“We are programmed in a manner that we listen to everyone except what our heart says to us. We smile when we need to cry. We remain silent when our heart is going through a storm of emotions. Even if the toxin in blood breaks out of the skin when it overflows, then why not emotions.”

I am Shariqa Malik, a 28-year-old Delhi-based poet, marketing professional, and trained teacher. The loss of my parents resulted in leaving my hometown to shift to Delhi and live at my brother’s place. This sudden shift resulted in a career change, and I had to restart from scratch, but today I would like to define myself as a financially independent woman.

I was a 21-year-old when I lost my mother and went to my father for comfort. That day, my father asked, “Am I a good father?” I reassured him that he was. He replied that now it was his chance to be my mother. At that moment, I realized a mother’s love is unconditional. I decided to be a mother to my father, as he became one of me. We learned to live without her together, from complimenting my burnt rotis to assisting me in producing an exquisite qorma. He taught me everything.

On a fateful winter morning, my world came to a standstill. I lost my father to a sudden cardiac arrest. Within moments, I had lost both parents. My job, home, city – my entire life was uprooted. I moved in with my brother in Delhi and started over in marketing and then communication expert. I was rebuilding brick by brick.

This was something I was not ready for. My planned life had come to a halt. And that was the moment I realised that “external focus can’t be controlled, but what impact they make on you is still in your hand.” I knew that everything had ended. But I also firmly believed that this end must be the beginning of something new.