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Today’s Editon

New Delhi, 25 December 2023

FESTIVITIES ALL AROUND YET A DARK  X’MAS

Gopal Misra

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In the 21st century, the 2023 Christmas celebrations, perhaps, will be remembered for its inability to end the darkness despite illuminations from Singapore to London and even to New York. Under the shadow of two wars, Russia-Ukraine in Europe and the Israel-Hamas in West Asia, the worldwide festivities lack Christmas spirit.

The smile and enthusiasm for welcoming Santa Clause appears to have disappeared. If in 2022, we were facing the Ukraine-Russia conflict, now the mankind is meekly witnessing blood bath in West Asia, the holy lands where Jesus was born. In India, we cannot insulate ourselves. The sad faces of the young Ukrainian couples serving in India reflect the agony of war. As a writer, one may discuss India’s neutral stance or geo-political compulsions, but it is difficult to muster courage give them any solace.

The media channels describe the killings as faceless statistics, but fail to share the agony of losing even one life; a mother loses her infant or hapless women being violated. Have we have lost human concerns for life? Yet people like us are awaiting Santa Clause to gift us peace, the most precious gift for mankind.

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