Birds Drop Dead

"Birds began falling out of the sky" This is from a book on Iraqi Kurdistan, 'Love in a Torn Land'. The use of chemicals to kill Kurdish people in the nineties resulted in not only mass murder of the people but also of animals and birds. 

This post is several years too late, and except the one who goes through the trials, it is difficult to understand the angst the people felt under the heartless Iraqi regime. But the book brought tears to the eyes, for what we call "victims" are people too - feeling the emotions as we do. Of love, fear, pain, hunger...

What is saddening is that the book will never be irrelevant. It could be Jews, Kurds, or even Kashmiris... the world is always at war,  and this book will never be irrelevant.

"Panchi, nadiya, pawan ke jhonke

Koi sarhad naa inhe roke"

These lyrics from Refugee are a reminder that boundaries are a very human creation. Boundaries that separate not only lands, but hearts too. While we try to destroy each other, killing mercilessly, indiscriminately, it is nature that becomes a victim of crossfire between the warring factions. And then to rebuild from scratch...

There is so much beauty around us. If we are blinded to it and don't look beyond ourselves, beautiful birds and animals may become part of folk lore: "Once upon a time..." Provided, man is still left to tell such stories. Provided he still remains a human being, and not just a beast grabbing and snatching.