Abhijit Naskar's Blog, page 33

You don’t have to be a superpower to be a peacemaker. Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

Politicians don’t have race, politicians don’t have religion, politicians don’t have nationality. You may think, this is a good thing – well, in this case, it’s not. You know why? Because their race is self-interest – their religion is self-interest – their nationality is self-interest. Politicians can be white, black, brown or martian – but once a moron, always a moron. Some monkeys are white, some monkeys are colored, but inside they are not white or colored – they are politicians – which means, they are all monkeys.

And the exception to this norm often comes from not so popular parts of the world – for example, South Africa. Which only proves that, you don’t need to be a so-called geopolitical superpower to do what’s right – you don’t have to be a superpower to be a peacemaker. In fact in most cases, the so-called superpowers are the most morally bankrupt states in the world. Because guess what – governments don’t exist to do the right thing, governments exist to do whatever keeps them in power. And the day the politics of self-interest comes to an end, there will be no longer any need for activists, humanitarians and reformers.

A puerile, clinically sectarian species like yours cannot fathom what I am. Abhijit Naskar | 100 Promissory Sonnets

I am not a capitalist, I am not a communist, I am not a socialist, I am not a traditionalist. A puerile, clinically sectarian species like yours cannot fathom what I am. Does that mean, I am not the same species as you! Sure, I am – but from a different dimension – a different dimension in time – a different dimension in mind – where intellect is only a tool, not torture – where faith is only a choice, not compulsion – where money is only a means, not master – where oneness is fundamental, not fiction.

Women, Career, Family | Abhijit Naskar | Yaralardan Yangın Doğar: Explorers of Night are Emperors of Dawn

Until recently, career women were frowned upon, and those who stayed at home were respected – now the situation has gotten reversed – not better mark you, just reversed. Now career women are respected, and those who give up their career, or step down to a less demanding position, in order to raise a family, are object of ridicule. This is not progress, it’s recurring regress. Substituting one authoritarian cruelty with another is not progress, it’s recurring regress – which is also the case when you ban hijab in the name of freedom.

World Poachers (Sonnet 1502) | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

The western alliance didn’t fight Hitler
because he tortured the Jewish people,
they fought him because he was’t gonna
show anyone any special consideration.

Jews were never the focus of World War 2,
It was about the invaders being invaded.
Lo and behold, Nazis are the villain,
though England, Belgium, France, Spain
and Portugal caused far worse damage!

If you feel one way about Hitler,
and another way about Churchill,
your opinion is of no consequence,
living on a whitewashed dunghill.

Rushmore is a monument of massacre,
Buckingham is a palace of plunderers.
Till you denounce all atrocious heritage,
You’re just animal heir to world poachers.

The Carnivore (Sonnet 1406) | Abhijit Naskar | Dervis Doctor: 100 Promissory Sonnets

Be a gentle giant like the elephant,
not an opportunistic carnivore like the wolf.
The elephant doesn’t harm anyone
to prove its greatness, while the wolf
doesn’t think twice to devour another wolf.

Greatness unfolds through gentleness,
Illumination unfolds through expansion.
Coldness is the mark of cowardly animal,
Cruelty is cover for beastly degeneration.

Worst of all carnivores are the humans,
There is no end to their appetite.
Animals no longer partake once they are full,
While human greed knows no sane height.

More clothes, more cars, more cash,
Just how much will you consider enough!
Till you put a cork on cocky abundance,
Not felicity but disparity wreaks havoc.

Savagest carnivore of all is the human.
Uncorked materialism is new cannibalism.

Native to Neighborhood Earth | Abhijit Naskar | World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

When I crossed the hundred books mark, I genuinely thought, “I’m done”. But something happened! I don’t know why, but my drive towards other languages became stronger than ever. I felt, now is the time to make parts of my legacy more accessible to other languages. I have never relied on anyone in my life for the realization of my legacy, so it was obvious that I was not gonna wait for somebody else to translate my works for me. Besides, when somebody else translates an original literature into another language, it always remains a translation – it can never become an original literature of that language and culture. This I absolutely did not want.

