STEM CELLS. - 120 YEARS

 

    WRINKLES

 

Every wrinkle tells a story.  Each story seemingly multiplies more wrinkles.  The facial line acts as a weighing scale, measuring each moral compass, together with the gravitational pull that drops a mark of how we reconcile the hurt, escape the drama and accept the sentence.  That one wrinkle betrays a compelling slice of the person.

 

Beauty, skin deep, illuminates with piercing eyes, combined with beauty pageant smile beams great dental work and pretend emotion. Beauty, soul deep, demands resilience emerging from loss, breakdowns, disappointments, that radiates from the empathetic pupils. That smile comes from acceptance with no blame; risen from the depth of despair to one of hope.

 

Unfortunately, we are conditioned to despise wrinkles for it reminds us that the aging process has begun.   The skin dries, the elasticity drops and the wrinkle spread and increases through time and our pressured lifestyle, resulting in stress, confirms that the narrowing of life’s corridor is fast approaching.  Whoever set the standard that there are “no wrinkles in beauty” and whoever claims that  “cosmetic surgery tightness – the botox face with plumping lips” gets the penultimate prize, the claim of beauty is so skin deep as is the admirer of its emptiness. 

 

Seoul has become the plastic surgery capital of the world.   Imagine the disappointment of each generation of South Koreans born from parental engineered looks, yet produce the definitive Kim Jong Ung replica.  Shock horror, nothing like their pointed nose mommy or their high cheekbone daddy or even capturing the pristine Caucasian tone.  Travelers from Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines seem to head north, especially those investing in the celluloid world, even those moving towards their third decade, or those having to start anew from breakups and divorces.

 

Cosmetic surgery known as face-lift is now holding second to a higher discovery.  It is in preserving human life for 120 Birthdays in using the latest discovery of Stem Cells.

 

Let’s tell it like it is :

 

While some decapitate babies, die for strips of the promised land -  others pursue the extension of life to 120 years. Such Bi-Pola extremes should be the study of human psychology of greed and destruction that all religions have taught and miserably failed.

 

 

The discovery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells has changed everything.  An embryonic tissue that develops connective and skeletal tissues, to correct and re-define failed organs to top-functioning conditions.  Equipped for future malfunctioning, these stem cells can also be kept frozen until needed.  

 

If this is true, be it at my 40^th birthday party, the thought of 80 more years in front would drown me in despair.  How many more round the world trips, climb the highest, dive the deepest, and suddenly the vows “to love the one and only till death do us part…” ridiculous in its new reality.  This Mesenchymal Stem Cell would change all our primary values.

 

The old way of transplantation always had donor shortage problem. Stem cell’s bio-longevity is by constructing spare human organs from bone marrow for future transplantations. Magic happens by extracting hematopoietic stem cells from blood samples. At present Singapore’s laboratory together with Thailand’s talent are making history.  Stem cells’ wide range of possibilities can be frozen to be used when organs fail, for instance the blind patient can have their own corneal tissue through stem cells replaced without the fear of rejection.  As usual in this unequal world only those with unlimited funds could even ponder the idea.

 

The list is endless on stem cell life resurrection:  osteoarthritis, cancer using NK cells, rare blood type available through bone marrow, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer, diabetes, it goes on and on, too much to contemplate.

 

My  creative imagination runs wild fantasizing such impossibilities become possible:  

 

The first 40 yrs  as a woman – secure the position of producing the required children, the second 40 yrs as a man, feel the balls between your legs and the kill in your soul. The last 40 years, using duality of both in improving or engineering new ideas on achieving more life skills. 

 

Then the fantasy ends.

 

What species will we evolve to become?  I bow my head to those truly invested in making this happen but living longer changes values, ideologies, family values, marriage, population decrease…..the list is just an endless renewal of the same with confusion predominant.

 

To this conclusion I think I will volunteer as part of the human trials of space travels, Earth life will consist of hapless humans, might as well find the real Aliens.

 

Join me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON CHILDREN

 

On Children

Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

 

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

 

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,

and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.

 

Family dynamics in pursuing the wisdom of Gibran can be observed in all class divisions. All time scale, All nationalities.    So here goes my fairytale story.

