On a trip last year I got engaged in a discussion about identity and the sense of belonging. My discussant, a young medical student of Indian descent. Born in the UK, she confessed to feeling perpetually out of place. She shared with me that, during several visits to India, she experienced a sense of belonging she'd never found in her birth country. I questioned her to understand the root of this disconnect: Was it a race issue? Culture? Religion? Morality? What was it? I usually have a pet peeve for privileged people and their proclivity for bogus humility and modesty. Occasionally quick to sling the hackneyed ‘all these privileges don’t matter, I’d rather have the short end of the stick’ response. But something about her disparagement felt genuine. She went on to tell me about how differently she was made to feel as a child. She told me about her largely Indian settlement on the outskirts of London, which was her bastion. She utilised many words to express how outcast she felt. T...
I was fortunate to be born at a time when the word icon meant more than a colorful logo on a computer screen. It was a time when it was a status symbol that most people strived to become. It was revered by all and sundry, it was the pride of humanity especially when it is affiliated to noble deeds. Fast forward to today's society, many of our teeming youths associate any idea of the word icon with a computer, could it be as a result of the predominance of IT or sear ignorance, that's a topic for another day. However, what is consistent is the cavalier attitude expressed at those that are icons or should be considered icons. Months ago an incident occurred that kept the social media space buzzing, it was the incidence of a younger man demanding his right to his designated seat on a plane, as evident by his ticket. What was seemingly abnormal about this was the personality from which he had made such demand. It would seem to the greater public that he had committed sacrileg...
When two rhythms meet, at first they are uncoordinated, but over time become harmonious, this should be the norm but sometimes we find that both rhythms remain out of sync bringing about a cacophony, disturbing to those who are unfortunate to be connected to this event by whatever means. To err is human, the quantum is what differentiates a misdemeanor from an atrocity, and both are based on the depth of the relationship shared by the parties involved. We say things we don’t mean apologize and then regret, and more often than not, our utterance does not evoke the response we such desire, instead it adds salt to injury. This might be as a result of a lack of due diligence on the culprit's part to decipher the right tone and timing to advance a complaint, observation or outright dismissal of an issue. We do things innocently that ends up hurting others in ways we did not imagine, and its worse when it’s someone we claim to love or have loved, who has set the security threat...
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