THE VALLEY OF DEATH: HELL’S KITCHEN

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There are no words today.
Heart and head clouded, numbed in grief and shock.
It is hard to focus on the daily activities, the everyday habitual motions of school drop offs, the laundry, when news from home fills all my waking space.
Yesterday's news though was gutting.
 
May 4th.
A day that will forever be etched in stone.
 
I was away from home in another continent.
A beautiful day, on a breathtaking hike.
Hell’s Kitchen.
An apt name now that I think of it.
 
Looking back now at that day, whilst we walked, the valley and canyon forged through rain and the heat, I am reminded of the legend behind the name.
The fury of the gods unleashed on an opulent, arrogant family leading to death and destruction.
 
It is hard to imagine that on that day, even as we navigated our way through the barrenness and steep inclines, at that very same moment, a mob of rabid men were parading, mocking, groping, and then committing horrific, unspeakable acts while those in uniform, who are supposed to serve and protect, did nothing.
Nothing.
 
It has taken 77 days and then some, of a video, released by the perpetrators themselves, for a deaf, mute, and silent governance to finally wake itself from its self-imposed slumber.
 
So now, inane banalities, the so-called expressions of shock and oh yes, let us not forget the whataboutery and the 'but they asked for it', that is the flavour of the day.
 
To those who keep harping on about only ‘one side’, let it be known that nothing, nothing justifies what has happened and has been happening.
 
May 5, 2023
Two women (names withheld) in their 20s gangraped and killed, Porompat, Imphal
Their bodies remain in a morgue till date in Imphal.
 
June 7, 2023
Tonsing Hangshing, suffered a gun shot wound to the head, then burnt alive in the ambulance that he was being carried in, age 7
Meera, his mother (Meitei), burnt alive in the ambulance, age 45
Lydia, his aunt (Meitei), burnt alive in the ambulance, age 37
 
June 9, 2023
Ms Domkhokhoi, shot inside a church, age 70+

July 2, 2023
David Thiek, beheaded, the mutilated head stuck on a post, remaining body parts burnt, age 17
 
July 6, 2023
Ms. Dongngaihching Hangzo, shot dead outside a school, Imphal, age 63

 
That the state government failed to act since Day One is crystal clear.
Anything and everything that was allowed beyond the first 24-48 hours was simply nothing but sheer political non-will, the conscious, deliberate decision to not intervene.
Everything since then has been a direct fall out of that.
 
 
What is being said and tweeted and screamed out through the various bogus news channels today is now nothing but sheer noise.
Too little and too late.
 
And if one were to supposedly act now, as can be seen in the hastily arranged press releases and conferences, herein lies the question.
 

 
We are waiting. And watching.
Time will tell, as it has in these past 77 days.

 
Just do not think that we will forget.

 
#nojusticenopeace
#speakup #actnow
#SaveManipur
#enough
 
 
 
 
"As I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil,
For Thou art with me,
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me..
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies,
Thou anointest my head with oil,
My cup runneth over,
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever…"
~ Psalm 23
 
 
Sleep well my brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers..
Know you are in eternal rest, where there is no more hate.
 

 
DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP 
 
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
 
~ Mary Elizabeth Frye



 
Picture taken at Hell’s Kitchen, Malindi, Kenya
May 4, 2023

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