A Liebster (truly honoured Confluent Kitchen!), my first hundred followers and 5000 hits all in the past week! Way more than I hoped to achieve in two months (with no twitter or Facebook publicity) and I am overwhelmed and grateful for all your support and encouragement!

As delighted as I am with all the above, my excitement has been coloured by this strange unease I have been feeling after I read two posts that touched me deeply.

The first one by Mona was titled “What my students write“, about young people coping with violence and fear every day of their lives. About her “ache for these young people who do not know the safety and comfort of a time and place when people did not lock their doors, when it was safe to sit outside at night, when you could drive with your windows open and not be afraid“

The second was this short story titled “Rashini’s Story” posted by Gilly of Lucid Gypsy on womens day that describes the travails of a young African woman in her attempt to spare her little girl the horrors of a village circumcision.
“No auntie it is done, it is done in the hospital’ she said with pride” is how the story ends!

These two posts made me acutely aware of the accident of birth that decides who we are and how our lives pan out! Aware of what hardships I would have had to face if I had been born in a poor household in Africa or Bangladesh or heck, in the sprawling slums of my own country! Who decides and why? Why was I given the priviledges that I did not even realise I had growing up?

I find no answers, but I count my blessings everyday! And I am more sympathetic, where I once was exasperated with people who do not measure up to my standards of behaviour or work ethics. And I try my hardest to explain to others of my ilk that ‘they’ could very easily have been us if not for that accident of birth!

Thank you…for everything!