VISION of KAHLIL GIBRAN

There in the middle of the field, by the side of a crystalline stream I saw a bird- cage whose rods and hinges were fashioned by an expert's hands. In one corner lay a dead bird and in another were 2 basins- one empty of water and the other of seeds. I stood there reverently, as if the lifeless bird and the murmur of the water where worthy of a deep silence and respect something worthy of examination and meditation by the hearth and conscience.
As I engrossed myself, in view and thought, I found that the poor creature had died of thirst beside a stream of water and of hunger in the midst of a field, cradle of live; like a rich man locked in an iron safe, perishing from hunger amid heaps of gold.
Before my eyes I saw the cage turned suddenly into a human skeleton and the dead bird into a man's heart which was bleeding from a deep wound that looks like the lips of a sorrowing woman A voice came from that wound saying, "I am the human heart, prisoner of substance and victim of earthy laws"
'In God's fields of Beauty, at the edge of the stream of life, I was imprisoned in the cage of laws made by man"
"In the center of beautifull creation I died neglected because I was kept from enjoying the freedom of God's bounty".
'Everything of beauty that awakens my love and desire is a disgrace, according to man's conception; everything of goodness that I crave is but naught, according to his judgment"
" I am the lost human heart, imprisioned in the foul dungeon of man's dictates, tied with chains of earthly authority, dead and forgetten by laughing humanity whose tongue is tied and whose eyes are empty of visible tears".

All these word I heard and I saw them emerging with a stream of ever-thinning blood from the wounded heart.
More was said, but my misted eyes and crying soul prevented further sight or hearing.

For Carmo

PEACEFULL HINDHI & THE CHRISTIAN MASSACRES

30 September 2008
The attacks on Christian continue in Kandhamal on Tuesday after rampaging Hindi killed one person and injured 15 in a pre-dawn raid on three villages in Ghumusar Udaygiri. Two churches and around 70 houses were also damaged as tribal Kandhs continued their attacks on Pana Christians, fuelled by ethnic and communal reasons.
In the latest attack, around 1,000 armed tribals swooped on three villages, Rudangia, Gadaguda and Telingia spread over a radius of 5km in Udaygiri block, and targeted Pana-Dalits who have embraced Christianity, said an official source.
The mobs desecrated two churches, torched and razed over 70 houses and brutally assaulted around 15 people.
A woman, Ramani Naik (50), of Rudangia, died on the spot. The official death toll has now gone up to 32. The condition of nine others is said to be serious and they have been shifted to the MKCG medical college at Berhampur, in Ganjam.
Three of those injured have bullet injuries. Eight people, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the incident. The attack came hours after three crude bombs were set off near a relief camp on Monday.



30 September 2008
BHUBANESWAR : violenceagainst Christians continue: One woman was axed to death and 10 people were wounded on Sept. 30 as the Hindu radical violence entered a sixth week, reported UCA News.

The killing raised the number of confirmed deaths to 47 in the violence that began in the eastern Indian state on Aug. 24.
The attackers came with petrol bombs, swords, axes and knives, and "brutally attacked sleeping families," said the priest, who left the parish for safety after the anti-Christian pogrom began. An 8-year-old boy and his mother are among those critically injured in the attack that began around 4 a.m., said the priest, who now stays in the state capital of Bhubaneswar, some 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
Father Parichha said Catholics and Protestants in the villages did not expect the attacks because most families there are Christian. About 35 of Rudangia's 40 families belong to Christian Churches and denominations, while Gadaguda has 25 Christian and five Hindu families.
The burning is still continuing. There is no one to stop them. People are fleeing for their life," the priest told UCA News at 11 a.m., just hours after the attacks.

29 September 2008
A Catholic in the Phiringia area was critically injured when Hindu radicals tortured him after he refused to denounce his faith. The man is now hospitalized,

28 Sept. 2008
Three bodies, including that of a woman, were fished out of the Salunki River in Phulbani, headquarters of Kandhamal district, 350 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar. On the same day, 30 Catholic houses in the Daringabadi area were attacked, looted and set on fire. The attackers also reportedly feasted on some livestock. These attacks cannot happen without the support of the local Hindu families, the hatred has several roots, including jealousy over Christians' progress and the desire to possess Christian farmland.
The violence also has displaced an estimated 50,000 people, who are now hiding in forests, living in state-run relief camps or staying with relatives in cities and towns outside the troubled areas.

29 Septemer 2008
Crude bombs were brought to explosioan on Monday at two places and houses burned in Kandhmal and two crude bombs exploded in separate incidents at Baliguda and K Nuagaon areas on Sunday night, five houses were reportedly torched under Gochhapada police station area in Phirigia block. Theblasts were intended to create panic and not kill. The Gochhapada house damage issue is said to have stemmed from ethnic considerations with tribal Kandhs baying for Dalit Panas' blood.
Reports from various parts of the district said blasts were directed at relief camps where Christian families, who have been targetted by Hindu activists.
The official toll in the religious violence rose to 31 with the administration confirming recovery of one more body from Badasalunki river at Bisipada village near Phulbani.

