What celebrations?

How do you celebrate when you see agony all around you? Do you celebrate humanity killing humanity? Do you celebrate death and disease?
Do you cry over Syria, Palestine, Iraq or do you cry over poverty and starvation in Africa? Do you cry over wars and violence or do you cry over poor farmers driven to starvation or suicide in India? Do you cry over Gaza or do you cry over Kolkata? Do you cry over Middle East or do you cry over Europe? Do you cry over rapes or over child molestation? Do you cry over civil wars or after attacked aircraft? Do you cry over poached wildlife or over destroyed environment?
How do you celebrate when your heart is weeping? How do you celebrate when your dreams are shattered? How do you celebrate when humanity is killing humanity?

A thought

Not opposing the oppressor is oppression. Not raising a voice against human rights violation is oppression. Being a mute spectator when somebody is being attacked is oppression.
When men kill men, women and children, there must be something wrong with the way children have been brought up. There must be something wrong in the thinking, if there is so much hatred in this world. It seems that humanity has failed somehow.
There needs to be a change in the choices we make. There needs to be a change in the way we bring up our children. Our children are the future of this world, they should be just and kind, their hearts overflowing with love.
Our children should care for those who are weak and oppose those who are hurting them.
Our children should stand up against oppression and not be a mute spectator.

Clouds

I feel these clouds are toys for you to play
Floating where you can catch them
Shaped like a teddy for you one day
And a car and a monkey another day
Some become your swing, some your slides
Some are ropes for you to climb
Some form a field for you to run
And some are for you to jump and hide
Each day the sun forms rainbow for you
Each night the stars shine on you bright
Each day the raindrops kiss your cheeks
And birds sing lullaby for you each night

Worrying trends

The happenings in the Gaza Strip are following a worrying trend and leaving behind marks that might destroy the future of our generations with guilt. In determining what is right and what is not, the nations are divided on the grounds of religion and of their own vested interests. Humanity is being sacrificed on both the sides. Nobody is calling for truce and innocent lives are being sacrificed. Politics and power games are calling it a day.
While some are calling it self defence, others have started idolising a former dictator. Everybody is going to the extremes without thinking about peace.
Maybe all we need is a little prayer, a petition to bring about peace. An effort to save those thousands of innocent lives. Maybe all we need is to be a little more compassionate without pointing out fingers. Maybe all we need is to treat everyone with love and kindness and be together through the trials of life. Maybe all we need is to look in the mirror and make a change.

Gaza and the lack of empathy

The ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip and the lack of international concern in itself is a matter of concern for any right minded person. The war between Israel and Palestine has escalated and innocent lives are at stake. The sheer lack of concern of the world powers to the woes of the civilians of the Gaza Strip in itself is a matter of concern and of shame. The media ignoring the plight of these people raises the question whether human rights are not for all people? Whether everyone does not enjoy the same rights and privileges? Whether freedom is for the elite few? These questions are to be asked by every human being and ponder upon the questions of equality, freedom, life and liberty.

Rape as a revenge

Recently the panchayats have shocked everyone by ordering the rape if minor girls as a means of taking revenge for something their father did. Rape is a crime against humanity and the same being used as retaliation is something even more ghastly. Treating somebody's daughter or sister as a piece of property and violating her is something to be treated by stringent punishment. A girl cannot be molested for something any of her relative did. She is her own person, has her own personality. She deserves respect and care. A minor girl is the future of the nation and she cannot be treated in such brutal manner. It is time to take action against such mentality that cannot respect a woman or a minor child.

Killing in the name of religion

It is a strange matter that nowadays everyone is ready to shed innocent blood in the name of religion. Whatever is happening in Israel and Palestine or in Iraq or Iran or Pakistan, is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether it be Muslims killing non Muslims or vice versa, whether it be Shias killing Sunnis or the other way round, at the end of the day it is ego killing humanity. If one really thinks deep down it is not killing because of religion, it is killing to acquire wealth and power under the garb of religion. The truth is that no religion advocates violence. And this killing is not for the sake of God or religion. This is killing for the sake of killing, killing for the sake of looting, for the sake of acquiring what was rightly somebody else's. This killing and torture needs to be stopped. So much of bloodshed and inhuman acts are not going to bring peace. Humanity is being crucified to please the egos and lusts of some individuals who can easily brainwash a large multitude if gullible youths. It is time to reflect upon where the world is going. It is time to take action and time to end all brutality.

Troubled

Mass killings and human rights violation have become the norm in the Muslim world today. It seems that those who follow Islam are willing to kill each other in the name of the same religion. Surely, it cannot be religion or the love for God that makes man into a beast. It has to do something with the love of the material over the spiritual that is responsible for such acts of brutality. Divine cannot pardon evil nor does it sustain it. Evil is the absence of goodness. And evil cannot be the means of achieving goodness. Love breeds love. And acts of brutality are surely against the tenets of whatsoever religion one follows.

Moving

After losing a baby myself, I find myself more sensitive towards the sufferings of others. And what can be more painful than the illness or death of a loved one, more so if it is your own child.
I pray for all the children around the world who are unwell
I pray for all the families that have been shattered by grief
I pray for those who are alone and in trouble
I pray for a better world, one that is full of love and kindness. A world where smiles are more and tears are less
While what has been done cannot be undone, those who have left us won't return
But I pray for the hearts that are still beating, may they grow strong and be full of compassion