Grandpa's Bench.

Grandpa’s Bench

I’m on my way to my native village. It’s an overdue journey; my last was two decades ago. This time I’m alone. It’s not just another trip, but a journey into my childhood. As I leave the city, I hit the metalled road, where a dirt track existed earlier. My conscious accuses me of behaving like a gapeseed. On either side, the paddy fields interspersed with a few sugarcane ones pass by in quick succession. Now the paddy has replaced the sugarcane, which within a decade has become an uneconomical crop. The sight of the old mango orchard with bletted fruits delight my heart, and lessen my unease. For the first time in an hour, I feel welcome in my own land.

          Thereafter, my drive up to the village reminds me of the hot afternoons when I, with my friends, rode bicycles and raced with one another. Needless to say, I didn’t always win the race. If I had ever won even once, I can’t recollect. I don’t want to and lose the joy of those carefree childhood memories. In joyous mood, I drive on and enter the village. The mud houses have been bricked, and dirt tracks have been paved with bricks. The sound of a motor vehicle drew out several villagers on the street. It did when I was a child. Some things, I guess, in a village life never change.

(for complete story, please go to short story  section)...............

Discrimination........When will it end?

* It's absolutely disgusting to read or hear about discrimination in the civilized world, particularly in the 21st century. Two news items have disturbed me immensely. One, in the world's oldest democracy, and another in the world's biggest democracy.  

*    In the U.S. a famous actress has decided to boycott this year's Oscars because the awards are heavily loaded in favour of the white actors, ignoring the rightful claims of black actors. Imagine, this is happening in the most advanced nation in the world, and not in some banana republic.

*    The second news is from India where in one temple the women are not allowed to perform the puja. This is as strange as stupid, because God, if He exists, wouldn't discriminate between the men and the women. Remember, the women after God are the only being who are blessed with the power to create a life. And what an irony? the mortal creator is being prevented by the conceited man to perform the puja of the immortal creator.

*    Like million others, sometimes I wonder whether we have really evolved as a human being?

  

Is democracy working for the Arab World ?

*     It has not been long since the famous Arab spring took place. Much euphoria was created and the entire world was hopeful that the dictators would be thrown out and democracy would bring joy and smile on the million faces. But nothing of that sort happened, nothing positive seems to be happening. In most countries the dictators have been removed leaving behind a political vacuum, turning the strife-torn nations into nurseries for terrorists. Iraq and Libya are examples of the failed western policy.

*    The U.S. invaded Iraq, removed Saddam without having a contingency plan of governance for that country. It resulted in the power struggle amongst the Shias, the Sunnis and the Kurds. The vindictive politics of the Shia rulers added to the misery. The Sunnis who under Saddam had enjoyed the fruits of power were left disillusioned with the present political system. 

*    The situation became perfect for the birth of Islamic State terrorists. The situation in Syria and the U.S.'s short sighted policy and one-point agenda of removing Assad from power proved to be a policy disaster. But the Americans have a history of committing one blunder after another. From Vietnam to Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Libya, they have destabilised one nation after another. To fight the Russians in Afghanistan they created the Taliban, which created Al-Qaeda 

*     The rise of the ultra-right, or the conservatives in Turkey and some other countries has poured water over the growth of  liberal democracy in the Muslim world. And tacit support of some countries to the Islamic State has made the world more dangerous than it was ever.

Exodus................ mankind's eternal fate !!!

 

*    Since the dawn of the civilisation the world has always been at war with itself, resulting into oppression of the minorities and the weak. And the women and children have suffered the most at the hands of the tormentors. Many centuries, it  was Moses who with thousands of Israeltis escaped the tyranny of Ramesses II, making it perhaps the mankind's first exodus. 

*  Sadly the mass migration of people from their homelands still continues in some form or the other, because the human beings, unlike the animals refuse to live in peace and harmony with one another. It's indeed sad when one reads or sees people being driven out of their ancestral homes. Imagine the plight of the sick and old folks thrown out of their homes at gun point.    

*    If today it's Syria, yesterday it was Iraq, and day before yesterday it was Afghanistan. Tomorrow it will be some other war torn country. Wars are fought in every continent, but what wrong the common folks have done to deserve such a fate. 

*      Moses would have thought several centuries ago that he had saved the weak and the underprivileged by taking them out of the clutches of a tyrannical Pharaoh forever, but his soul would now be crying in pain to see the similar conditions existing in every war-torn region. 

*     Exodus is the mankind's eternal fate, because in every century in many countries the tyrants, elected leaders or otherwise continue to unleash the forces of terror on the minorities and the weak, and thus force them to leave their native country and head towards the west. Unfortunately Moses was never reborn and earth has no vacant land where such people could settle down permanently. For them its a sub-standard existence in the adopted country. 

*     Wish Gods have solutions  for their problems !!!!!

The Yazidis.............ethnic cleansing of

                                                                (Photo credit - Joshua project)

                                                                    (Photo credit - Creofire.com)

*  The Yazidis are a distinct and independent minority community who have their own religion and culture. They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of Iraq. They are a distinct ethnic group and don’t consider themselves as Kurdish. Since Aug 2014, they have been targeted by the Islamic State, the deadliest militant group hell bent to eliminate non-Islamic minority groups in Iraq and Syria.  

*    The Yazidis live primarily in the present-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and also in significant numbers in Armenia and Georgia. The bulk of the Yazidi population lives in Iraq, where they make up an important minority community. Their emigration has resulted in establishment of large diaspora abroad, mainly in Germany, where more than 100,000 Yazidis live. Some Yazidis also live in Belgium, Denmark, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia. 

*    In August 2007, about 500 Yazidis were killed in a series of bombings in Qahtaniya. In August 2009, at least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in a double suicide bombing in northern Iraq. Two suicide bombers carried out attacks at a cafe in Sinjar, west of Mosul. 

*     ISIS which considers the Yazidis devil-worshippers, captured Sinjar in August 2014, forcing about 50,000 Yazidis to flee into the nearby mountains where they face starvation. Their plight initially received international media coverage, leading the western leaders to carry out humanitarian air drops of food and water in the Sinjar Mountain. Limited air strikes against the militants in support of the Yazidis was also carried out but it has not been able to prevent the genocide of the Yazidis out on the Mount Sinjar. 

*    However, the military action by the westerns powers leaves much to be desired. The Yazidis and other minority groups are still being killed and their women taken as sex slaves. What hold the US and its allies to go all out against the Islamic State? I fail to understand!