28 September 2008
Sunday, police found the body of Priyatamma Digal, an auxillary nursing and midwife (ANM) worker, from the river. On Monday, the body of Meghanath, Priyatamma's husband, was fished out. The couple was killed last Thursday.

PEACEFULL HINDI & THE KILLING OF CHRISTIANS

A summery what happened in the last 8 weeks only few of the casualities were reported in Western newspapers :
August 23, 2008- Swani Lakshmanananda Swarati a VHP leader is killed in Kandhamal district. All indications shows that it was a political motivated murder by Naxal (Maoist terrorist). Hindi groups in Orissa blame Christians for the killing.
- Two nuns are attacked, the vehicle set on fire and the driver beaten up. A prayer chapel in Sundargarh is destroyed.
August 24 - Attacks in Kandhamal district intensify. The office of Jan Vikas a Christian NGO , is ransacked and vehicles set on fire. A pastoral centre a convent and a hostel is also vandalized by the sam hindu - group.
August 25
Hindi attack a Christian orphanage at Khuntpalli village in Bargath district. An employee and a prospective convert , a local Hindi burnt to death.
August 29
The violence is spreading, by now at least 20 Christians are killed and 3,000 are reported living in relief camps , because they don not trust themselves to return to their native villages because they are afraid to get killed for their believe. 1,000 homes set to fire.
September 1
Orissa governement claims situation is under control but additional 558 houses and 17 churches and prayer halls are burnt.
September 4
Over 300 Hindi woman attack a relief camp for the Christian victims of the violence in Tikabali, Khandmal. The woman protesting that Christians have have provisions in the relief camps , Hindi do not have.
September 14
More than a dozen churches are ransacked by activist of Bajrang Dal in Mangalore (so the violence spread now from Orissa east coast to Karnataka west- coast), Udupi Chikmagalur of Karnataka.
September 15
Around 10 Christians were stabbed to death in the outskirts of Bangalore,
September 21
Three moore churches are burnt by Hindu fundementalist

TERROR ATTACK- ANOTHER BOMB BLAST IN DELHI

Originally I planned to have a ride with my bicycle. And since I left Portugal the muscles are a little rusty. I had seriously planned to drive to Quetan Minhar because this is only 15 Km so backwards 30 Km in total just the right portion to get back in shape. On Friday I heard that today is a working day (to have a bridgeday later) I was not very enthousiastic about the idea.
But after seeing that the bomb blasted on the road I would use to return and 2:19 pm could have been the time I would pass there I have to thank out MD for the wise decission

TERROR ATTACKS, NOW DELHI AS TARGET

I am getting very scared now the terror strikes Delhi, on roads I know , I passed, feel terror coming closer to me:
Eighteen dead, 90 injured
At least 18 people were killed and 70 injured in five serial blasts in a span of 45 minutes when terrorists targetted three crowded market areas in the heart of the Capital this evening
Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility
I am less scared of the bombs than of the reaction of the hindis, one day there will be a reaction against the moslems making no differnces anymore between radicals, conservative and progressive , it will be like a storm of violency a civil war and I dont want to be in between.

THE DISCRIMINATION OF THE DALITS IN BIHAR

I am still not in India and by lack of own material I would like to copy an article of todays BBC online which is so touching that I could not resist to infringe the copyright. May BBC online forgive me





Hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless after floods hit the Indian state of Bihar last month.
Some of the victims face the additional hardships that come from being members of the low caste dalit community. Rajan Khosla of the charity Christian Aid has been meeting some of them in the village of Mirzawaa, where 500 families live in temporary shelters."Let me be born again as an animal rather than as a harijan (dalit). We face more humiliation than they," says Tetar Rishidev, a dalit from Mirzawaa village, in the district of Supaul.
After the floods in Bihar millions of people lost their homes, belongings and even family members. But for the dalits of Bihar there is further misery: the caste system.
In Mirzawaa village, Sakal Sadah is a dalit.

