Estonia

Why suddenly Estonia? :-) Well, I had a visitor at my home from Estonia who left yesterday. She told me that most people she has met do not know about the existence of her country. She sure did add on to my knowledge of world geography. Without sounding complicated, let me see what I remember.

For starters I found this great explanatory map. You can click on it for an enlarged view.



So this little country is on the northern tip of Europe. Estonia was part of the former Soviet Union and when it disintegrated in 1991, Estonia alongwith two other countries got back their independent status. Back, because Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had always been part of Europe before they were annexed and brought under the Soviet Union. Estonia is also a member of the European Union.

It is a peaceful little country, with 1/3 rd of its population living in the capital, Tallinn. However, not entirely peaceful. Although in many ways, independence is being enjoyed by the people, yet with the end of the communist regime, many people have become homeless and live on the streets. My friend says that many men have lost their jobs, taken to alcoholism, and therefore a lot of households are headed by women. The life expectancy ratio of women is more than men, by at least ten years.

Not to mention the under currants of ethnic strife. Estonia shares its borders with Russia. About 30% of the population constitute of Russian speakers who have been living in Estonia before 1991. Many of these people do not have citizenship of any country! After 1991, those who could speak the Estonian language (who included the original Estonians of course and some Russians) were given Estonian citizenship. But Russian people who are old do not have the capacity to learn the Estonian language and pass a test in order to get the citizenship of Estonia. They do not want to move to Russia as they have been there all along. So many people are deprived of citizenship rights. The State of Estonia has its reasons for not awarding citizenship to non-Estonian speakers as they do not wish that the Parliament should at any point of time get dominated by Russian speakers.

The world with its myriad made problems... is it as simple as that? On one level yes, on another level no. Yes it is simple because the politics is so clear – it repeats everywhere in the world with an amazing resemblance in the pattern (have'nt we heard the expression "ethnic strife" much too often), well no, because I wonder how long the wait would be before all people in this world can have a basic minimum for living. I wonder when there would be no borders and boundaries in the minds. I also wonder when money would lose all the sinful power it weilds.

Anyway, I wonder why I have to remember the depressing elements of everything. Do I? I don’t know why. Except that they are not depressing for me. I am consumed by the lovely picture book my guest presented. It is called “Eestimaa” (that is how Estonia is pronounced in the Estonian language) by Ann Tenno.

Even then I must look at the old structures in Tallinn which remind me so much of the ones I have seen in the World War II movies and I must think what must have gone on there during that time…

Also I am in a reflective mood today.

Kamla di

She is someone who has been in my thoughts every single day since one day in January this year. She is Kamla Bhasin, Kamla di to me. “Di”, the short for “didi” is a term used to mean “elder sister” in quite a few Indian languages. I like calling her Kamla di.

She is someone who is dearly loved by the Creator and by everyone else who has crossed her path or whose path she has crossed. She has a warm hug, an encouraging smile, a forgiving nature and loads of wisdom to offer. She inspires one to dance and to sing. She can lead people to wonderful discoveries about their own selves, about the society they live in, about the Universe…..no wonder then that she has a huge fan following! Positivity moves with her like a constant companion taking her radiance to wherever she goes.

She is someone who works for social change, especially in the South-Asian region in the countries of Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and India. She also works with people in Turkey.

She has other amazing qualities as well. She can appear as a beacon of wondrous strength and be as compassionate as ever in intense personal grief. She has the capacity to give meaning to deep personal grief and channelise it towards new learning, positive learning, higher learning…...for herself and the hundreds of others whose lives she has touched and continues to touch.

Her dearest daughter, Meeto, 27 years old, a student of Oxford "died" two months ago. She chose to leave her physical body. Kamla di has withstood her daughter’s decision bravely and with indomitable strength. Because of the love she radiates and the compassion she shows, she is surrounded by friends, relatives and well-wishers from different parts of the world at this time in her life. She says that the love is helping her to heal; she is receptive to this outpour of love. From the give and take of this highest form of energy, has emerged some wondrous connections and deep and positive revelations about the soul, about life, most importantly about the eternity of life and about the immorality of soul connections.

Meeto has her own galaxy. One of her friends in Oxford wrote about Meeto in her blog in January and this gave a chance to many more to write in – heart felt pieces of writing which just shows how much she, like her mother, influenced others. These are the links to the spaces devoted to Meeto on her friend’s blog.
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/in-memoriam.html
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/meeto.html
http://necessityprevails.blogspot.com/2006/01/some-of-my-memories-of-meeto.html

One of Kamla’s friends has created a separate blog in Meeto’s memory and honor.
http://www.meetomalik.blogspot.com/

I have known Kamla di since the past four years now. I have had the chance to spend more time with her than ever before since last month. I feel extremely graced.