Old Couple

What a striking painting depicting a couple who is long-married, stayed together, develop differences but can't get away from each other. Painted by Achim H. Pollert.

“Partition”

(Relatively way less written about Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India. Most of the history is either written from the biased eyes of India or Pakistan. Here how his mission was described factually in poetry by W.H. Auden, a British-American poet of that era, who witnessed the great partition sitting far away.  The poem was written in 1966. As he said in the last line, fear of  Lord Mountbatten came true and he was assassinated 13 years later of the poem (1979) but by his other enemy, IRA (Irish Republican Army).

Unbiased at least he was when he arrived on his mission,
Having never set eyes on the land he was called to partition
Between two peoples fanatically at odds,
With their different diets and incompatible gods.
“Time,” they had briefed him in London, “is short. It’s too late
For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:
The only solution now lies in separation.
The Viceroy thinks, as you will see from his letter,
That the less you are seen in his company the better,
So we’ve arranged to provide you with other accommodation.
We can give you four judges, two Moslem and two Hindu,
To consult with, but the final decision must rest with you.”

Shut up in a lonely mansion, with police night and day
Patrolling the gardens to keep the assassins away,
He got down to work, to the task of settling the fate
Of millions. The maps at his disposal were out of date
And the Census Returns almost certainly incorrect,
But there was no time to check them, no time to inspect
Contested areas. The weather was frightfully hot,
And a bout of dysentery kept him constantly on the trot,
But in seven weeks it was done, the frontiers decided,
A continent for better or worse divided.

The next day he sailed for England, where he could quickly forget
The case, as a good lawyer must. Return he would not,
Afraid, as he told his Club, that he might get shot.

On Amish People

When I came to this country, I didn't have much money to take airplane rides. For my residency interviews, I relied far large and wide on cheaper Grayhound buses. First time I saw Amish people at Cleaveland bus station. At first glance what impressed me is the calmness on their face after their attire, beard, and hanging too close with each other. Over the years, I grew huge respect for them and their lifestyle. Later in life, while driving through Pennsylvania rural roads, I certainly enjoyed the positive vibrations of their farmlands.

This is the first time I read this comprehensive review on them. You may like it (and beautiful pictures).

https://mydailymagazine.com/facts-that-can-change-the-way-you/50/

"The Amish people treat Demut – humility – and Gelassenheit – calmness, composure, placidity – as important qualities. They strive to stay humble and calm, rejecting what they call Hochmut, which translates to pride, arrogance or haughtiness. With their simpler and more modest ways of life, they shun modern technologies including cameras. They also don’t paint. So when a loved one passes away, they don’t have any way to visually remember them but only through their actual memory."