Simon Mol

ROUSING THE BUSH FALLERS

The little drinking parlour was jammed to capacity with beer-beggars, drunks and civil servants ranging from school teachers, clerks, secretaries, etc., who were respecting the evening-rendezvous of cooling-off with cold beer before calling it a day.

The voice was heard even before the speaker was seen. It came from the doorway in military style like a gush of vicious wind— ‘Quiet!’ Everyone froze in mid-action. Bottles journeying to the mouth to empty their contents down thirsty throats got stuck midway. Half-finished phrases in conversations and gossips were not spared either. Most of them never recovered.

A PEN-PUNCH AT THE GUEST-PUNCHER

Simon Mol (For Metropol)

Krakau- Poland

One of my favorite Polish proverbs is ‘Guest at home, God at home’. It is profound and humanistic. On reflection it provokes an interesting question—‘If you don’t know the history of the world, how could you know the road that leads to God?’ Unfortunately, it so happens that history is often recorded with much bias. In recording history, ‘Information’ could be preserved in its original form, manipulated or obliterated. It is even tempting to say that were the last few hundreds recorded in fairness, most of the major conflicts that plagued the world could have been avoided.

SEEING OFF THE MONKEY YEAR

Simon Mol: (For Metropol)

To us the superstitious, 2004 being a monkey-year in Chinese Horoscope didn’t disappoint. The Monkey was at the peak of its art. And its traits—treachery, trickery, shrewdness— were bountiful. Even before 2003 vanished, the Monkey, noted for its agility, grabbed mischievous opportunities brewed by 2003, brought them over to its year and squeezed hell out of them. With tactful charade, it blew everything out of proportion, making a triumphant mess of everything— the war on Iraq, faith in political institutions, faith in fate, the global economy and policies; all were dented almost beyond recognition.