Sure, other than Turkish and Spanish, I have difficulty with other languages – that is, I am not at all fluent in them. But the point is, once I feel the language and culture in my veins, I can deliver my ideas in any language I want. And I’ve been doing exactly that over the years – absorbing as many cultures and languages into my bloodstream as I can that is. If you tear my heart open, you can find every single culture in the world, caringly placed and nurtured. Some call it gift, I call it intention.

I don’t have any one native culture,
for I am native to every culture.
I am a native to the whole world,
I am a native to neighborhood earth.

I can write in any language, because I want to. And no, I don’t use some fancy AI tools. In fact, I have an uncompromising principle against the use of AI in literature. Heck, I opted not to use something so trivial as an image containing yours truly with a mace, as cover image of “Bulletproof Backbone”, because it collided with the book’s anti-weaponry vision – so you can imagine my stance on fraudulent material generated by AI!

What I do use, while writing in other languages, is old-fashioned dictionary – online dictionary that is, to fix things like spelling, missing vocabulary and other broken bits – which makes me a broken polyglot. And believe you me, broken polyglots are potent polyglots. I may not be fluent in a lot of languages, but after I am long gone, each of these languages and cultures will have something distinctly personal left by me to call their own.

For example, I may not speak fluent German, yet if I write even one page in the German language, it’ll forever become an indelible part of the German culture. It’ll not be some off-key German translation of an original Naskar, rather it’ll be a German literature from the vast Naskarean oeuvre.

Sure, I know my limits in each of these languages, that’s why I keep my sentence structure simple, which I am not compelled to do in Turkish and Spanish. But more than my limits, I am aware of my limitlessness. And once the being transcends the limits of language, culture, border and tradition, puny apparatus like intellect is bound to follow.

Preface – World War Human | Abhijit Naskar | 100 New Earthling Sonnets

There never was a war of the free world against fascism, there was only war between two versions of fascism – because the so-called free world has tortured and massacred more lives than the third reich could only dream of.

There never was a world war between good and evil, there was only war between two evils. There never was a world war against tyranny, there was only war between an established tyrant regime and a rising one. The real first world war has just begun – the war between good and evil – the war between emancipation and occupation – between inclusion and exclusion – between expansion and contraction – between reason and rigidity – between humanity and inhumanity. I call it, World War Human.

And unlike previous times, we won’t win this war by old-fashioned bullets and bombs, or by deceit and diplomacy. The World War Human can only be won by education, and education alone – by an ardent, absolute, unambiguous, unbending, undoctrinated, unphobic, unwhitewashed, decolonized, nonpartisan, gender neutral, valiant, self-correcting and conscientious execution of education.

Smoking is Good (Sonnet Satire, 1320) | Abhijit Naskar | Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

Smoking is good for the planet,
For it screws with the lungs.
Alcohol is good for the planet,
For it screws with the brain.
Bullets are good for the planet,
They riddle the body with holes.
Bombs are good for the planet,
They blow up all, body and soul.
Autocracies are good for the planet,
They cause civilizations to fall.
Mindless tech is good for the planet,
Our biggest wonder will be our downfall.
Whatever kills the humans, heals the planet.
Forget AI, human greed is the biggest threat.

Neither God Nor Science (Sonnet 1359) | Abhijit Naskar | Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

I know people who use God
as excuse for hate and war.
I know people who use God
as inspiration for love and peace.

I know people who use Science
as excuse to be cold and inhuman.
I know people who use Science
as means to be warm and responsible.

It’s neither God nor Science,
that causes coldness and war.
In the hands of a selfish ape,
Science and God are equally impotent.

But when it’s a responsible human
that wields either God or Science,
You can rest assured of one thing,
nothing can dent their humanness.

One small step towards a language is one giant leap towards inclusion. Abhijit Naskar | Bulletproof Backbone

How come we can fit the world in our pocket, but not in our heart! Learning a language is one of the tangible endeavors to help eliminate hate from the world. One small step towards a language is one giant leap towards inclusion.

I don’t need to write in all these languages of the world – those who care, will find a way. I write in more than one language because I want to. I want to leave at least something extremely personal for every culture in the world – that is, for as many cultures as I humanly can.

However in the end, the universal spirit of love, light and oneness transcends language and culture, and finds a home in the heart of every conscientious human being – and that’s what counts. It’s the bridge that counts, not the shape it comes in.