There was hardly a minute to understand what was happening or why everyone was running. I started running in the same direction too.
Yesterday, I was in a street market in East Delhi where people were enjoying their shopping and street food as usual, but suddenly, the whole picture changed in front of me. My sister and I ran inside a shop where the shopkeeper was closing the shutters to protect his shop. He asked us to run away if we wanted to reach home timely and safely. We rushed out of the market towards the main road to reach our PG.
All I could hear was people’s shaky and frightened voices as they spoke to their relatives. The fear was palpable. I was holding my sister’s hand tightly not to lose her company in such a rush. Some women were discussing that their children were out for tuition classes, and they are worried about how to bring them back home. Few children were crying saying they have their homes around the market area, where should they go to escape from the chaos?
I had never thought that I would witness such outrage this closely. There were some places in North East Delhi where riots were taking place, but I had no clue that it would spread to areas far from that. I realised it takes only a few moments to destroy the peace in the name of terror and overshadow the happiness with fright.
On my way back home, I heard the rumors of open firing and stone pelting, which was termed fake by others. An old man was making fun of the whole scenario by laughing and saying people are running senselessly; there is no harm to anyone. All the shops were closing fast as we ran. I heard two boys talking that they should buy packed food in case if an announcement of curfew is made.
As we reached closer to our PG, we took deep breaths, and we could still hear people telling each other to lock their houses from inside. I called my local friends immediately to ask them not to step out.
For the sake of humanity, we need to understand that hate can never solve what love can.