Oh to be alive

Another mindless act of the mind: another suffering human goes on a rampage and killing spree, stabbing his room-mates and then shooting others, causing suffering all around. All in the name of being neglected, bullied or just plain lonely is hard to say. But, the recent incident in Santa Barbara, USA, brings to the fore the warped psyche of youngsters or long ignored issues that society seems to be facing and has been unable to resolve. What is it that seems to be going so wrong to trigger off events that do not seem to have any logical explanation? What is it that seems to be missing in the seemingly secure, reasonably opulent and materialistically well-endowed lives of young people today?   Is it all about the liberal gun laws or is there a huge gap in the lives of children as a whole as they are perhaps shunted from one failed relationship to another, or is it about having been there, done that, a little too soon? These have ceased to be freak cases and seem to be b...

Oblivious to the early morning din, he slept soundly on the pavement of one of the busy city bridges. His worn out shoes tucked under his head served as a pillow, warding off the odious nightmares perhaps. A little further ahead a family of four or was it six, huddled under a bright pink canopy of a mosquito net, tied to a tree, lost in a dream world; the bright neon pink adding some colour to their black and white lives. Still ahead, three people lay on their backs on a threadbare sheet, their bedroom for the night or every night, a tired smile lurking on their lips as they stared up at the star studded sky, the shimmering lights in the distance bringing respite after a very long day.     They had no choice, they rarely complained: once the sun came up their belongings were neatly packed off and strung on to a boundary wall or tree or just packed into a knapsack, as they head off for their daily grind which varies from a grueling shift in a factory to being casual...