched till there was nothing left to burn. Then, he got up and said good bye to his friend in his mind and hoped that he had heard it.