A Birthday
It’s the last day of 2005 and yet again I stop to recollect how the years passed so swiftly, it seems like just yesterday we ushered in the new millennium. Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to wish Visithra a very happy birthday (belated, since it was yesterday). Among the millions of bloggers out there, very few are able to tell the stories of their life more freely and sincerely and Visi is definitely one of them. Ever there to highlight the small things in life that often makes us smile, laugh or maybe cry, her blog is one of the best out there. The variety of her posts and also the fondness of her to tell the stories of everything are simply mesmerizing. And she almost never forgets a friend’s birthday. So head there and wish her if you haven’t.
A Shooting Star
I’m not a big fan of warm nights, but sometimes a cloudless sky opens up the universe to you. Millions of stars, the Milky Way (and the galaxies you can’t see). I live at the equator, so I consider myself lucky to be able to see the brightest stars. So it makes me yearn more to achieve my dreams. Funny thing happened early morning today. It is the eve of the new year by the way, and Bob came back to the hometown for his weekend break. We gathered at his house last night and talked away, not as excited as maybe a decade earlier at some campfire or maybe five years back, after the big exam at some coffee shop, fiddling away with the beautiful girl stories, but of something more important about the future. Nowadays as hard as we try, we can’t escape dissecting the politics of life and the social hurdles that line up against us, Indians in this country. But seeping in between that important story (which I will tell after this), are the stars, that kept on distracting me. Diverting from the topic of discussion, I mentioned to the guys how I never saw a shooting star in my life. Bob reminded me that I mention it every time we meet. I felt I’m the unlucky one as almost all my buddies have seen it once in their lives. And of course I tell to myself they’re just lying to appease myself. So we yakked on for a few hours about everything under the sun, and then realizing the conversations going no where, the solution seems to be non existing, I looked up to the sky as said to myself, what would happen to all of us, when a miracle happened. I saw a blue streak of light and the most beautiful star at the end of it. I finally saw a shooting star, the amazing beauty of the moment and the relief it brought to my heart. A feeling that the Gods spoke to me; maybe they understood me, signaling a new beginning or at least a better life for everyone next year. Bob saw it too. I wonder how many of the readers have ever seen a shooting star…it’s a stunning experience.
A Revolution
You would have guessed from my previous post how angry I became because of the issue that happened a few days back. I guess it’s the feeling of helplessness in this country to do anything to save my people. I personally don’t care of my religion, but the breakdown of the most basic respect of human rights really makes me sad. It’s when no one respects the needs and feelings of a human being, in this case the wife and children of the person, that the real ugliness of humans reveals themselves. What are worst are the motives and actions of the religious zealots to systematically walk over all Indians and Hindus in the country into believing that we’re worth nothing. I could go on telling how we build this nation with out bare hands and how we’re still doing it, but then that one failure of human rights and compassion makes our sacrifices mean nothing. We’re basically third class citizens in our own country with no voice, not justice and no representation. I can’t believe how anyone can close their brains and ignore as nothing happened. Why even in the darkest moment of our recent history, we can’t stand together and fight this invisible oppression.
It’s the last day of 2005 and yet again I stop to recollect how the years passed so swiftly, it seems like just yesterday we ushered in the new millennium. Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to wish Visithra a very happy birthday (belated, since it was yesterday). Among the millions of bloggers out there, very few are able to tell the stories of their life more freely and sincerely and Visi is definitely one of them. Ever there to highlight the small things in life that often makes us smile, laugh or maybe cry, her blog is one of the best out there. The variety of her posts and also the fondness of her to tell the stories of everything are simply mesmerizing. And she almost never forgets a friend’s birthday. So head there and wish her if you haven’t.
A Shooting Star
I’m not a big fan of warm nights, but sometimes a cloudless sky opens up the universe to you. Millions of stars, the Milky Way (and the galaxies you can’t see). I live at the equator, so I consider myself lucky to be able to see the brightest stars. So it makes me yearn more to achieve my dreams. Funny thing happened early morning today. It is the eve of the new year by the way, and Bob came back to the hometown for his weekend break. We gathered at his house last night and talked away, not as excited as maybe a decade earlier at some campfire or maybe five years back, after the big exam at some coffee shop, fiddling away with the beautiful girl stories, but of something more important about the future. Nowadays as hard as we try, we can’t escape dissecting the politics of life and the social hurdles that line up against us, Indians in this country. But seeping in between that important story (which I will tell after this), are the stars, that kept on distracting me. Diverting from the topic of discussion, I mentioned to the guys how I never saw a shooting star in my life. Bob reminded me that I mention it every time we meet. I felt I’m the unlucky one as almost all my buddies have seen it once in their lives. And of course I tell to myself they’re just lying to appease myself. So we yakked on for a few hours about everything under the sun, and then realizing the conversations going no where, the solution seems to be non existing, I looked up to the sky as said to myself, what would happen to all of us, when a miracle happened. I saw a blue streak of light and the most beautiful star at the end of it. I finally saw a shooting star, the amazing beauty of the moment and the relief it brought to my heart. A feeling that the Gods spoke to me; maybe they understood me, signaling a new beginning or at least a better life for everyone next year. Bob saw it too. I wonder how many of the readers have ever seen a shooting star…it’s a stunning experience.