 

Once a upon a time, in the city of the haves and the have-nots, the adornments to carry the man’s achievements, rested in the sparkles radiated from his wife.  As the goal post stretched further, the sparkles dimmed against his long-awaited membership into society’s pinnacle association, belonging to a prestigious Club, for his wife and growing family.  They have arrived.

 

From nappy onwards, the son treats the club like a second home, competed and befriended his generation’s playmates.  Joining-in as his age allowed, from swim team to tennis, gym room to the golf course, along the way, his membership was not his fight, as was his father’s, and his acceptance in society unquestioned.  

 

This was just one slice of the man that his father groomed.  The family business grows as the son takes over, his choice of life partner, if smart, was picked during his leisure time at the club uniting his empire with another.  The other slice was the morals he picked up along the way; his golf bets, hidden business deals, horse racing wins. Or the eye-candy, put there for his weakness to unveil.

 

Fast forward time and the next generation takes over.  The grandson now elbows his way into an international arena of global aspirations. With three linguistic skills, he realizes the torment of wanting his own choices, was far from the family’s successful business, yet constantly reminded of family loyalty and the continuation of grandfather’s empire. In the beginning, the fight wrestled softly, and as it grew into a ringside match; the make or break was how to win the monetary gain.

 

 

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams

 

 

This is where Gibran shows how the human species, in their collective persona from the days of Adam & Eve, desperately wanted the mini-me at all costs to continue their own dreams and success. Yet the mini-me, disdainful at the explanation of what was given up for his benefit, chose to enlighten them that his birth was not a heavenly bequeathment from God but of his parents’ rare moments of sexual activity hit the proverbial target; 40 million to one that produced him.

 

 

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 

For they have their own thoughts 

 

 

This fairy story has many different endings to choose, from a collection of present and past history, picked at random, The Biden’s, the Kennedy’s, and the Trump's; or  the Pahlavi’s, the Windsor’s and they all had to contend to the Archer’s pull.

 

“They always say the first generation makes it,

  the second consolidates,

 and the third loses”

 

 

The remedy to this continuous circle?  Fairytale answers that cover overall parental inadequacies.

 

For your boy:

If he's naturally left-handed, keep him that way.  Let him cope with the difficulties of a left-handed life in a right-handed world. It's nature’s gift and his to correct – or not.    

 

For your girl:

Let her boisterousness command stage presence, instead of lady like manners required of little girls, be her mark of excellence.

 

For the confused: 

Allow the gender preference when it is evident and accepted by everyone.

 

As fairytale goes:  it ends with grandmothers, whose wisdom shines above all others, seen lunching and gossiping at a fancy restaurant, discussing their unsaid disapproval of today’s child rearing through IG ‘influencers’.  If only snippets of the grandmother’s conversation were overheard, humorous sketches could be sold to stand-up comedians thus generating funds for their continued luxurious luncheons forever.  A befitting end to the fairytale.

 

Generational gaps widen even more through advancement in IT technology and values created from it. Perhaps it is the hardest job, the worry ends only when life stops. We can only hope to guide, to make sure that the arrow goes to where the target was planned, but then parental guidance has its timeline and limitations.

 

As I sit in my imaginary rocking chair, contemplating mistakes made, the pride that overcomes it all, is LOVE, and with a tiny chuckle:

 

Been there, done that.

Salute with a cold Chardonnay 

Gibran would approve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLD MEN AND YOUNG MEN

                          

            It needs two things when conflict occurs:

 

Old men with power and young men with hatred, very tough to convince because the only thing that young men want is the power of old men, and the only thing that powers old men is the hatred of the youth of which time has passed them by. 

 

Ancient history evolution?  yet we cover it up by injecting ideology of democracy, everyone has a voice, equal rights and opportunities, la-di-la-de-dah…. We applaud ourselves from developing cave dwellings into sky-high buildings, from factory produced vehicles to rockets to the moon, doubling human life with medical knowledge, now attempting to reproduce human intelligence for AI to become a better humanoid devoid of emotions  to obviate human failings, while we gloat over wins, feed our souls for more.

