Twists and turns of the day

I woke up today with a strong resolve to do many things. My team called it ‘working’ day. But, with a ‘migraine’ lurking at the corner of my head, I tried to distract it by moving about in the office. I took the church keys to post a concert notice by the church door. (Think less and move much – clear the head exercise)

Much to my surprise, the church was open and I saw a lady in black sitting at a corner busy with a lot of things. I didn’t really take much notice about her activity until I noticed a fixture below the altar. It was a coffin – such a lonely death, I muttered…

I asked a friend on how a death could be so lonely when in the last hours of your wake, few hours before going to the final place called cemetery, only 1 person was just around. I dismissed it as something Aussie.

I was led to some trivial work later that I forgot about the ‘solitary coffin’… I waged war with my headache and there were just too many to preoccupy my head. The ‘invalids’ decided to do groceries for the office. I just happily tagged along.

My headache went off and it was another happy day.

Then, the priest came back and said “remember about your question on whether or not the funeral went successfully? Let’s just put it this way – the dead body was an ex-convict, indicted for murdering his wife. He died in November last year and was only identified a week ago. He got burried today.”

A Recipe for Feeding the World

Ingredients:

• People’s need for good food

• Land for people, not profit

• Credit for small landholders

• Fair commodity prices

• Fair wages

• Appropriate technology

• Care for the environment

Method:

• Stir well till all problems are dissolved.

• Keep ingredients free from war, corruption and agribusiness or the mixture will curdle.

• Feed at least five billion. (That should now be six billion.)


Back home a growing unrest due to the shortage of rice is brewing. Although some calls it a 'staged' crisis, the alarming food shortage hits a very important nerve in a people whose staple food is rice.

This brings me back to the basic challenge of justice. In lawschool, social justice was literally funneled down to our system with the hope of having some when we get hardened by legalese... How much of those truly remained in the systems of governance?

How much? (May we have the bill please...)

in some blitz

preoccupations

funny. a lot worries about tomorrow. i am just too busy to think about it. there are lots to see and hear at the now that the future is too far and sometimes irrelevant. i only worry much if my now is connected with the morrow... but this is not really correct. i worry about missing the u2 3d movie this week just like i missed my date with jdepp because i stupidly burrowed myself in some hole too difficult to get out of. i miss out a good laugh and company once in a while due to obstinacy. i blow my top at a trivial now and i forget about the future implications of the present action...

i don't claim which is really good and much kewler. i just have to live with what i want to cope and do.

the nasty observant me takes over once in a while and my presence is absorbed in the 'arounding' mind you, when this mode is on, well... am neither here or there.

today

i stood most of the time
waiting
wondering
hoping

i squatted with neil as company
hearing the sermon droning on and on
humming the hymns along the way
chatted with curious kids

believe me philosophical questions were stuck
in the middle and thrown by the kids
asking about how and why money should be
how and why there should be..

i smiled
linked hands with others
connected
avoided stares
(yes, am shy too)

sat with colleagues
for a long time
asked for a favor
tried to explain
a bit, for long...

then i blogged
clicked to links
my insomnia starts
my life is neverwhere...

Melbourne Social Forum

I was at the Melbourne Social Forum today. The theme attracted me 'eating, moving, living: pathways to sustainability'. As usual, very few people came to 'change the world' perhaps, others were too busy to be bothered. Or what?

Just like any other forum, we often feel a need to connect and just simply be. The Conch provided entertainment which truly made my day. I miss the gigs and the jamming session at 6300 but well, we can just dance at any parties. It was an 'intergenerational' gathering of peoples and that alone would speak for itself.

It was also likened to a coming out party of the Young People for Development (YPD) to the engaged groups and individuals of Melbourne. The Green World Youth Day program was shared to those who were there. YPD mostly come for meetings among groups and people but it was the first time for the volunteers to set up a stall.

Attending today's MSF feels like just home. However, I was jolted out of my reverie when I attended the talks. The topics may be very similar but the concerns come from a different vantage point. Food issue for example is not much from the stark reality of food shortage and hunger. I miss the common farmer who can belt out into a litany of complaints and passionately recount stories of being detached from their seeds... But then, hey, this is Melbourne!

What is very important is that people still care and do the best of whatever way we can. I do borrow the line of the Conch: where do the rebels go?

In this type of gatherings, we leave inspired and plan to do more... No, I don't plan to change the world. A quarter perhaps? :-)