By Ajeeti S
Everyone’s lips smile these days. Always.
But their eyes forget how to.
Many faces cross our paths daily,
Yet none seem to know how it feels to feel.
We scroll through lives of others—
Perfect moments, captured and framed:
a morning coffee,
a beautiful sunset,
a kiss with filters.
But where is the trembling heart
Before saying the first “I love you”?
Where is the lovely silence
when two sit together—just together—
without mobile phones,
Understanding each other?
We speak in likes,
we listen in emojis.
Birthdays are posts.
Sorrow is a pill that has expired.
Friends are just names under profiles.
Lovers are memories we edit and block.
We’ve made emotions efficient—
cut them down to character limits,
expressed with the help of AI.
No one waits anymore.
No one asks twice.
Apologies come in DMs.
Breakups on WhatsApp.
Our promises are typed,
never lined with sincerity.
When the world itself is fake,
how will honesty survive?
What are we doing here—
living to be in reels,
or showing off ourselves
Just to feel alive?
Because many times,
the loneliest place
is inside a life
that looks perfect.