Freedom To Move In Our Own "Global Villiage"

Centuries ago, people used to migrate from one place to another for reasons which were natural calamities, local violence, or community upheavals. Or just seeking better pastures. But there were no borders. It was freedom of unrestricted movement.

Now, in the present age peoples also want to migrate for the same reasons as well as to escape violent political upheavals, crime, and violence based on ethnicity, conflicts, and prosecutions. But, we have borders. There are security guards, policing and military both at leaving and entry routes. People seeking refuge in other lands face multiple hardships, rules, and regulations.

It is an escalating global phenomenon. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, there are over 70.8 million people around the world who have been forced from their homes. Among them are nearly 25.9 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.

“There are also millions of stateless people who have been denied nationality and access to basic rights."

Freedom of movement in our own "global village" is bygone while we advance towards the moon and other frontiers in outer space.

Here is a related short story I wrote sometime back:

Moving forward a few decades from now, two friends took their first journey to the moon.
Upon landing on their dream destination, they had their first encounter with a local.

“Welcome to the Moon, where are you guys from.”
“I’m from America, and this friend of mine is from Mexico.”
“Oh! Never heard about these places before.”
Then the Mexican guy interrupted: “actually sir, we are from the earth.”
“That makes sense, enjoy the trip.”

-Promod Puri

NDP LEADER JAGMEET SINGH’S IMAGE BEYOND POLITICS

September 6, 2019Edit

By Promod Puri

The man is more than his round turban and drawn beard. He is also the most well-dressed politician among his peers in the Canadian parliament.

Federal New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh is an identity reflecting the spirit and reality of the contemporary Canadian society. In the multi-religious, multi-language, and multi-cultural environment of the nation, he stands out in his physical appearance with conviction.

The dynamics of his visible presentation is not only to represent himself with his Sikh heritage. But he wants to see the same pride among the peoples of Canada in their own cultural medley.

“I’m not like the others,” he tells Quebecers during his recent trip to the province. “Like you, I’m proud of my identity.”

The statement, “like you…”, while recognizing the French-Canadian linguistic and cultural identity, seeks the same importance for the rest of the Canadian identities. His words are portrayed in his being the way he grooms himself with his colorful turban and a long beard.

In his three-piece suit and matching tie, Jagmeet Singh does not look like a politician of the Left or socialist mold. In that dressed up outlook, he is a typical Canadian out to do his political business.

Jagmeet Singh is indeed a man with guts. His appearance and dressing are guided by his self-confidence. He does not want to efface his faith-based symbolism for easy acceptance and political gains.

He entered the federal political arena to lead the socialist agenda of the NDP. Besides that, Jagmeet Singh has an added message, symbolized by his turban, that Canada is a land of multiple identities. And each of these identities seeks acceptance and space in its multicultural landscape.

Inhumanity Sweeping The World

“Inhumanity, it seems, is contagious. In Italy, babies and children have been repeatedly kept at sea for days by a government that fears—hates, even—migrants, no matter their age. In Turkey, authorities are cracking down on the Syrian refugees that Europe didn’t want. Globally, more people have been forcibly displaced from their homes in the past five years than at any previous time in history, and more than half of the world’s 26 million refugees are children. Many are met with systematic dehumanization coupled with apathy in the places where they hoped they would be safe.

This suffering cannot be blamed on politics alone. There’s a silent majority that is allowing it to continue—not protesting, not calling our representatives, not taking to the streets. Hundreds of millions of us who keep going about our days as if children weren’t being treated as less than humans in our own countries. There’s a word for this: complicity.” —Annalisa Merelli and Annaliese Griffin in the Quartz.

We have heard about cruelty against animals, but globally, there is cruelty against fellow human beings as well. It could be government policies in many regimes or the social norms in intolerant and prejudiced societies.

Mob justice by beatings or lynching is now more frequent in recent years embolden by Hindutva infestation ravaging the secular image of India. And despite the laws and provisions in the Indian constitution, the low-caste communities continue to endure sufferings and traditionally accepted segregation. There is inhumanity in the escalating and uncontrolled incidents of rape and violence against women in the country. And when people are disfranchised as is happening in the Assam state of India, that is inhumanity based on bigoted and fanatic apprehensions of minorities by the majority and its government.

Here in Canada, there is inhumanity when the polls suggest a majority of Canadians are against poor and desperate refugees getting entry into the country. There is inhumanity too when Canadians reject the idea of apology for all the serious wrongs previous governments did against aboriginal peoples, Chinese, Japanese, Indian citizens, and migrants.

