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| Sunil Sharma |
---Everybody knows that pestilences have a way
of recurring in the world, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in ones that
crash down on our heads from a blue sky. There have been as many plagues as
wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by
surprise.
---We tell ourselves that pestilence is
a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always
pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away.
---They fancied themselves free, and no
one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences.
---Albert
Camus: The Plague
That
is Camus, the philosopher-artist of prophetic vision, speaking to you from
across the time-space continuum, and, finding resonance with a wounded civilization,
whatever be the geography, in present context.
What
he said in the year 1947 sounds so real, chilling and spot-on relevant to
India, and elsewhere, at a time, when the world is getting battered by a second
wave of deadlier Corona, relentless, merciless marauder (Susan Sontag, please,
excuse!). And there is little relief from depressing headlines and
statistics, expanding daily, in a sad and shocked country---and the world,
slowly getting benumbed by the rising fatalities.
Very
scary!
This
month has been heavy.
April,
cruelest month of the year, in literal sense!
I lost many colleagues and friends to the
raging pandemic. Families got hit badly and the losses are mounting across
the country. Devastation is everywhere. Sadness hangs heavy over the city and
the country. The citizens are feeling low, vulnerable and utterly helpless in
view of the rampaging pestilence and the dance of death continues unabated, on
the streets!
You
are re-living the nightmare portrayed so accurately by the seer Camus. A novel
from another era becomes a contemporary
landscape, interiority and exteriority experienced in real time; fiction,
reality!
We
pray for the departed and wish for the end of this crippling cycle of the mutant
virus afflicting India and other nations.
Hope!
It
is the best divine gift.
As
they say, the longest darkness is followed by an equally-long spell of
brightness.
It
will also pass.
Amen!
The
special section on the flash fiction---third annual edition--- is curated by
the guest-editor Kelli J Gavin, a
noted practitioner of both the short and long forms of prose narrative. Some
fine stuff here. A collection of 17 authors at their best.
You
will enjoy this form of narration, now getting recognized globally for its
tautness, economy and style, of conveying a lot in limited words, structure
meeting aesthetics in a tight format, with surprises and fast-paced delivery.
There
are other fascinating pieces, carefully selected for you in the general edition.
A
heady mix of verbal and visual.
We
remain thankful to all our contributors and Kelli for their support to a
journal that has got a joint readership of more than 2 million.
Real
landmark!
Take
good care!
Best,
Yes, let's be optimistic, optimistic, optimistic, come whatever. This moxie has been well-captured by Dr Sunil Sharma in his editorial: "Hope! It is the best divine gift. As they say, the longest darkness is followed by an equally-long spell of brightness." The bridge (SETU) is certain to carry us forward from dark to light.
ReplyDeleteIt will also pass.