Today - unusually - he is happy. There is a food distribution and his family will get food. His children have been surviving on some leftover rice once in a day.
Sakal Sadah is a landless agriculture labourer and earns about 40 rupees (80 cents) for a 12-hour day.
Sakal Sadah works hard for little food
Now he's worried: "Where will I get work now? Everywhere is water. No one is going to employ me, I am a harijan."
Hundreds of dalit families are in the same situation as Sakal: they have been hardest hit by the Bihar floods.
In this emergency, when everyone should be provided with food, certain groups are denied access.
The plight of these communities in remote, rural areas is very serious - especially in the feudal state of Bihar.
They cling to the little they have. Many families have left behind one male member to keep an eye on their house and belongings.
Segregated society
Asdev Sadah, an elderly dalit, stayed behind to guard the house of his upper caste employer.
"I used to work in their fields," he said.
"They wanted me to watch their house and belongings. I have to listen to them. They will provide my family food and work once they come back.
Many have been left with nothing after the floods
"I have nothing left in my house - because it was made of mud it has already collapsed. My malik's (employer's) house is strong and they have stuff kept inside."
It seems a strange sort of society where an old man stays back, without food or shelter, taking numerous risks to guard the house of his feudal lord.
But Asdev no doubt knows full well that in this segregated society, there is no other support system for him and his family.
The relief camp in Sabela School in Madhepura is run by one of Christian Aid's partner organisations who are doing all they can to help.
It was set up because organisers knew there were many dalit villages in the area.
I met Jamuna Devi and Puliya Musamaar here.
For many it has become a question of survival
They told me that they were not allowed to use the hand pump to get water as it belonged to upper caste people.
The same upper caste people also asked the camp organizers to move displaced people away because as Dalits they would contaminate the entire place. Their request was refused.
"When will people understand we are also human beings?" Puliya asked. "We need food and water, our children also feel hungry."
I asked one of the aid agencies running another relief camp whether they would have a dalit cook.
Their response was negative. They felt that not everyone would eat food cooked by dalits.
Christian Aid and its partner organisations are including two dalits in the cooking teams in the relief camps they run - thus ensuring that they are not excluded.
Everyone needs food in this crisis situation, so why should people like Sakal Sadah, Jamuna Devi and Puliya Musamaar be so discriminated against?
And if Asdev Sadah can work in the fields and loyally guard the house of his higher-caste employee, then why people should refuse to eat food cooked by them?
We have to challenge the system. I know the problem is gigantic. But efforts need to be made. Each one of us has to make a step forward.
Another aid agency working in this area assured me that they tried to treat displaced people equally.
The critical point is that while equality may be an accepted philosophy it can only happen once people also agree in practice to be equals.
Equality means that all people should get food and their rights and dignity are respected.
But flooding and discrimination seem to have taken those rights away

DAILY ENCOUNTERS IX; FANTASY OVERCOMES POVERTY

DAILY ENCOUNTERS: THE GRASS-LIFTERS

IT IS GETTING SCARING, VERY SCARING

In the following an article from Yahoo News showing the ease of the assembly of an highly destructive bomb and if with this bomb soft targets as market places or hospital inlets are envisaged than the police canot give any protection.

"The bombs that went off at 17 busy areas of the city on Black Saturday bore a clear imprint of classic concoction of ammonium nitrate, ball bearings and some chemical powder packed in corrugated cartons for maximum impact in both death and destruction.

The bomb package had been left innocuously in cycle carriers and CNG city buses and the deadly cocktail was wrapped in three layers of plastic bags padded with cloth rags. A 6-volt Chinese-made battery was attached with the contraption to trigger the bomb through a timer device.

This macabre piece of local engineering was there for all to see at Galaxy cinema area at Naroda and civil hospital where ball-bearings and shrapnels were recovered aplenty. Incidentally, the civil hospital blast claimed maximum 16 lives and was meant to instill psychological fear in the people that if a well known hospital could be targeted then no one was safe, police and authorities said.

At Sarangpur market and Raipur Chakla the bombs had the same hallmark seen in other areas - all coming neatly packed in three plastic bags tied to cycle carriers with a rope. The bombs were planted near pan shops and vegetable vendors where common people usually congregate.

Police sources said fifth columnists locally were at work to help the mastermind in this evil venture as these bombs were assembled here and planted by different people."

ANOTHER BOMBS BLAST, 14 PEOPLE KILLED

A day after terrorists targeted Bangalore with eight low-intensity bomb explosions, 16 bombs went off within a span of an hour in Ahmedabad on Today evening, leaving at least 14 people killed and over 70 injured.
Several TV channels said they had received an email from a little known terror outfit called Indian Mujahiddin claiming responsibility for the terror attacks, even as intelligence sources pointed to the similarity between Saturday's blasts and those in Bangalore and Rajasthan capital Jaipur on May 13.
The targeted areas are considered 'communally sensitive'. They are mostly middle class neighbourhoods with many having a large population of migrant labour from other parts of Gujarat.
Police officials said at least 70 people were rushed to the Civil Hospital and the VS Hospital and added the number of the wounded could go up. Most of the blasts targeted the city bus service, ripping portions of buses apart. The explosives were planted on bicycles as well as tiffin or lunch boxes.
Residents in the affected areas stipulated:
"Then we saw several bicylces reduced to pieces and realised it was possibly a terror attack. Soon, we joined efforts to rescue the injured and rushing them to hospital," he said.
It is getting more and more dangereous and I am realy scared to travel and now that the terrorist are also using montain bikes , my favorite means of transport I might be even be a suspect