Hope
If we’re not supposed to dance,
Why all this music?
When the cacophony from the alleged hell gates refuses to harmonise with the orchestra of life, we must not turn off the music. We must stay put under the spotlight, engraving our story in the canvas of the world through the symphonies we create. The show must go on. Once you’re backstage and the pessimism hits, you may clutch your delicate heart and look at yourself in the vanity mirror. Your mascara may be a little smudged, your hair slightly out of place, but you’re still in the performer’s attire – wearing your confidence like a second skin, because deep down in your heart, you still have hope.
Hope is tugging at your soul like a frisky pup seeing its owner after weeks. It’s urging you to go back to where you belong. So, you touch up your smudged mascara, tuck the baby hairs behind your ear, and walk back on stage. The audience breaks into applause. The hope in your heart dances around like a little kid, because as long as there is music, you will dance.
It is our friend. It hides in the pages of our books, in the flowers of our garden, in the gentle ripple of water, in the season of spring, between the lines of the Victorian verse and in the embrace of a loved one. It peeks through the silver lining of the clouds and waves at us. It knocks at our doors and waits outside our windows while we pick at our skin and pull out our hair wondering why we feel hopeless.
At the end of the tunnel, there is light. To get there, we must follow the silver lining. That silver lining is hope. Hope, unlike blind optimism, doesn’t undermine the hardships of the journey. It acknowledges the bad days and the obstacles, and keeps us going. When life feels too hard, and the journey feels pointless, hope knocks at our door and embraces us in its protective arms, telling us that everything is going to be okay.
The human mind is a meticulously crafted museum of paradoxes. It mirrors its creator – who never sleeps. The paradoxical nature of the human mind weaves an intricate web of life where we are stuck as self doubting individuals, constantly second guessing our worth. When the weight of the world tends to burden our shoulders and the world makes us feel like we have no purpose, we must sit down and reflect for a moment.
Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, our existence is equivalent to a grain of sand in an infinite universe. But the truth of the matter lies in the fact that we do not exist in the grandeur of the universe. We exist in its simplicity.
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But it’s easy to doubt ourselves when raised in a society which constantly preys on our sense of insecurity, persecuting us for being human. This is why we, as humans, are so desperate for hope. Humanity has always been great at recognising the anomalies in nature and among its own. However this does not save us from the common knowledge of our existence – that we are beasts, waiting to be tamed. Hope tames the fire within us – not the good, encouraging kind but the kind that burns us, leaving blisters on our soul. It gives us a moment to rest and breathe.
We spend our entire lives looking for hope. We follow the rubric of life as prescribed by society and wait for things to make sense. We hope that one day, through high paying jobs and a loving home, we will find hope. But hope is not incomprehensible or unattainable. It is our friend.
It hides in the pages of our books, in the flowers of our garden, in the gentle ripple of water, in the season of spring, between the lines of the Victorian verse and in the embrace of a loved one. It peeks through the silver lining of the clouds and waves at us. It knocks at our doors and waits outside our windows while we pick at our skin and pull out our hair wondering why we feel hopeless.
In times like these, where the shadows of evil have overcast the infinite skies of love, it is natural to feel hopeless. However it is essential that we realize how much power we truly have. To see a change in the world, we need to become the change in the world and for that we need to have faith in ourselves, have hope that times will change, that good will prevail. Perhaps then, all the fires we spent our lives putting out, will eventually look like stars.
All images are generated by AI
Anushka Ghosh is a writer at heart, for whom words are a passion and a part of her very being. She loves expressing herself through writing, drawing inspiration from her interests in painting, dancing, and reading. A dedicated student, she secured All India Rank 1 in the ISC 2026 examinations. Through all her pursuits, writing remains her truest form of self.
