It was when the second wave was peaking that I decided to pen ‘Pray for the World’. That’s all that it is - a prayer for the world that needed it desperately. That’s it, that was the song.

The world has seen countless epidemics and some really grave pandemics but most of us were not around for any of that. That changed in 2020 and took a turn for the worse in 2021. Covid-19 had wreaked havoc – taken lives and ruined even those that it spared. It painted a picture so melancholic that even the atheists and agnostics wanted the biblical horseman to leave.

“Ek nahin do nahin
Teen nahin chaar
Yahan gintee toh chal rahi
Hai lakhon ke paar
Jaane kitnon ke bikhre
Hain ghar parivaar
Ab kaun lagaye
In sabka beda paar
Arey kaisa kehar
Ye toota yahan
Mere maalik tu humse
Kyun rootha yahan
Ab kar bhi de
Gunah maaf sabke
Ye bande bhi tere
Aur tera jahan”

The nation that had once locked down for three digit case counts was now witnessing official counts in seven and unofficial ones that neither I or nor anyone else could account for save those who lost their loved ones.

The waves were sweeping us away, levelling first world and third world countries alike. Those who held grudges against 2020 were now reminiscing it missing all the Dalgona Coffees and Banana Breads.

I don’t know what it is that we did that managed to irk God enough to the extent of withdrawing from the world completely but I do know that I, along with 7 billion others on the planet, want it to end.