Hoping For Peace and Prosperity

Hope 2009 will be mixed bag of surprises....
Hope all warriors will return home safe...
Hope all Arms factories will shut down due to recession...
Hope there will be no reason to stock arms...
Hope there will be reverse migration and local community will prosper...
Hope world will learn to go global without disturbing the local...
Hope it'll be a green and peaceful world...

Every year people hope and wish for peace, safety and prosperity at midnight
But life itself is a mixed bag of surprises...
It tries to bring some people closer to peace and prosperity by robbing others of it...
Hope world learns to divide and share peace and prosperity...
Hope it'll be a another peaceful round trip around the sun...

Change is Quasistatic

Change has indeed come to America. It took decades maybe. But mindsets did change. May be not all. No society changes overnight. Any change is a quasistatic process. Slow but definite and irreversible. It is visible only when we see it happening all around us. It was visible in America yesterday when people of all colours and nations cheered Obama.

Society can change only when each individual becomes an agent of change and is willing to change his/her mindset and give up all prejudices. We all are equal. Race, religion, caste etc are the tags imposed by society. Our basic identity is that we are human beings. Unless we choose to be beasts.

We need true freedom from hatred which is taking us back to dark ages. I hope we learn to value peace and equality. Lets hope America takes another bold step towards ending conflicts and wars. We are waiting, America.

A walk across the border

Recently I took a leisure walk of few hours in another country without having to sign papers or security checks. We walked freely in to Phuntsillong, Bhutan from Jaigaon, India. Those few hours reinstated my belief that borders are no longer geographical but are essentially political.

Many a dreamers have dreamt about countries without borders (and conflicts). But increasingly geographic borders have become LoC, war zones, breeding ground of insurgents and rebels and political agendas.

Be it Kashmir or Georgia or any other conflict around the globe. The bone of contention is the same: demand for separate state, demand for redefined border or boundary, demand to have control over a piece of land. Political and extremists leaders seem to want new borders only to erect new barbed wire fences, to deploy more army and confine human movements. But path for true sustained peace between countries must lie in increased human exchange and mutual trust. History shows conflicts make way only for more conflicts.

Indo-Bhutan war has been relegated to history pages and what I saw and felt was mutual trust and friendship in the border-zone on either side. Military was present and watchful but not suspicious. I was surprised to see even currencies being exchanged freely. Maybe compulsions of politics, trade and economy have forced countries to have more open borders. But it definitely has brought in peace in the serene hills dotting Indo-Bhutan border.

As I walked away from border I had a new hope and dream that someday world will have freedom from all conflicts and there will be a new dawn of freedom and peace.