Hey guys,This is our final day of vacation, and looking back at the last month it was filled with ups and downs.
In my case I’ve seen a slight change in the behaviour of my friends and myself as well, maybe because we were given free time , a break from the normal schedule to explore ourselves and think of our choices .
I just got back from a trip yesterday, and I honestly feel like a new person.A week ago, when I was told to start packing for our trip, I was passive ( being the lazy person I am ) but it turns out a break can be quite the game changer.
More often than not life treats us monotonously, same old schedule, studies, and anxiety. But to think of it, even our daily routines yearn for change. And change doesn’t always mean travelling, it just means doing something different. Meeting friends, trying a new hobby, exploring a different genre, anything.
In my case, following the same schedule for many days was getting exhausting and literally leading nowhere, and at that moment what was needed was not more tension but time to rejuvenate.
The two of us are students, and yes we do have boards this year, and olympiads and exams, I mean the list of things that hangs over our heads could go on, but that’s what I tell my dear co-blogger/friend Kunjal that we all need a break. No one can be expected to become a robot and follow the same pattern every day.All of us need a break, an adventure, a change from our routines, that doesn’t mean getting deviated from our goals, that just means even more clarity of your ambitions.
To just sit and relax and think can allow you to travel places you’ve never been to, and witness things you’ve never seen. Perhaps this was the point of vacations.
I found these lines I had penned down earlier quite apt
” The day is coming to an end
Still nothing have I done
But as nothingness crepts in
Into the mysteries of life I run ”
Well people, that’s that. Our last maybe second-last post before school reopens. I wasn’t really looking up to summer vacations this year, but seeing the effect “nothingness ” can have has made me question my own opinion.
Until next time ……..!
Khushi (DuoDisseminators)
P.s – This is not a self-help post, just simple views of a teenager
I am very elated to tell you guys that I recently hosted a prompt at Skeptic Kaddish . Do check it out! I received amazing responses from different poets and they took the groovy challenge extremely well!
Rules
Your poem must be no more than 16 lines;
It must include the word ‘groovy’
It's Light,
The doors held ajar,
Unto the striking dark,
And in and in it traveled,
And burst in more shards.
.
Shards of gold they were,
Primmest of diamonds they were.
To cover the deadly expanse of dark,
They slackened in ribbons to disembark.
.
The big or small scrapers,
All looked like little tiny huts above,
Snoring and grumbling in sleep
People awaited its touch-a sly sneak.
.
Light traversed and it took
A groovy path- into nooks,
I tell you, twas a wonderful element.
Before we moved into the deep trenches of blue.
This was the first time I hosted a prompt! Thank you David for hosting wonderful W3 prompts and allowing poets to challenge themselves!😃
His first rain,
From a little scrawny window,
Droplets pattering and dew forming,
His first thought is a big spit or too much sweat.
His second rain,
Through open gates And-he-could- crawl- cross-fall
Above those big bouncy raindrops,
Stripped in straps he looks-
At The kids dancing,
He feels his heart sighing and shunning
The remorse- and skipping with the drops falling.
Hello guys this is Kunjal! This poem presents a little contrast about sorrow and happiness. To dance in the first rain or just feel its beat as a kid is a reflective thought.😃.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
A country doesn’t merely comprise its native citizens, it consists also of those seeking protection.
Each day.
.
Every day.
Today we will be talking about refugees. Not the economic playback right now, not the ongoing war, not on religion. Them. They are the center of basically everything. While many “consider” war and big policy announcements on their table the influx of refugees and migrants, who again become a controversial topic for countries, sees little action.
A refugee, according to the UN, is ‘someone who is forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence.’ A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion and abandonment in a country, a civil war (like one extending in Syria and manifesting itself Sri Lanka right now), or they may be forced to take this path when they are not accepted by their own country. For instance, the people who came from Bangladesh to India after the 1971 war or the Bloody Syrian Civil War.
High protests against corruption, high unemployment propelled protests against the government that were brutally suppressed by the President Bashar al-Assad. This in no time plunged the country in a state of total chaos, and members of willing rebel groups as well as unwilling civilians died. The United Nations has verified that at least 350,209 civilians and combatants were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 and that number is unclear.
This seems like a perfect tale of an arrogant leader who swept the country and labelled its people as terrorists and made the ground ripe enough for several rebel groups to crawl and integrate and form their call.
But this war saw a major creation of refugees. According to the UN there are a total 6.6 million refugees worldwide right now.
According to the UN, 5.6 million refugees are hosted by countries near Syria. Lebanon alone hosts 1.5 million refugees from Syria more than it can do. Too much inflow of refugees and lack of clarity of policy has plunged Lebanon as well in a state of total confusion.
As a responsibility to humanity, not just one country alone but all countries share the responsibility of accepting refugees and making them a part of their own country. Stranded from their homes, refugees face challenges like Young girls being forced into prostitution, men being brutally punished and refugees facing discrimination even at international borders. In other words too many roadblocks.
‘We cannot despair of humanity since we ourselves our human beings’
Nations need to retain their humanity and see these people as assets. These people can be armed with skills that we may not be aware of and can prove potentially good for economies. Agendas of hatred, confusion and too much false information on social media has blurred the lines between what is our duty and what is not.
The diverse language set brought by refugees can make them good international sales marketers or maybe a highly linguistic tour guide next door. They can also be a value addition to corporations which contribute to the care and hospitality of asylum seekers and refugees and hence may need a proficient staff in languages. Also they are not a threat for the natives living in the country, they are looking out for other sorts of jobs.
