Another year is coming to a close and everybody is getting ready to ring in the new. Looking back, the high point of the year was my visit to the US to spend time with my son and his family. While there I had the opportunity watch the preliminary rounds of the great American slug-fest - the fight for the American presidency. The result was a surprise for everybody. Back home it was the 'Demonetisation' and we are still feeling the aftershocks.Without going into the merits or demerits of the decision taken by the government I feel that the common man has taken the hardships thus caused in his stride. It is the political class that is shedding copious crocodile tears on behalf of the 'Aam Aadmi'. We have seen such shenanigans in the past too and they are welcome to it.
Talking of the coming year everybody has expectations. People look to it from their own perspective. To the young it holds the promise of new vistas to explore, new challenges to confront and overcome. Dreams of new relationships and beginning of a new life ! For them time is like an endless ocean to sail into. That is as it should be for the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.It was no different for the likes of me in our heydey. However, things are not the same now that we are getting on in age. Everyday that goes by is a bonus. We look for ways to pass the time. Some urdu poet has described this dilemma in a couplet :
'Fikr-e-maash, ishq-e-butaan, yaad-e-raftgaan,
Iss zindagi mein ab koi kya karey ?'
(concern for livelihood, love of women,memories of the past, what else is there left to man in his life)
Not exactly. There are a few things which can keep us occupied and help break the monotony such as gardening, pursuing some hobby, listening to music and the company of books. I find reading by far the best. It adds to the knowledge and stimulates the mind , not forgetting that it helps to relax.
I had the pleasure of reading some books. I choose books based on the reviews in the popular press or, at times, by the title of the book. A few were fictional works which helps the mind to relax. And some were thought provoking , 'Being Mortal' by Atul Gawande was one such book. Some were simply'Soul-searing' like 'From Home to House' and 'A Long Dream of Home'. These two are anthologies of writings by Kashmiri Pandits living in exile in their own country. Every contributor has something to say about the pain of leaving their homes, the inhuman conditions in which they had to live for more than two decades in the refugee camps, their yearning to go back to their roots. They are the children of snow and mountains living in the stark and scorched plains without any sense of belonging. A lost and scattered people living in the elusive hope of returning to valley from which they were brutally forced to flee. Not satisfied with the ethnic cleansing of the community from the valley their religious and cultural symbols are being destroyed.
A community is dispossessed of its home and hearth, in danger of losing its language, its identity and its glorious heritage in its own country and the nation remains silent. What a shame ! Will the new year be any different for them ?
Talking of the coming year everybody has expectations. People look to it from their own perspective. To the young it holds the promise of new vistas to explore, new challenges to confront and overcome. Dreams of new relationships and beginning of a new life ! For them time is like an endless ocean to sail into. That is as it should be for the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.It was no different for the likes of me in our heydey. However, things are not the same now that we are getting on in age. Everyday that goes by is a bonus. We look for ways to pass the time. Some urdu poet has described this dilemma in a couplet :
'Fikr-e-maash, ishq-e-butaan, yaad-e-raftgaan,
Iss zindagi mein ab koi kya karey ?'
(concern for livelihood, love of women,memories of the past, what else is there left to man in his life)
Not exactly. There are a few things which can keep us occupied and help break the monotony such as gardening, pursuing some hobby, listening to music and the company of books. I find reading by far the best. It adds to the knowledge and stimulates the mind , not forgetting that it helps to relax.
I had the pleasure of reading some books. I choose books based on the reviews in the popular press or, at times, by the title of the book. A few were fictional works which helps the mind to relax. And some were thought provoking , 'Being Mortal' by Atul Gawande was one such book. Some were simply'Soul-searing' like 'From Home to House' and 'A Long Dream of Home'. These two are anthologies of writings by Kashmiri Pandits living in exile in their own country. Every contributor has something to say about the pain of leaving their homes, the inhuman conditions in which they had to live for more than two decades in the refugee camps, their yearning to go back to their roots. They are the children of snow and mountains living in the stark and scorched plains without any sense of belonging. A lost and scattered people living in the elusive hope of returning to valley from which they were brutally forced to flee. Not satisfied with the ethnic cleansing of the community from the valley their religious and cultural symbols are being destroyed.
A community is dispossessed of its home and hearth, in danger of losing its language, its identity and its glorious heritage in its own country and the nation remains silent. What a shame ! Will the new year be any different for them ?
