Last few weeks have been extremely busy! Busy like the sunny sun, the dozy moon and the crazy life. I could hardly manage the time to be serious enough to be writing on a serious note! The editor became impatient, so did I, because I wanted to get back to my readers. Toronto has cheered us up finally. It’s warm and happy. People are getting out of their caves, meeting the sun, loving heat and hugging life. This is the time of the year – they all keep waiting for so passionately. One of my favorite Romanian poets, Herta Muller, described “The Funeral Sermon” like a touch of magic:
“I wanted to get up from my chair, but my dress was frozen to the wood. My dress was transparent and black. It crackled whenever I moved. I rose and touched Father’s face. It was colder than the objects in the room. It was summer outside. Flies were dropping their maggots in flight. The village stretched out along the wide sandy road. The road was hot and brown, and burned out your eyes with its glare.”
I don’t know how the summer is in Germany, but she portrayed it so nicely that if she lived in here, lived in a dusty caravan under the clear sky. I love poetry. It makes me floating in the air, keeps me swimming like a flare and touches me closely so should I dare! I dare to live and love: life and women!
Apart from the glorious summer, it’s Pride Month in Toronto! Canada’s second-ever Pride Month was launched on June 1, 2017, featuring engaging programming and exciting events throughout the city, culminating with the much anticipated annual Pride Parade on June 25. Pride Month began with its city proclamation and the raising of the Rainbow flag at Toronto City Hall, on May 31.
Coincidentally, this year’s Pride Parade will be on June 25, which is also the Eid day for Muslims in here. I found it significant. Canada is one of the safest countries for all ethnic groups including diverse religions and social beliefs. People often ask me what is my stance on gay people, events like Pride Parade, the celebration of Pride Month etc. I honestly am pretty liberal about it. I want to believe every people have their own perspectives and as long as it does not harm others, we should be fine with that.
People often ask me what is my stance on gay people, events like Pride Parade, the celebration of Pride Month etc. I honestly am pretty liberal about it. I want to believe every people have their own perspectives and as long as it does not harm others, we should be fine with that.
Pride Flags in bar and restaurants to show solidarity.
A lot of people have problems with the terrorist activities claimed to be done by the Muslims. I have seen my neighbors being nice to me. They have never shown any intolerance about my religion. My teachers have been sympathetic as I have been fasting for long and that’s the way it is!
In a similar way, sexual orientation is something very personal and I don’t think I am at all opinionative about it. I like that in a country such as Canada is celebrating both Eid and Pride Parade on the same day and this is what I believe is known as mutual respect and understanding. There are two very popular bar and restaurants just opposite of my apartment and they have raised Pride Flags to show solidarity. I think this is a great sign of being compassionate to differences. Being respectful and kind never created a problem in the world. Let us all walk through that path and make love, not war!
A happy moment during a class!
There are two very popular bar and restaurants just opposite of my apartment and they have raised Pride Flags to show solidarity. I think this is a great sign of being compassionate to differences. Being respectful and kind never created a problem in the world. Let us all walk through that path and make love, not war!
Sanjoy Gupta’s book “Cheating Death” and a Facebook post of the author.
I just got hold of a much-discussed book, Cheating Death by Sanjay Gupta, MD. The book is all about miracles! Lives that were treated as deaths, not breathing over for like an hour or so, have been saved! Twenty years ago, all of them would have been given up for dead, with no realistic hope for survival. But today, through the incredible new medical advances, each of these individuals is alive and well.
The authors in the University of Toronto campus.
It’s the convocation month at the University of Toronto, the top university in Canada, and one of the top ten universities in the world. I use to take a walk to my office or to attend my classes during summer. I like green around me, different colors of summer: the grass, the pink seasonal roses, the bright and happy young couples, the birds and the floating leaves. There is so much hope around us. I often walk down to the nearby parks with my daughter, play football with her. Sometimes we just roll down on the earth, smell the grass, and talk to the air.
I often think cheating death is not that difficult, but cheating life is! We cheat death through our works: a small piece of poetry, a scientific innovation, making a child happy, living life at the fullest! But how often we manage to cheat life? The darkest side of it: beating humanity, killing people, winning battles, showing back to those who are in need? Cheating life is difficult. The small things in life that we cherish, stays with us for a while but things that pull us down, remain there for like ever. Life never gives you the chance to get rid of it, not even the tiniest part of it!
That’s the challenge we have in life. It’s not about how far we go in life or how successfully we beat death down. It comes to down to one deadly point where we realize, it’s not all about cheating death, it’s all about cheating that life which makes our life more like a death. We need to live the life which is meaningful.
“Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second”
That’s the one second we need to win in life, the rest can just be cheated …
The author with his daughter