Hence, it’s clear that social media, deep penetration of false fake news, and lack of policies in some countries prevents us from fulfilling our duty as a community. Hosting refugees is not a controversial topic among voters. When driven to rise they won’t back down.
.
As a German citizen said ‘ I thought it was really great that we Germans achieved when our Chancellor stated- that people can come here and that made me feel proud’ during the 2015 refugee crisis.
Even during the Russia- Ukraine war right now, countries which never accepted refugees like Hungary are accepting people in huge no.s. Refugee is not a dream but a reality. If their country stops feeling like home, should the world stop too?
.
Or should it not?....
What do you guys think about it? But first guess who has given the quote ‘We cannot despair of humanity since we ourselves our human beings’ A very famous person we all admire. Known for his/her mind.
This post is a continuation of the Not-So-Political Series:
Write a poem with a ‘monorhyme’ as either the first word in each line or as the last word in each line (this means: ‘a single common rhyme’ in every line);
Poems should be no less than four lines long.
This poem is inspired by haunts and fears emerging as a person grows old, shrinkled, withered and how much more bad can it be? Darkness giving way to an trap..
I remember four years ago,
When studies were irrelevant,
When going out and sweating
And playing was important.
Cricket in the morning,
Swimming at twilight,
Football in the evening
And basketball at night.
I remember four years ago
When sleeping did count,
Eyes drowsing innocent,
And blinking up with vigor
Sweat in the hot sun I did,
As every muscle I strained
To give my all in every sport
I played without disdain.
I played without any disdain,
Of yester’s fights,
Enjoying every bit,
In today ‘s sunshine.
And brows drawn
To create something new,
And mind busy on
‘How to add more fun?’
To this question arrived
An answer in games
Invented by young minds
That gained immediate fame
Immediate fame they gained,
Twere played again and again,
New kids learnt them all,
Ne’er forgetting the maker ‘s name.
Police and thief, a classic,
That I shall never forget,
Where I remember infiltrating “prisons”
To free jailed suspects.
Ice and water,
Running with madness
To save ourselves from ice,
To unfreeze our friends left.
Capture the flag we chose
To play when many gathered,
Capture the flag we had to,
The guards a spot of bother.
The grimmest places
Were the best hideouts,
When lights went out,
It was a chance to tread out.
But when all else didn’t matter,
A good ol’ game of squash did,
Smashing footballs onto the walls,
Ignoring angry parents’ cribs.
And when armed with agility,
The best runners were picked,
They overcame the trail of chasers,
The hills and blocks it contained.
Ah those were the good days
When the desk mattered not,
When sweating in the sun
Was quite worth the effort.
-The Forgers of Fantasy
-Kunjal(Duo Disseminators)
The bolded responses are those by veera!😃. Check out his post
Reservation is synonymous with ‘share’ that has been reserved for someone. In an office party or a function, certain seats are reserved for the people at higher posts. Which does make the office party unjust for the employees who have to stand in a crowd and repeatedly saunter off the heat and sweat that settles around them.
Uh huh.
Even the Native Americans in the early century were forced to relocate due to this idea of reservations or reserving. ‘The Indian Removal Act of 1830 institutionalized the practice of forcing Native Americans off of their ancestral lands in order to make way for European Americans settlement’ But it is in India that the term reservation took a new light. It became a positive discrimination creating reservations for socially and educationally backward people to ensure their participation and representation in the state.
Glimpse into Past
Historically India has been freed by the sacrifice and sufferings of many people, but freedom from the British did not mean freedom from conservative mindsets. Time and again the lower sections of the society suffered. However, their struggles were identified well before independence. The quota of reservations began on September 16,1921. The first Justice Party then passed the Communal Government Order becoming the first body in India to legislate reservations. In 1932 British Prime-Minister Ramsay Macdonald presented the ‘Communal Award’ which made provisions for separate electorates for different castes and religions. Castes are subgroups within the Hindu religion and the system of castes in religion systematically abandoned and discriminated against people taking birth in one subgroup and created separate well off respectable subgroups within the society. A jump to 1950 and the reservations were only there for SC’s and ST’s. The setting up of Mandala Commission later led to formation of Other Backward Classes (OBC’s) and in 2019 for the first time, a reservation was announced on the basis of income that is EWS.
Reservations- the solution?
But given this a more deeper thought and one would realise how a system created to give better provisions and remove discrimination based on castes create even more divisions amongst the people. The idea of creating equality overrules merit and creates inequality for the unreserved category in the society. Simply because these unreserved categories or groups, weren’t at the time of independence part of marginalized groups. It is not just the only arguing factor, it derails all of us to recognize and see each other from the lens of caste not merit.
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Poor people from “forward castes” would not get any social or economic advantage over rich people from backward castes.
When the whole world fingers India ‘s poor facilities, a broken system, and unchanging illiterate political parties they forget to include the reservation system of India in government which is outdated, not workable with the needs of the current Indian society and reaffirms more reforms to benefit more castes,despite no reasoning about their social and economic condition today.
And one must ask, is reservations the only way to ensure equality?
Conclusion
Deliberately, the government does not conduct caste census to tap into the economic and social status of various castes in India.Reservations in educational institutions and legislatures were made for the purpose of creating equality for historically marginalized groups in par with upper castes. Today it has ushered an era of deep inequality and isolated the unreserved category and put a hold on merit driven development in various sectors. All sectors of development have lulled to a stop because reservations have led to a major outflow of Indians into other countries. Elimination of discrimination should always be the priority, but one must ask how much discrimination exists today. Do we know it without a caste census? After 70 years of independence, things must have reformed mustn’t they?
Duo Diseminators 