A Revolution
You would have guessed from my previous post how angry I became because of the issue that happened a few days back. I guess it’s the feeling of helplessness in this country to do anything to save my people. I personally don’t care of my religion, but the breakdown of the most basic respect of human rights really makes me sad. It’s when no one respects the needs and feelings of a human being, in this case the wife and children of the person, that the real ugliness of humans reveals themselves. What are worst are the motives and actions of the religious zealots to systematically walk over all Indians and Hindus in the country into believing that we’re worth nothing. I could go on telling how we build this nation with out bare hands and how we’re still doing it, but then that one failure of human rights and compassion makes our sacrifices mean nothing. We’re basically third class citizens in our own country with no voice, not justice and no representation. I can’t believe how anyone can close their brains and ignore as nothing happened. Why even in the darkest moment of our recent history, we can’t stand together and fight this invisible oppression.
[+] JeffOoi's excellent article piece of the Issue;[Fanatics1] and [Fanatics2]. I thank all the readers for their comments when I raised the issue in my previous post.
Then I realized, after chatting with my buddies, that this one incident means nothing to anyone. It’s simply brushed of as a personal tragedy. Thousands of people die everyday. People get bombed everyday in Iraq, die of horrible accidents, hunger, famine and civil war. The world listens, but does nothing. It’s simply a death. A passing with no monetary value, love being marked with a price tag long ago, no solution. I can’t stand and fight alone, nor can a band of a dozen stand the draconian authorities. Dead people can’t fight for freedom when even the alive shuts the eye.
So I said to the world, and it answered back with a shooting star. Is that a yes or no? Back home, switching on the telly, I flipped the channels, with weird mixed feelings. And fittingly, the answer came on the National Geographic’s channel airing a special on Fidel Castro. I can’t forget the incident, yet I don’t know how to act on, but the world keeps on giving hints. Politics is a deep hole with no way to climb out. A dangerous one to the life or a minority. And almost anyone know by logic that dwelling in it will make us one of them lame politicians, the issues to fight long forgotten along the way. Fidel famously said ‘Condemn me, I don’t care, history would absolve me’. What implication does this have for the youth of today? There are many paths to fight for freedom, but the real question is for which freedom we fight for. The freedom of humanity or the freedom of our color, each intertwined into the complex relationship that we have with everyone. Step to the front and shout a revolution, and they will kill everyone, our families, friends and finally us, literally. Sit back, shut our senses, and still the killing happens. So there is no solution. There won’t be a Gandhi born again, because this fight will not bring justice if we starve. Simply, the solution doesn’t lie in separation, the very weapon the zealots are using to separate the people in this nation. Another Mandela can’t preach to the masses why my peoples color matters, the basic reality being, we’re minorities of an evil race that their Gods specifically denies existence. If I decide to carry the flag and fight for the rights, the least that my friends will do is remember me. If I fall down, somebody will help me, if I vanish, somebody will love me. The revolution continues.
Crawl into the dark and close your eyes,
Shut your ears and mute the voice,
Ignore the shouts and cries,
Blind to the tears and blood,
Serene silent emptiness,
And from one corner of the universe,
A resonance from inside,
Of your beating heart,
Then you realize, you are human,
Your face and voice will die,
But your deeds will remain for eternity.
And A New Year
And another year dawns, complete with sugar and spice and expensive fireworks. Everyone’s seem to be rushing somewhere, seeking something, praying and chanting for something, something that I can’t figure. What do we really want, peace or freedom? For me I think the real freedom comes when our time on this world ends. Why waste time numbering your life for the New Year, when you can build everyday with something new. With a new life, a new love or even a new friendship. This New Year, not many will be sad, we walked on remember, threading a violent end to 2004, knowing and understanding that we can’t last a second on this earth without a helping hand. We rode through 2005 in our various vehicles, powered by expensive fuel realizing again and again that that one stupid guy who himself being lost in the ‘bush’ continued to screw the world, so that that one country can get more fuel to power that vehicle to carry on…it’s a cycle, I told you so.
And another year dawns, complete with sugar and spice and expensive fireworks. Everyone’s seem to be rushing somewhere, seeking something, praying and chanting for something, something that I can’t figure. What do we really want, peace or freedom? For me I think the real freedom comes when our time on this world ends. Why waste time numbering your life for the New Year, when you can build everyday with something new. With a new life, a new love or even a new friendship. This New Year, not many will be sad, we walked on remember, threading a violent end to 2004, knowing and understanding that we can’t last a second on this earth without a helping hand. We rode through 2005 in our various vehicles, powered by expensive fuel realizing again and again that that one stupid guy who himself being lost in the ‘bush’ continued to screw the world, so that that one country can get more fuel to power that vehicle to carry on…it’s a cycle, I told you so.
So the heck with resolutions, you know that the next puff of cigarette have all the potential to kill you same as the speeding car with a drunk driver. You damn well know that the next can of soda will give you diabetes and kill you same as the next mosquito bite will give you Malaria. Stop living in a soap opera and giving yourself days between your plan and execution because real life doesn’t have a 5 minute theme song. It starts all warm and cuddly but it ends with a full stop. Just like that. Believe in change, not resolutions. Have faith and close your eyes, walk forward as fast as you can, say NO loudly to all your bad deeds and change immediately! Then walk on, equally as fast so you have no time to look back and sympathize.
As for the coming year, I sense with my psychic abilities, of a year full of changes and reflections. A year for love and marriage with some breakups. A new car and a new house with a big yard. A new job in a faraway country. A zillion new Tamil serials, some great movies and Superman. England winning the World Cup, Liverpool winning the Champions League and Premiership. Another Deepavali BBQ and maybe another bottle of Martell. Lots and lots of money and books. A better research team, a start for the Phd. A published book or a new album. History shall remember or as senor Fidel says ‘History would absolve me’.
Till next year folks, don’t forget to update your blogs!
Have a Happy New Year and may it be a new beggining of all things happy and wonderful!
-gP2005-gP2006-