 

How is this justified when we haven’t even mastered simple human failings and then rely on various religious beliefs, or in reality propaganda to teach us better ways, yet this learned ways erupts into wars, kills, maims and then fails miserably. Then some intellectuals rationalize our behavior by explaining with authority that it is nature’s way of solving overpopulation.  We even fight on these beliefs, century after century, learning nothing more than division, racism, and tribal segregation.

 

At the beginning of life we start with zero and then taught to achieve our dreams, only in truth we are born to struggle and pretend we are achieving greats.  Yet we produce shooters at malls, defend land by killing, stemming from religious teachings and beliefs to the point of eradicating enemies than sharing peacefully.

 

At this point I don’t expect convenient fairytale endings; but I do expect that in the quietness of the night, (between bombings, or hatred, or just family squabbles,) for a moment of clarity, a moment of soul searching, fix ourselves by ourselves, not on perceived God-like teachings. Instead of trying to reach Jupiter, learn the art of sharing the oil, land, and train ourselves to overcome these failings.

Questioning it all while flipping channels, watching the preferred leader making a speech at his esteemed alma mater in Cambridge Massachusetts, after the night before, in New York, alongside Taipei’s youngest mayor Chiang Wan-an accepting an award as Times’ 100 influential of 2023. While the unvoted ageing tycoon using his snatched position as leader, to attend the 78th UN General Assembly also in NY rubbed shoulders with global investment CEO of Blackrock to unveil that Thailand is now open to investments and visiting tourists.   As an influential businessman in his other life; rubbing shoulders with top global financiers would empower his already powerful job, unlike previous tanked and gunned military leadership.  But without guns, if push comes to shove, the preferred leader’s height of 5ft 7" is no match to the leader’s 6ft 3" effortlessly cradling the small man’s ego to the nursery.

 

The old vs the young.  

This has been the order of humanity.  Perhaps we should try to change. I did say try.

MUSICAL CHAIR PARODY

 

The Prize  -  The Crown 

 

“The Journey to Jerusalem” is a children’s ancient party game going as far back to the Crusades, circa 10^th – 12^th AD.  This game originated from several heavy losses incurred before they made it to the holy land.

 

The original Welsh version: boys sat on chairs, girls danced until music stops, girl left standing leaves the game; last girl wins, gets to kiss the boy. On the face of it, a fun game. Dig a few layers deeper holds a parody of what is rightfully your chair, and it becomes a story of pulling and snatching the ownership of the chair from ancient times, still relevant today.

Let’s continue to call it the Welsh version of the Big Chair, befitting to the Kymric title where the music is one long waiting period over 70 years.  She made her appointed heir danced around for 73 years and  was only just able to sit and rest his weary feet and ceremonially occupy the Chair in May 2023, and until his playlist loops “When will I see you again” comes to the ending of his favorite The Three Degrees, the beginning of  Operation Menai Bridge, his secret funeral code is called, comes into focus.  

 

Succession can be problematic. Since Henry VIII’s reign producing male heirs needed many marriages, or concubines to rectify miscarriages and infant mortality.   The Royal Constitutional Act of Settlement took two centuries later, from 1701 that cemented the foundation of succession with Parliament rule.

 

Royalty is a position preferably inherited by birth through blood line. Continuation of Royal blood was solved in some cases by incest among half-brothers and half- sisters practiced in preserving their undisputed right.

 

Modern 20^th century resulted in the entrance of commoners, for incest was unacceptable by way of morality or genetic defects. Mixing commoners in one case, from origins of slavery, has spilled over such pent-up inner discomfort pointedly suffocating empathy, love and understanding from both sides.

 

So what is a royal?  

 

In ancient Egypt, the king was the representative of the deity on earth. It is very important, therefore, to determine the nature of this association in order to sustain belief among commoners. 

 

Through the ages, the musical chair rule had to adjust with the evolution of time from deep faith to questioning its validity.   Sustaining its position required succession only through bloodline.  With the introduction of monogamy  the discrepancy of  the rightful heir is never questioned.  Prior to sophisticated modern society, children from mistresses and concubines were the only assurance of the continuation of the majestic blood-line that encouraged incest. From such unions, protection of  the institution becomes the backbone of the country to subvert any political party that wins an election, fixed or not.  

