Darkness everywhere

Kannadasan's poem echoed through grandmother's kitchen as she scrolled through her phone. Her son, settled in Silicon Valley, had posted about power cuts back home. She laughed—genuine darkness, not the metaphorical kind he wrote about. "Send money for generator," his message read, buried beneath cryptocurrency tips from distant cousins. The Tamil diaspora always found ways to stay connected, even when circuits failed. She video-called him, their faces glowing in the darkness. He complained about blackouts; she complained about his love for technology. Yet there they were, bridging continents through screens, keeping stories alive, finding light in shared laughter.