Some People You Meet!

We are both not that expert on selfies. On top of that not really photogenic!

There are people who despite time and space stay with you. Jake seems to be one of them.

I met Jake Garber when he came to my school in Nepal to teach for a month or so. It was 2001 and I was 8th grade student. He was the person who introduced me to the word 'atheism' among many other interesting thoughts and ideas during our chitchats.

I got to see him after 17 years in London few days back. Somehow, we seem to have managed to stay in touch through rare emails, then LinkedIn, now Whatsapp.

While on my way to meet him I kept thinking how (why? what is it? kinda questions!) am I still in touch with him, all these years!We both are surprised and baffled at this fact! Of course, it became obvious after speaking with him for few minutes. Even then, he was a great teacher, clear on ideas and his thoughts, and had a very warm, persuasive and charming personality. These characters seem to have grown with time and I could not help but be inspired with this amazingly unique person.

During our long chitchat ranging from study to work to politics, struggles and confusions (just mine!) he uplifted my confidence, made me reflect on things that I had blind-sided (yes! it was sadly embarrassing!) and with patience offered his suggestions and advises. Feeling how wonderful it would be to meet this warm person more often (with realisation that next time it could be more than 2 decades before we meet!) I asked: "Do you think the Earth is round?" He promptly replied,"That is what I have been told!"

Thinking of his answer still makes me smile. At that time, I became more sure why I have always felt a kind of connection with him. There are very few people who can answer this question as the way he did, and without a blink. These kind of people make me happy.

This answer is what I will carry with me from this meeting believing in whoever told
that 'the earth is round' and eagerly wait for the time when I can meet this inspiring person as he makes me believe in learning.

Until then!

Review: Milk and Honey

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"the next time he
points out the
hair on your legs is
growing back remind
that boy your body
is not his home
he is a guest
warn him to
never outstep
his welcome
again"

Do I need to say anymore?

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Review: The Politics of Exile

The Politics of Exile by Elizabeth Dauphinee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the book that would hunt me for long...reads like a beautifully narrated novel but it's not a fiction and maybe that's the reason why it will hunt my thoughts more. I don't know how to review this book so I have shared three reviews/statements that have said closer to what I felt while reading this extraordinary book on Bosnia War and its aftermath:

i. "An extraordinary work that I found hard to put down each night, and whose emotions, echoes and affects disturbed my sleep and days…a very fine and powerful work of art that glows dangerously in the hands." - (Anthony Burke, Associate Professor, International and Political Studies, UNSW Canberra, Australia)

ii. "Elizabeth Dauphinee's moving book is so engaging because it is so self-aware, so achingly candid. Here is the book to read if you want to get even a glimpse of the impossible choices that one has to make when one becomes one of the world's "displaced." This book will stick to your ribs." - (Cynthia Enloe, Author of Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War)

iii. "This very thought provoking book challenges the notion that the injustice of war violence and misery of others can be grasped by a detached, rational scholar." - (Maja Korac, School of Law and Social Sciences, University of East London)

I would recommend any fiction reader and non-fiction readers, scholars of academia to read this book.

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