One-way Ticket

By Aditi L. Naikar

Have you ever bought a one-way ticket?

Lived the thrill it brings along?

Experienced the excitement it carries.

The anxiety that kicks in when it gets confirmed.

You start hoping that your plan works out.

Some prepare crazy for it.

Some are sloppy.

Some, instinctive.

While the rest pray hard for it to be a journey of a lifetime.

You want to tread carefully,

take care of every small detail,

put your best foot forward

and leave no room for any fails.

But then what’s a journey without “expecting the unexpected”?

And then it hits you that the journey was always planned,

so now you've got to tread this path.

And do what you got to do,

so, you play smart.

Sometimes, extra smart

and just like the ramble here, you ramble there too and eff it up.

So, you stop, think and act, or maybe not.

And suddenly, it dawns on you

that you were the one who bought a one-way ticket.

All you can do now is either carry on, on the same path or find another.

Because love for most of us is a one-way journey with no layovers.

By Aditi L. Naikar