 

Distinct difference between ruler and commoner must be spotted easily.  An authoritative figure, the myth had to be Godlike.  Military competency, special achievements, educational prowess attained real or manufactured was used as propaganda. Credited with medals, war-like heros', paraded after winning battles, examples are of either Falklands or Afghanistan. Uniforms become distinctive and places them apart from the commoner.

 

Observed by a conniving pedophile blackmailer to secure his own wealth, by offering fantasy without consequences, the naive royal falls prey to human needs exposing their ungodlike longing for wild lust. A secret kept in preserving the untouchable monarchial status had a price.

 

In some monarchial ruling, ancient Roman laws from the 3rd Century are still practised in protecting any defamation against the Royal family.  Precise protocol  is used and becomes a strict rule, to be observed by commoners, when addressing Royals.  Specially constructed royal language, taught in schools, is enforced when addressing them. The royals reply normally.   Official news reports, whether verbal or in writing requires usage of the special words describing various actions. Terminology sets them apart;   houses are palaces, churches are abbeys, and the period between the reign of two monarchs is called an “interregnum”  much like overlapping US presidents exchanging power, the term “inauguration” is precise, weighted yet with dignified protocol.

 

While the music has not stopped  and the decisive heir yet to be appointed, in my fairytale myth, the dance goes on in a loop playlist from K-pop to Swift-pop. 

 

 

DIONYSUS

The Greek God of wine and revelry

The very essence of democracy 

is that a creative artist is given the liberty 

to project the picture of society in a manner he perceives.

One of the prime forms of exposing the ills of society is by 

portraying a satirical picture of the same.

Stand-up comedians perform that very purpose. 

In their portrayal they use satire and exggerate the ills 

to an extent that it becomes a ridicule.  

In the humorous portrayal of the ills of the society 

the stand-up comedians use satire.

Delhi High Court

Court jesters, in Elizabethian times, offer entertainment during gastronomic celebrations. Usually comically featured dwarf-like stature was enough to induce a chuckle, and when the deep voice belie their age, every gesture turns the chuckle into a belly laugh.  Going back further to find its beginnings, comedy originated in 5th century, BC in classical Athens.  It was quirky, sarcastic, and mocked both political and philosophical ideas.

As in any joke telling, now or then, whether elbowing at the local pub, one hand with a pint, the other gesticulating the pun, the mastery is in the timing. Many serious moments in the world, relief comes from mocking political injustice, and philosophical ideas, that in certain countries can land you in jail, yet in others, the freedom to belly laugh, helps any injustice dumped on you.

Much like  Vir Das's"Two India's" delivered to a full house at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC in 2021, caused such division in his homeland prior to his return.  An angered lawyer wanted him to face legal action by requesting the Mumbai Police Commissioner to file an  FIR  (First Information Report).  His poetic delivery rested on realities of India's society, the results were venomous and inflammatory, yet highly amusing and ended on a note of never to forget the greatness of India.

Vir Das explains to India Times   "The satirical duality of two very separate India's that do different things.  Like any nation has a light and dark, good and evil within it..."

Before judging others, let us look at the gentle Siamese tradition. The genetic profile,  cleverly depicted, in the Hollywood film of Anna and the King of Siam, is of a subservient nature, high value in obedience, soft-spoken in gentle musical tones,  an inherent nature of pleasing others.  The language itself illustrates the positioning between individuals, observing the hierarchical status, age, even birth order. It is present, even in today's technological world of instant results, the soft nature in competition with a harsh outside world.

But just only look at the limited stand-up comedians available, the conclusion is of an oppressed country, unable to have the liberty to project their thoughts. Of course Note Udom, Thailand's celebrated stand-up comedian, pokes and stabs at soft imperfections and gets the audience laughing or giggling, much like a teenager sneaking out from under the closeted structure in which they reside. The limitation allows Note Udom a few jabs, but intellectual sarcasm, and the duality of humor would not serve well in the land of gentleness, for in the vocabulary of Monopoly board game, Note Udom would have got the "Go to Jail" card if he half tried.

However daunting a situation may be, we need comedy to help us go through such difficult times.  The releasing of dopamine brings happiness, enabling a good chuckle from a horrendous week of a deranged, 14 yr old schizophrenic shooter in a busy mall killing two and injuring many. The event de-stablized the tourist industry, that is barely recovering from the pandemic.  Realistic fears harbour those aware of the increasing generational divide. The divisional marker of those  born before and after the evolution of IT and AI widens as ever.

