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Dear Readers, 

                   Instinctively wrote in my Facebook status tonight, "Dear Delhi! Do you miss me as much as I do?". A couple of hours later when I read these lines again, I was able to appreciate the emotions that went behind this sudden outpour. 

                    Since a few days,  news channels are abuzz with warnings to Delhites to protect themselves from the deadly smog that lay enveloping the city in the wee hours of the morn. The video clips that are aired show different city points and streets wearing a coat of white fog. These visuals are what pinched me. 

                     I used to drive a motorbike when I was a student in Delhi. I used to keep it clean and shining and loved it more than my life. It had a name and I often used to talk to her. She took me to all these points and streets and often after a hard week, we both ran amock in Dilli on Sunday afternoons glistening in the wintery Sun. Such joy rides made me happy and I connected with every pavement of the city of Delhi. 

                     Just as Mir Taki Mir (the prodigal Urdu poet in Eighteenth century Delhi) laments the loss of Delhi due to the plight of finding bread and butter, I had to move out in search of safe future. Since that day, I grow sad( as I am now) to think that all those points, streets and pavements must have forgotten me. My unconditional love stands unrequited. The question is not whether or when will I return to that haunted city but it is that all our love is gone....