Editorial Travel Humour Book Review Video Documentary Melting Pots Music & Art Carnatic Music Health & Fitness Poetry Prev Issue Next Issue

Happy News Year - Shubhra Krishan Shubhra Krishan is a television and print journalist from India, now based in Colorado Springs. Steeped from head to toe in the love of the English word, she is always writing poems and stories in her head. Firmly, passionately believes that "it's the life in your years that matters, and not the years in your life..."

The city is aglitter. Each of the gabled houses strung along my cul-de-sac is a "light house". Christmas trees wink inside living room windows. Gifts are being wrapped, gifts are being opened. Ovens are working busily, rewarding kitchens with the scent of vanilla and roasted dry fruit. It's the feel-goodest time of the year, no doubt.

And yet.

There's an undercurrent of melancholy-or is it trepidation-in every heart. After all, it's been just a little over three months. And since then, the world has been such a changed place. The chase, the bloodshed, the tears-and the sudden uncertainty all around...

Most of the e-mail I get from family and friends in India is laced with concern for my safety. "Are they really going to poison the water?" my Mom wants to know. "Are you guys thinking of returning to India?" wonders my friend.

I am equally worried about them. Especially since the December 13 attack on our Parliament, that worry has intensified. I keep urging my Mom not to go out shopping unless very necessary. I make impulsive phone calls to my brother just to check where he's shooting and what time he's getting home.

This worry-it shows these days in our after-dinner conversations, in our reluctance to switch the channel from CNN to HBO, in our e-mails and even in our dreams.

There's reason to be this worried, of course. Just minutes ago, I was watching MSNBC, where an Afghan youth was happily telling an American reporter-"It's our duty to kill Americans. They are kafirs. The Holy Koran says so. The Prophet says so."

The American reporter, justifiably I think, countered, "What will you get by killing people who have nothing to do with you? Does your religion really tell you to kill innocent folks?"

The youth dismissed his objection with the wave of a hand,"You won't understand. If I sit down to explain the Holy writings to you-it'll take me a whole week and you still won't understand."

How long? How long will this madness go on? Where will this build-up lead? No one knows, of course.We can talk, we can keep our eyes and ears open, but there's not much else that we can do.

Or isn't there?

In the face of so much insanity and so much hate, there's one thing each of us can do, and that is to increase the quota of love in our hearts. To savour this moment-right now, right here. To stop being stingy with our hugs and kisses and gifts and good wishes. To help a neighbour and make a child smile. To be grateful for every meal shared with the family, and every night of restful sleep. To listen to the birds sing. In short, to be and do our best.

Here's wishing you peace, safety and a lot of joy in the coming year.

Celebrate.

Till we connect again...
Shubhra Krishan
Dec 24 2001

View and Post comment on this article