Sicilian fishermen risk prison to rescue migrants: ‘No human would turn away’

First posted August 03, 2019 NB: This story is moving because our time is filled with animosity. It reminds us that there are still amongst us those for whom compassion is a primary instinct. If there are people in danger at sea, sailors save them, without asking where they come from or the colour of their skin. The… Read More Sicilian fishermen risk prison to rescue migrants: ‘No human would turn away’

‘He saved our lives’: Canadian woman among a thousand Polish children adopted by Indian maharaja during World War 2

First posted November 10, 2019 Belle Puri  A pot of fresh borscht simmers on the stove. The aroma fills Karolina Rybka’s two-bedroom apartment in Kelowna, B.C. The walls are adorned with frames full of colourful needlepoint the great-grandmother did herself. Everywhere there’s something to see — arrangements of dried flowers, knick-knacks and endless family photographs.  Karolina Kucharski Rybka lived in Balachadi, a… Read More ‘He saved our lives’: Canadian woman among a thousand Polish children adopted by Indian maharaja during World War 2

Migrant boat crisis: the Greek hero on the beach / Scenes from another week in Europe’s migrant crisis in pictures / 60 million human beings displaced due to war and persecution

First posted August 09, 2015 One compelling image has come to represent all the Greek people who treated desperate migrants like fellow human beings http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/25/migrant-boat-crisis-the-sergeant-who-did-his-duty-towards-people-struggling-for-their-lives Scenes from a tragedy Europe is in the grip of an emergency as tens of thousands of migrants and refugees from Syria, the Middle East and Africa attempt to cross… Read More Migrant boat crisis: the Greek hero on the beach / Scenes from another week in Europe’s migrant crisis in pictures / 60 million human beings displaced due to war and persecution

Daya Ram Gidumal of Sindh: A silent servant, a silent sufferer. A good man

Akhtar Balouch Published March 23, 2015 First posted May 29, 2015 NB – This is a beautiful and moving story. It provides yet another example of human goodness, and reminds us how quick we are to pass it by, to overlook it, because we are so accustomed to negativity, denunciation and animosity. Beneath it (in the original) are scores… Read More Daya Ram Gidumal of Sindh: A silent servant, a silent sufferer. A good man

Bengal Imam who lost son to communal clashes calls for peace / Students Across India Rise Up To Protest Citizenship Act And Police Brutality

First posted December 15, 2019 His appeal to the protesters not to cause discomfort to ordinary people or harm public or private properties has been circulating on social media since Sunday morning. NB: This gentleman deserves our respect, gratitude and admiration. I would like to salute him and ask that we all learn from him. His… Read More Bengal Imam who lost son to communal clashes calls for peace / Students Across India Rise Up To Protest Citizenship Act And Police Brutality

Enemies in Love

First posted September 06, 2020 NB: This is an example of how the micro-history of ordinary people can subvert all our stereotypes about animus based on race, ideology, religion and identity. Worth reading. DS. A love story between a 23 year-old black Army nurse and a 19 year-old white German POW during World War II? You… Read More Enemies in Love

Pash, my father: Winkle Sandhu remembers the revolutionary Punjabi poet / Sonia Mann’s emotional letter to her father Baldev Singh Mann

First posted September 06, 2020 Born on September 9, 1950 at village Talwandi Salem in Jalandhar, Avtar Singh Sandhu wrote under the pen name of Pash. Inspired by the Naxalite movement, he was known for his poetry of resistance. The four volumes of his poetry – ‘Loh Katha’, ‘Udadiyan Bazan Magar’, ‘Saddey Sameyaan Vich’ and… Read More Pash, my father: Winkle Sandhu remembers the revolutionary Punjabi poet / Sonia Mann’s emotional letter to her father Baldev Singh Mann

Apollinariya Yakubova: The face of the woman Vladimir Lenin loved most is revealed

First posted May 02, 2015 She was described admiringly by Vladimir Lenin’s wife as the “primeval force of the Black Earth”, a revolutionary firebrand with sparkling brown eyes whose natural aroma was of “fresh meadow grasses”. It is no wonder then that the search for an image of Apollinariya Yakubova, considered by some to be… Read More Apollinariya Yakubova: The face of the woman Vladimir Lenin loved most is revealed