For those condo living city-dwellers, who need laughter to take away the heavy burdens, do go to Netflix or YouTube, and get your belly laughs from the likes of Fluffy, Trevor Noah, Sindhu Vee or Vir Das. A smile will gather on your cheeks, the mood will change to a happier place, without the need for Ambian, Tibetan sound healing, or even meditative chants.

 

 

        

 

 

 

RE-BIRTH CEREMONY

 SAI-SIN. The Thread of Life

Bangsakun Bhen

 

Born in any culture, from any country, rejoicing of a new life is an event to celebrate, congratulate, and applaud for joining the world of civilization.  And every year, on each anniversary we celebrate birthdays by blowing candles on a cake, giving gifts, and wishing the celebrant many more anniversaries to enjoy.  It reflects our appreciation of life, yet absent is not facing life’s finality.  Ideologies make us repent, to lead a redemptory life either by confessions every Sunday to abate our sins or improve ourselves in softening our karmic principle of cause and effect. 

In this transitionary period of my life, my country is going through a slow process of evolution, juggled with set-backs and fast-forward leaps; disturbing the forces and forever trying to equalize with the rest of the world’s progress.  Catching its breath as each sanction of bribery unfolds, going through the cleansing ritual for the next generation’s headache.  Karmic principles of balancing have been lopsided for some time, now awaiting self-equilibrium.

 

A Buddhist rebirth ceremony sanctioned by prayers, conducted by monks, lustral water infused with magical powers of blessings, splashing droplets over the head, the most sacred part of the body by dipping in the long flapping bamboo sticks, symbolizes the cleansing of sins may have the answers. The circle of thread looped over heads, like a crown known as ‘sai-sin’ links to the monks, as prayers are chanted, the thread circling Buddha images and beyond, the circle  a symbol of continuation as it is in re-incarnation.

 

This ceremony was a little rushed by temple staff, lots of jostling, giving instructions that were confusing.  I initially felt the disappointment of the temple’s commercialism over spiritualism. This feeling quickly dismissed as chanting started, and my initial training of capturing small detail of exits, numbers of people within immediate space, ceiling to floor strength, was replaced by slowly slipping into a hypnotic meditative state where anxiety disappeared.

 

The renewing of life, by washing away previous mistakes, begins after long prayers, chanted by monks, with required repeats. We struggled, as Sanskrit or Pali was not part of my nor my friends’ linguistic skills. After what seemed like 45 minutes, in a  meditative state, I followed as directed and stepped into the open coffin.  Adjusting my small body in a very narrow space, a small ineffectual pillow, indicating the importance of where the head should be, stretching out holding onto unlit joss sticks with a bunch of flowers facing outward; while my tall Aryan, Indo-Persian physique friend crushed his body to fit, his knees visible in anguish. Lying in a coffin as more chants audible in the distance, while the symbol of purplish cloth covers (death) and then quickly swiped over with a clear white cloth (re-birth).   The ritual over in only a few minutes.

 

Allow me to extract a fraction of a moment in the coffin, in slow motion, and describe the fleeting sensation. As my head hit the empty unstuffed pillow, the hard wood sensation was surprisingly comforting; my soft, top-of-the-line, expensive mattress at home is instinctively against the well-being of the spine.  The bright blue sheath covering inside the coffin reflected from the temple’s neon lighting above casted a glow of unreality.  Instead of instilling calm, the on-edge excitement of my wild imagination but real echoing energy that the coffin walls were draped to hide stains of previous use. The whiff of wooden polish among one’s own breath mingled with  other’s last exhale was intriguing.  Trying to let go of any tension, I automatically went for ‘life’ by replicating Wim Hoff’s breathing techniques I perfect on a daily early morning ritual, inhaled, and exhaled with force, capturing humidified oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide, initially to calm the nerves.    

 

It was a brief moment of grasping the beauty of death. 

 

I felt the calm of an ending. Much like a door closing. Even if the ending was caused by uncontrolled forces; a crash, or an ending from a bullet, the silence or even the pain of happiness is complete stillness.

