My Passions

My Passions
Me

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Meandering thoughts

 World has reset after Covid, but it is even more fractured and spiteful. It feels like the world is going backward in time to a time where fear and hatred was supreme. A dangerous time with dangerous people who today are idolised as strongmen. the strongmen (so called Leaders) of today follow the path shown by the Evil genius trying to outdo each other while they are steeped in the bloated narcissistic puddle of  ego, pride and entitlement. 

Society revels in hate as each is trying to outdo the other to satisfy the bloated narcissistic egocentric view of their superiority.Humanity is teething on its deathbed under siege from society and power hungry strongmen. 

As we hang on to the slither of light at he end of the tunnel called hope, here is a very beautiful passage from "Three men in a boat" authored by Jerome K Jerome:

"It was a glorious night.  The moon had sunk, and left the quiet earth alone with the stars.  It seemed as if, in the silence and the hush, while we her children slept, they were talking with her, their sister—conversing of mighty mysteries in voices too vast and deep for childish human ears to catch the sound.

They awe us, these strange stars, so cold, so clear.  We are as children whose small feet have strayed into some dim-lit temple of the god they have been taught to worship but know not; and, standing where the echoing dome spans the long vista of the shadowy light, glance up, half hoping, half afraid to see some awful vision hovering there.

And yet it seems so full of comfort and of strength, the night.  In its great presence, our small sorrows creep away, ashamed.  The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us.  Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smiles; and, though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone.

Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand before her very silent, because there is no language for our pain, only a moan.  Night’s heart is full of pity for us: she cannot ease our aching; she takes our hand in hers, and the little world grows very small and very far away beneath us, and, borne on her dark wings, we pass for a moment into a mightier Presence than her own, and in the wondrous light of that great Presence, all human life lies like a book before us, and we know that Pain and Sorrow are but the angels of God.

Only those who have worn the crown of suffering can look upon that wondrous light; and they, when they return, may not speak of it, or tell the mystery they know.

Once upon a time, through a strange country, there rode some goodly knights, and their path lay by a deep wood, where tangled briars grew very thick and strong, and tore the flesh of them that lost their way therein.  And the leaves of the trees that grew in the wood were very dark and thick, so that no ray of light came through the branches to lighten the gloom and sadness.

And, as they passed by that dark wood, one knight of those that rode, missing his comrades, wandered far away, and returned to them no more; and they, sorely grieving, rode on without him, mourning him as one dead.

Now, when they reached the fair castle towards which they had been journeying, they stayed there many days, and made merry; and one night, as they sat in cheerful ease around the logs that burned in the great hall, and drank a loving measure, there came the comrade they had lost, and greeted them.  His clothes were ragged, like a beggar’s, and many sad wounds were on his sweet flesh, but upon his face there shone a great radiance of deep joy.

And they questioned him, asking him what had befallen him: and he told them how in the dark wood he had lost his way, and had wandered many days and nights, till, torn and bleeding, he had lain him down to die.

Then, when he was nigh unto death, lo! through the savage gloom there came to him a stately maiden, and took him by the hand and led him on through devious paths, unknown to any man, until upon the darkness of the wood there dawned a light such as the light of day was unto but as a little lamp unto the sun; and, in that wondrous light, our way-worn knight saw as in a dream a vision, and so glorious, so fair the vision seemed, that of his bleeding wounds he thought no more, but stood as one entranced, whose joy is deep as is the sea, whereof no man can tell the depth.

And the vision faded, and the knight, kneeling upon the ground, thanked the good saint who into that sad wood had strayed his steps, so he had seen the vision that lay there hid.

And the name of the dark forest was Sorrow; but of the vision that the good knight saw therein we may not speak nor tell."

Waiting for my vision to guide me through this dark forest I find myself in.

My take on Freedom/Azadi



Abhi

Azaadi...Swantrata..Freedom

Everybody is pepped about 75 yers of Indian Independence. the journey in our Tryst with our destiny has been a roller coaster. The vision of a Modern, multi cultural , multi faith , cosmopolitan, egalitarian Country, which prides itself with empathy  and a social net for the deprived and disenfranchised feels like a distant dream. 

At 75, India is dying at the hands of its people who are blinded by hate and fear of the non existent threat of each-other. The politicians like their colonial masters before have understood the power of fear and hate is more rewarding than doing good. and hence for power they have repeatedly stabbed the soul of the nation. The dream, that vision of our finding fathers is now considered Anti National..because it doesn't fit into the contrived narrative of hate and fear of the Powers to be.