Ishfaq Manzoor
They rose like prayers into the sky,
With hopes in hearts and dreams held high.
But skies betrayed and wings gave way,
And all was ash by end of day.
There are days that begin like any other ordinary, filled with familiar sounds, routines, and expectations. But then something happens that breaks the rhythm of life. Something that silences even the wind. Yesterday was such a day for Ahmedabad. The skies that usually cradle the sun became a canvas of sorrow, as a terrible plane crash brought unimaginable loss and grief to the heart of the city.
A passenger plane, filled with people who had dreams in their eyes and destinations in their hearts, came crashing down shortly after takeoff. On board were families, students, professionals, some returning home, some leaving it behind, and some simply traveling to embrace loved ones far away. Their stories were diverse, but they shared a common end in the most heartbreaking way.
The plane struck a hostel building of a medical college, a place where young lives were preparing for futures in healing, in service. It became a site of devastation, with lives lost not only in the skies but also on the ground. The line between safety and danger blurred in a matter of seconds.
What followed was chaos, and then silence. Sirens pierced the air, but they couldn’t overpower the cries of those who searched for their loved ones. Smoke rose into the sky, mingling with prayers and disbelief. Ahmedabad stood still. And across the country, hearts broke for people they had never met, for families they didn’t know, because in the face of loss this deep, humanity binds us all.
It’s difficult to find words in the aftermath of such a tragedy. We instinctively look for answers, what went wrong, how, and why. But right now, those questions must wait. Right now, we must hold space for sorrow. We must allow grief to settle over the city like evening mist. We must let the weight of what happened be felt, not analyzed or debated, but mourned.
Among the passengers were people headed toward reunions, work, or simply another day in their journey. Many were doctors, students, parents, children. Some were known faces, others were everyday souls. But all of them were deeply loved. All of them mattered. And all of them leave behind voids that no time can truly fill.
One can only imagine the final momentshow passengers may have held hands, whispered prayers, thought of home. And on the ground, how lives changed in a single, cruel instant. There is no fairness in such moments. There is only loss. Deep, raw, aching loss.
In the midst of this heartbreak, stories will emerge ,of courage, of last messages sent, of families waiting at terminals that would never see arrivals. There will be a thousand silent goodbyes spoken through tears. The pain is not only in what happened, but in what will never be, the birthdays uncelebrated, the embraces unfelt, the futures unfulfilled.
Ahmedabad is a city that has seen joy, struggle, resilience. Today, it carries the weight of collective mourning. Black ribbons and candlelight will not be enough to capture the ache in its heart. Yet in its sorrow, there will be unity. Strangers will console one another. Communities will reach out. And through grief, humanity will shine, quietly, but powerfully.
Let us also take a moment to honor the first responders, the medical staff, the citizens who rushed in without hesitation. Their actions speak of courage in the face of fear. In darkness, they became the flickers of light that remind us not all is lost.
We cannot undo this tragedy. No words, no policies, no future safety measures can bring back those who are gone. But we can remember them. We can say their names. We can hold their memories close, not just in mourning, but in gratitude that they were here, even if only for a while.
And so, with trembling hearts, we pray, not only for those who perished, but for those they leave behind. For the families whose lives have been split into ‘before’ and ‘after’. For the children who will grow up with stories instead of parents. For the parents who will wait at doorways that never open again.
Let the heavens now carry them gently. Let the skies, which took them, also become the place they shine from, guiding their loved ones through this darkness.
May they rest in peace.
May we hold them in memory.
May the silence they left behind become a call to compassion, to kindness, to never take a single day for granted.
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