Echoes in Joy and in Ashes

I woke up to the news of a loss, a life taken, shot and silenced. A shocker but this is not a first of its kind, and it will most likely not be the last as human history moves on. This incident has happened many miles away from my home. But, even in my own homeland the barrel has spoken on many occasions and has silenced voices that dared to rise above their own interest and seek the good of others, voices that did not intersect with the standard opinions; not listened to, but silenced as the barrel spoke This incident has set in motion various responses. From grief and horror, to celebration, ridicule and mockery. The latter responses are the ones that have left me shaken and angry How infuriatingly quick we are to celebrate death in our prejudice! How foolishly bold we are to bid good riddance rather than see the crime? Why? Just because our thoughts did not meet? Free expression, they say, and yet those who differ do not seem to enjoy that freedom. Two people may not see eye to eye...

As I sat in a funeral  service many years ago, the sister of the deceased said "Grief is never easy and we are never prepared enough to meet it." These words became much truer for me a few years ago; grief is indeed never easy and irrespective of the many fore-warnings we may have had, when the moment comes it unleashes its pain and all emotions are let loose. But I suppose this is the natural way for us to deal and cope with grief for I can only imagine what will happen in the absence of the ability to respond as such. This pandemic has been a season of grief as people we know either succumbed to COVID19 or passed on in their appointed time to the next life. However the pandemic has made the sad event of death doubly painful as most are either not able to pay their last respects or say their goodbye in person. While we have been hearing about deaths around us it was not too close and so the news came as a shock. My wife's paternal grandfather and the father o...

As I made my way through this last week, I reflected on what had happened exactly a year ago - my weekend visit and stay at home and my dad's passing away at that visit. This particular week (with its days and dates), this year too is lined up very similar to last year's and it has been a week of retracing last year's steps as I made my way home to be with the family. To our father who is now in heaven! A year has gone by and it has been an "unusual" experience to have to do some of the year activities without you. As much as we'd look forward to the visits to our home, the realisation that you're not there has been saddening. We have sat around the dinner table and felt "one more of us" should come only to realise it will not be so. We mourned and grieved, but the best thought has been that you're home and at rest. The Book tells of the ancients who passed on to the next life as being "gathered" to their people. That expression o...

(on the occasion of a man humiliated and condemned) Yesterday marked a black day in the history of humanity. It will probably not be given the weight of leaving an imprint in the larger history but it will be forever one in my memory. And today is my day of lament for we have shown that we are no better than the “other,” no different from the “other.” We have rushed to the aid of justice and destroyed its very ideal in the process. We have “delivered” justice but within the prejudices of our "assumptions" and "affiliations." What if he was "one of us"? Would we seek the “same” justice? What have we achieved today? That at the very core of us lies a “barbarism” that can be unleashed fed by the fuels of our own rash actions though we could well pass off as sensible and civilized people. I mourn this day, not because I will condemn whatever “wrong” has been committed but more so because of the “wrongs” we have done without flinching, without remorse, without...