the lonely (microfiction)

22.11.2025

S: What a horrible thing loneliness is.

A: The occasion for thinking so? You are not that lonely nowadays are you?

S: I have been lonely. Perhaps few have been as lonely as I have been.

A: It is not a competition.

S: But today, it is not me that is lonely, thankfully. I am looking at lonely people destroying their lives around me through loneliness.

A: And what do you feel?

S: I understand them. I feel pity for them. It is a disease. What is bad about loneliness is that even if you try to escape loneliness, the feeling of loneliness will destroy even the attempt to escape it. Because the lonely do things that only the lonely can do. And that others don’t understand. Bizarre and insane things.

A: How did you escape loneliness?

S: I tried everything. I was also bizarre. Then, one day, the loneliness was over. But let me tell you, in our nightmares we are lonely. It is a terrible thing because the nightmare becomes life. And it is made worse by this Western society. Because in the past, you would have the whole family to support you. They have made their people live by themselves. And then, only one person, one special person is allowed to take away their loneliness. The lonely are risking all their redemption on one person. Who may not even be trustworthy. That is why so many are so lonely. They have created this colossal disease, this atomisation in society. This terrible burden of loneliness which you relieve onto the shoulders of just one person. And then, everyone around you, they keep so busy from you and so separate that they can never relieve your loneliness.

A: You would have them live like you, in the Indian family?

S: What is called Western Independence costs you heavily. Read the ‘Divergent’ series. The heroine never recovers from the separation with her parents, her independence and choice. The Indian way is how we have been living for thousands of years. It is the natural way. It is how we have escaped loneliness through the ages.

A: Keep your good wishes to the lonely.

S: They are not bad people. They do not deserve the judgement. They are just lonely and as I have said, it is a disease. I understand and I will not judge them. Instead, I will hope that their loneliness is over. That they can escape this loneliness.