Expect Little

She watched from their fourth floor window as his car pulled away.  Warm tears gliding down the sides of her face and making dark maps as they fell onto the concrete ledge below. 

She hoped that someday far away from now after the pain subsided those maps would lead her to new places and new emotions. Places where all those dreams for two she had envisioned were possible as dreams for one.   

Loving was a trial by fire and expectation was its Achilles heel. But how could you not have expectations as you handed over your soul to someone who claimed that if they didn’t believe in God they would worship you?

The other lesson she had learnt was that words came cheap.  

Rock Stars Of The Desert , Tinariwen

Thinking About You

For Syria

(Images : Google)

For Syria where the revolution began on the 26th of January 2011.

And where 3500 protesters ,as well as military personnel who refused 

to do the regime's bidding, have been massacred since. 

The Assad regime will fall it is only a matter of time, 

the will of the people must be done!

Monday Morning Lounge

UNHATE

We're always trying to steer away from the actual issue so like the in-your-faceness of this campaign and the fact that they didn't choose to steer clear of the 'big' western leaders like Obama, Pope Benedict, Netanyahu and  Merkel after all leaders from the global South are ALWAYS fair game. Despite all the criticisms I must admit I think the idea is pretty cool.

Sonepur Mela

(Photos: google)

The Sonepur Cattle Fair is held on the full moon day, in the month of November. Located  on the confluence of river Ganges and Gandak It is the biggest cattle fair in Asia and stretches on from fifteen days to one month. It has its origins during ancient times. At one point it used to attract traders from as far as Central Asia.

True Self-Esteem

Critically Endangered

(picture source : google)

The beautiful Iberian Lynx is one of the world's most endangered species with around 200 of them living around the South of Spain and Portugal often in captivity. If they die out it will be one of the few feline extinctions since the 'Saber-tooth' about 10 000 years ago.

Qarara Rasha

Turn me into droplets of rain so I dribble the pretty face,
Then coat me with dearness so I wander around the baked face

I adore and love the crimson layer on her lips,
And I seek the company of my friends for I'm world-weary.

O! serenity embrace me! O serenity, embrace me!..

Begone are melancholies as the angel face rears it's head,
And when it subsides back, melancholies rejoin..

I'm 'ghani' for I long for the goblet of beloved's lips
I'm 'maftoon' for I break through sanity for the sake of my love

I'm 'Khatir' for my love is pure
I'm 'Ismail' for I love with my dripping blood

O! serenity embrace me! O serenity, embrace me!

Indigenous Nations' Games, Tocantins

The aim is to preserve and celebrate native sports and victors are presented with hand-carved medals made from natural materials taken from local forests.The games are the biggest indigenous sporting event in the world. Currently 1,400 Brazilian Indian athletes, from over 30 different ethic groups, partake in the games, but it is hoped that the event will turn international.
Ten traditional and Western events are currently incorporated into the games, with male and female categories. Native-style wrestling, in which the competitor must knock down the opponent, and the tree-trunk foot race, where runners must carry a 90kg tree trunk on their shoulders, are two popular events. Other activities include archery, swimming, river crossing, and “huka huka”, a type of soccer in which players must only use their head and not allow the ball to touch the ground.

(images sourced @ google) 

When ?

When will the blood of our children no longer be measured as if it was liquid in a baking recipe?

Will a time come when the corpses will not be counted like students in a class but as actual lives to be mourned?

Does the moment arrive when God will not be blamed for the powerful men who have forsaken us?

Will the greedy men who stole our lands, ravaged our bodies and annihilated our indigenous peoples be called to justice?

And when will the millions of victims of imperial power games get to go back home?

An Artsy Eid Mubaruk

(These are by Hassan Musa, he was born in Sudan and lives in France)

A Gujerati Bride

Revolutionary Daughters

We are constantly learning about horrible things that happen to human beings on our planet every day and then we change the channel and watch the sports or Modern Family and just like that after our 5 seconds of ‘feeling bad’ life goes on. After all what can we really do to fix it …right?

Last week I watched 2 documentaries about the plight of sex workers in India. I was dumb struck. It was like an asteroid hitting earth in those Hollywood end of the world style movies.

The Day My God Died, is a documentary which covers the plight of young Nepalese girls who are drugged and stolen across the border and then forced to work in brothels in India. It is names after a common phrase used by sex-workers to describe the day they were sold into the business. Listening to their stories of torture, pain and entire childhoods spent hiding under beds in brothels until they are old enough to be sold into prostitution themselves, was enough to make me want to will myself to death at the fact that I share the earth with people who would do this to children.

But then this woman appears and she runs an organisation called Maiti, which patrols the Nepalese border and frees these women, gives them a home, medical care, sends their kids to school and gives them a second chance at life.  Ok so maybe there is some hope, just a sliver but hope nonetheless.

And then I saw Revolutionary Daughters. It was a revelation!!! 2 Indian women in their twenties that house daughters of sex-workers. They give them a home and send them to school, counsel them and teach them English, self-defence and current affairs. Their aim is to raise revolutionaries. At least 100 of them in the next 5 years.

I was overwhelmed. This was much more than a glimmer. Far more than sitting on their asses feeling bad and uncomfortable but doing nothing. A few women who are going out there against a massive enemy for no personal gain and fighting the sex-trade head on.

There are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world today, many of them in the sex trade  and the brothel owners don’t stop selling them for a single minute so we should be out there fighting for them every second !

Please watch :  

* Revolutionary Daughters: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/activate/2011/09 /20119201347556456.html

*The Day My God Died: http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBV5W6F4L5i8