In the south of the border, inhumanity is a visible scene at the asylum-seekers detention camps. According to the Quartz, there are chilling details of dehumanization of those seeking asylum in the United States. The worst sufferers are the children “crammed in sleeping areas too small for everyone to lie down, without blankets, in cold rooms…” This is “in line with the directives of a government intent on turning cruelty into policy.”

Inhumanity is a serious global situation in which both governments and majority populations are involved against fellow human beings.   

-Promod Puri

WHO KNOWS

September 1, 2019Edit

Human beings are “the most
beautiful, intelligent and favorite
creation of God.”

Perhaps cats, dogs, donkeys, etc.,
and that bird in the sky
think the same.

Who knows!

And for that matter plants
and flowers have
the same pride.

Who knows!

Perhaps, He knows,
maybe not.

-Promod Puri

TWO OVERLY USED POPULAR SAYINGS

September 1, 2019Edit

1. “BE POSITIVE.”

WHAT IS WRONG BEING NEGATIVE? RATHER KEEP THE BALANCE, AND BE RATIONAL.

2. “FORGET THE PAST…..”

     HOW THAT IS POSSIBLE? WITH EXPERIENCES OF THE PAST, AND DREAMS OF THE FUTURE, LIVE THE PRESENT.

ORIGIN OF RELIGION

Essentially, religion is a code of conduct for a civil society. It all started from here. With society’s progression, the code of conduct also evolved resulting in its expansion and formalization.

As civilization started taking roots management of the society began.

Origin of religion can be traced as part of human evolution. Ancient religious orders basically were a set of laws and principles for some acceptable behavior in an emerging civil society.

Later all aspects of human cultures, including presumptions and myths, and overwhelming elements of nature were covered in one order. In all these developments social unity and coherence were the natural needs and dependencies of an advancing society.

An organized collection of beliefs and behaviors, a set of ideas started pouring in this social construction. And with the introduction of the Supreme Being, man's most intuitive conception or imagery, the assemblage got sanctified.

(Excerpts from Hinduism Beyond Rituals, Customs, And Traditions)
https://progressivehindudialogue.com/cate…/book-on-hinduism/

“PLEASE REMOVE YOUR SHOES”: IS IT CUSTOM, HYGIENE OR BOTH

August 29, 2019Edit

By Promod Puri

The sign on the front door read, “please remove your shoes.”

It was not a Hindu temple, Gurdwara or a mosque, where such is the custom or a religious edict. But the newly-build home of a friend who had a house-warming party a few years ago.

When we arrived, there already was quite a spread of shoes and sandals all over the front entrance. The four-word notice was polite, but terse in its message. The host did not want the new flooring and expensive carpeting inside to be spoiled by any soiled footwears of the incoming guests.

Understandably, I also removed my shoes. Otherwise, my black pair was absolutely dirt-free with a shine like a new. I put them in the far corner for easy on my memory when leaving the place.

Removing shoes as we visit friends or relatives is somewhat an uncomfortable advisory for some or many people including myself. Wearing them is part of a complete dress up. We make sure the shoes we’re wearing are clean and well-polished. Taking them off at the very entrance of a visiting home is undressing a part of my body, which loses the comfort, warmth, and snugness of the footwear.

Anyway, that is a personal choice where one feels comfortable. But besides being a personal preference, the issue is if wearing shoes inside a home is unhygienic. Does the practice bring in harmful bacteria from outside getting inside?

Yes, they do. Shoes are the vehicles offering free rides to bacteria like E. Coli, which stick to the outside of shoes, and they cause intestinal infections, even meningitis.

The transmission happens when shoes are touched by hands, and the latter touch face or mouth. Or the same hands picking up the food dropped on the floor and eaten.

Contamination by shoes, however, is considered much less health hazard than many other culprits, like cats and dogs who enter homes with uncleaned paws. And then there are hundreds of surfaces and objects which we touch and pick up the germs and bacteria. For example escalator railings, gas station pumps, ATM machines, etc. etc. as well as the money we handle, our toilets and bathroom floors, vacuum cleaners, sponge dish cleaners, all carry millions of bugs.

The contamination sources are all around.  Shoes contribute an insignificant measure of bacterial contaminants. In fact, there is a theory that shoes also bring along dirt which can help stimulate autoimmune systems, particularly among children and people over 65.

Besides, the health reasons, which are not dire, taking shoes off is more of etiquette according to the house policy of inviting hosts. My house-warming friend, in the meanwhile, has relaxed the entrance code, which in now guests’ choice.

(Promod Puri is a writer and author of Hinduism, beyond rituals, customs, and traditions. Websites: promodpuri.com, progressivehindudialogue.com, and promodpuri.blogspot.com)