 

It was a compelling force to emerge from a bizarre ritual for a better me. The truth lies in acknowledging that my previous life existed by a remembrance of my last meal, not found in this country.  I held the key to happiness in this life because of the precious one I left behind; I had kept my promise. Karma tends to explain it all but how to explain this in my limited knowledge, to myself, is an impossibility.   My friend flew in to join in the rituals had little knowledge of the many obstacles in conducting this excursion.   It was not meant to happen and yet every barrier in my pathway was cleared by mysterious reasons.

 

How does an atheist who counters every existence of the Almighty, explain this knowledge. To anyone I casually mentioned my eminent voyage; there were gasps of disbelief, curiosity and questions to what my purpose was in trying to replicate what everybody leaves untouched.  Even questioning my mental state of recent widowhood or if I had succumbed to a cult. Questioning even my invitation to a stranger I just recently met to join in a very personal quest.  I always remained quiet and smiled at every countenance but offered no explanation.  I just didn’t have one.  

 

 Would I recommend this to everyone?  My unequivocal answer would be ‘only when you are spiritually ready’. How would you know at what point spirituality will be in your life - only you would know that. Maybe you will never be ready. No one, absolutely no one, should have the gumption to tell you that you need it. And being ‘spiritually ready’ does not mean that you are backed up by a religious faith, or encouraged for a medical remedy, or even your close loved one says so. 

It just means your stark-naked soul requires it.

 

This is not a one-sided gift. No priest or God has the ability to bestow rebirth without your commitment in conceding to instill a new habit or losing a bad one, performed until the day of  your last heartbeat. This should be practiced sixty days before the ceremony. It is to honor and prepare your rebirth so that human failings are kept accountable.   Throughout the course of your life, if you happen to fail on the promise to yourself, the rebirth goes back to square one, much like it never happened.  No one should know of what you've committed to giving up, in doing so, the failure or success is only on you, no one else.  You and only you carry that sack of burden.

 

Holy water, with jasmine and rose petals floating, mixed with candle wax droplets filled the plastic 300ml water bottle, to take home, sprinkling for continued blessing, supposedly to last out until the next annual temple visit.    A character trait of going against the grain surfaces whenever rules or instructions are placed in front of me.  Morning shower the following day, in style, cap opened, and in one flick of the wrist, my naked body received the full bottle of holiness from head to toe, underlying an unconscious need of a repeat ceremony. 

See you there my friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KARMA'S A BITCH

                               

                                               Britain's Karma.    India's Karma                                                  

 

Karma

 is the key concept in 

Hinduism and Buddhism 

where it is linked to the cycle of rebirth

 and the ethical dimension of our actions

 

 

 

The Law of Karma explains that for every action taken determines the consequence, reflecting the cycle of past deeds until the goal of rebirth is achieved.  The implication is usually attached to a negative impact caused by an equally destructive behavior. The teaching of karma is to improve humanity, and with good behavior, increases better karmic balance. 

 

The possibility of the karmic cycle of white supremacy, over several centuries in suffocating and oppressing people of color, from slave trading, tyrannizing to colonizing, believing in their superiority solely to benefit trade; the God of balance will turn around and point its scepter right back at the perpetrator.  The Age of Aquarius recycles the Law of karma and prepares the world for the consequence of past deeds.  

 

So, let’s pick the British Empire and it’s colonization. To compact history down to just three pages, with the intent of not boring the reader, it will begin with  controversy.  The Royal Charter granting monopoly to run trade by the East India Company on British Indian opium, seized an offshore base in Hongkong to safeguard its profitable monopoly in narcotics to ferry opium into China.

 

Karma revisits:  Heroin now retraces its steps to seaside towns from Blackpool all the way south to Bournemouth.    Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth labelled the “heroin capital of England” in recent years, despite being only a stone’s throw away from one of the most expensive stretches of coastal real estate in the world.

 

“The Mountbatten Plan” drawn between Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India and Mohamed Ali Jinnah in 1947, divided the subcontinent of India, we know now as Pakistan.  Mountbatten was King Charles III favorite uncle and mentor, whose own Karma got him bomb-blasted on the Irish sea in 1979 by the IRA.

