YEAR END MUSE

The emergence of another year is round the corner and many a momentous experience would again be consigned to the leaves of history as we move on with new aspirations and expectations. The month has been tumultuous and the most lasting moment, undoubtedly, has been the graceful adieu bid by the tallest leader at least yours truly has had occasion to share the planet. As channels, magazines, newspapers and others vied with each other to place the year in perspective, yours truly sought to place the year in perspective on some discoveries.

The year was essentially one of friendship. The movement to another place with friends giving their all to place yours truly in comfort zone and the reorganisation bringing back contacts with some friends in the organisation. The interim period had been one of development. One facet that emerged was one of my friends sharing his writing skills which showcased his keen thought process embedded in striking small sentences which provoked the thought process in the reader. One of the verses he had placed in an article and lingered on is extracted for posterity

“Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,

Born under one law, to another bound,

Vainly begot and yet forbidden vanity,

Created sick, commanded to be sound.

 What meaneth nature by these diverse laws,

 Passion and reason, self-division’s cause?”

                                                                                 - FULKE GREVILLE

Similarly, yours truly had the occasion to meet a long lost friend albeit for a short span in a new avatar (somehow the term incarnation seems to be woefully short in translation). He had emerged as a master in reunions. Merging persons who had met over 25 years back into a single forum with meticulous planning exposed the shortfall in our systems in tapping hidden talents. Marvelling at this man's dedication to reach out and share the treasure trove moments of the reunion which humbled yours truly with a lesson in friendship.

Earlier in the year about a dozen had anchored a lesson in leadership by bringing almost all our college day classmates together with the lecturers too. This lesson was coupled with another reunionist from college days who had singlehandedly masterminded a souvenir which showed that the will paves the way. As yours truly picked the souvenir and was spellbound by the layout, the preface - the truth surfaced.

They were no Mandela or icons. However, a question also arose would yours truly ever be able to match any of them who ventured to provoke a thought in another effortlessly? - probably a goal to set for the years to come.

MADIBA - TRIBUTE MUSE

Five years short of a magnificent ton, Rolihlala Dalibhunga Mandela who chose to ignore small irritations to achieve larger good has bid adieu on his terms as Nelson Mandela. His walk to freedom from the long medical treatment was parallel to his walk to freedom. The man who restored the pride to the dark handsome men of fiction to reality and stood as a rock between any violence or revenge. Humanity should be proud that one of its species demonstrated that the future beckons and the past be left behind. Imagine a man incarcerated for 27 long years retaining his sanity, to negotiate the emergence of a rainbow nation with a representative of his oppressor. The magnanimity with he shared the Nobel with the iconic F W De Klerk was a beacon to itself. The Nobel which had rendered itself poorer by not adding the Mahatma to its feathered cap wasted no time and ensured that it would be richer by its association with Mandela. 

The man who made his clan proud as the world mourns "Mandela" more and less of Rolihlala has made our nation proud too by adorning the Bharat Ratna. He is one of those men who has made the persons around richer by his infectious laughter, immaculate vision, grit to pursue the dream and the success of implementing it to the last syllable. Yours truly could neither comprehend the persona nor his personal life. The magic of the man would however continue to befuddle. There are no vain dreams to emulate or follow. There is only a tall dream of at least admiring the legend of my lifetime.

The tribute would be incomplete but for reciting Invictus a poem of William Ernest Henley which was recited by the great legend every day in the prison

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods maybe

For my inconquerable soul

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced or cried aloud

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloiody but unbowed

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid

It does not matter how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate

I am the captain of my soul

All Heads of States and Governments especially those who are in conflict would do well to pay tribute to this great man on his demise by being personally present at his funeral. The soul would facilitate healing of the real and false wounds paving way for peace all round. This could be the only token tribute we could pay to this humanist who has made many icons like Lincoln, Martin Luther King. Helmut Kohl, Gandhi amongst others hope that many more would follow. The poet William Henley would marvel at the man who lived his muse till the last breath and would thank him for making it immortal. Will we be able to place this small wreath a token of our humble tribute or would we just be contented with words such as "an end of an era" or " we are poorer" or the much celebrated " light has gone out of our lives"? Ponder over as Madiba has hung his boots. The sportsperson in him could be remembered by handing over the baton of hosting the championship of all games in the near future to South Africa - an economic token to boost his favourite nation as well as to help it retain the fabric he weaved in a short span of time. 

Madiba would you not accept these tokens with the same grace which you have displayed through the trials and triumphs of life?