 

Half a century and a couple of generations later, the incompetence of Liz Truss’s brief time in 10 Downing Street got her economic policy wrong largely down to a fundamental misunderstanding about how markets work, and how fragile Britain’s economy was at that time.  It gave way to the rising power of Karma from colonial times, making it abundantly clear the cycle of re-birth has just begun.

 

Karmic reflects to past deeds for Rishi Sunak to rise, to restructure and bring back economic stabilization. In the United Kingdom we now have the first British Asian Prime Minister Mr. Rishi Sunak, 43 a Punjabi Hindu descent, his parents immigrated from East Africa to Britain in the 1960’s.  He studied PPE from Oxford, earned an MBA from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.  Started his business career with Goldman Sachs having joined the Conservative Party earlier on. 

 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted that he is the right person for the UK’s top job, especially at a time of rapid technological change and tough economic challengers in an interview with ‘The Times’.  He noted: “You can start to see now that there is a prospect of wage growing faster than inflation going forward. I’m really proud of our country and what makes us special.  I’m really optimistic about the future.”   The general election expected around mid-2024, the Conservative Party government under his leadership is now pitching its tent to start wooing the electorate.

It's a long road between the two nations, Pakistan to Scotland, but the distance was shortened by Scottish nationalist that picked Humza Yousaf , a 37-year- old Punjabi descent, born in Scotland  of Pakistani immigrants as  Scotland’s  Nationalist Party's First Minister. Studied Politics from the University of Glasgow and joined as parliament  assistant to Bashir Ahmad, the first Muslim elected to the Scottish Parliament.  His function as the First Minister includes promoting and representing Scotland in an official capacity at home and abroad.

 In the city of Big Ben, there’s the Mayor of London, Sadiq Aman Khan, 53 yrs, a Sunai Muslim, the eldest of the three mentioned, was born in Tooting from Pakistan immigrant parents. From humble  beginnings, his gratitude at having the chance to live in the UK,  continues to send money back to relatives in Pakistan. Tooting, a district in South London in 1970, prevalent with racism  he and his brothers learnt to protect themselves, and took up boxing at a nearby Boxing Club. Khan joined the Labour Party, a balance to Sunak’s Conservativism, and is considered a social democrat, earned his law degree at the University of North London.  A solicitor on Human Rights issues, Khan also became a Councilor for the London Borough of Wandsworth.

 

Over the pond, heading towards the symbol of Freedom of the Statue of Liberty, preparation is underway for a new and difficult election challenge. Trump’s selection of sexual offences, against contender Nikki  Haley, the youngest Governor of South Carolina.  Of Indian descent. Nimarata Nikki Randawa'a parents are from Punjab, her father received a scholarship to the University of British Columbia in Canada and subsequently immigrated to South Carolina. 

America’s population is experiencing demographics of economic and social changes called the Historical Reversal, where the ageing 65 yrs old and above outnumber children under the age of 15.

 

And if by a twist of luck, fate, or karmic leveler, as a cushion to Haley's loss, the world’s most powerful leader could be Vivek Ramaswamy, the young and capable 38 yrs old Republican Party candidate for the upcoming 2024 US Presidential election.  A Hindu, born in Cincinnati Ohio, his parents immigrated from Kerala, Southern India.  His credentials outshine many previous Presidents. A Harvard College graduate Summa Cum Laude, and a fellow member of the Phi Beta Kappa.  His entrepreneurship in biotech is phenomenally successful and rumored to have a net worth of US$500 million.  He made it into Forbes list of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40.

 

With Congress back-up of three ethnic Indian descent Hindus; Shri Thanadar (D) Bobby Jiwal and (R) Pramila Jayapal (D): this could revolutionize humanity to a better existence or fail abysmally to ruin.

 

After all we are all made of the same cloth, greediness mixed with benevolence, killers mixed with healers.  All worshipping the same Almighty but designing them to fit each of their needs.

 

Picture the White House lawn

with two of the most powerful leaders on the podium

US President Vivek Ramswamy and UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak

addressing the issues of the world.

 

 

All at once the shudder of anxiety, undeniable goosebumps kept hidden for the ethical dimensions of previous generation’s conduct is about to surface.