2024 Week 44 Update

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Today my stomach finally got respite from gorging Diwali sweets and savouries. Now that the festivities are over, it’s time to return to the real world.

Today’s quote by American writer and activist Rita Mae Brown illustrates language’s subtle yet profound influence over our thoughts, actions, and emotions. Just as the moon’s gravitational pull subtly but powerfully affects the tides, language shapes our perceptions and interactions in ways we might not immediately notice. It subtly impacts how we view ourselves, others, and the world. Language can evoke emotions, shape beliefs, and guide behaviour. It holds the ability to inspire, hurt, or heal, showing that words are not simply a means of communication but powerful tools that can alter human experience. Words can empower or limit us, shaping our sense of reality and what we believe is possible. The comparison to the moon suggests that, although the effect might not be immediately visible, language wields significant control over our inner and outer worlds.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past few weeks, mainly where I want to go in my life. I will share more once I have crystalised my thoughts. My idea is to do all my thinking before the start of the new year and put my plans into action when 2025 January begins. I love starting on a clean slate in the new year, so let me see where 2025 will take me.

The last few days of October saw me not walking much, what with Diwali prepwork on my mind and a slight pain in my ankles. But when I computed my steps, I realised I am now at India’s border with Myanmar, on my way back home. I still have about a year’s worth of walking before I reach home, but now it’s time to renavigate Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia, before I set foot back in the little red dot.

I hope everyone has had a great festive season, and here’s to looking forward to more as 2024 starts its winddown. Keep smiling and stay positive!

In My Hands Today…

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A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma – Noreen Masud

A surprising and lyrical journey—part memoir, part nature book—meditating on the meaning of “flatness” and its literary tradition to find ways to understand ourselves and our trauma in one of nature’s most undervalued wonders.

Does the concept of “flat” have an undeservedly bad rap? There are centuries’ worth of adoration for rolling hills and dramatic, mountainous landscapes. In contrast, flat landscapes are forgettable and seemingly unworthy of poetic or artistic attention.

Noreen Masud suffers from complex post-traumatic stress the product of a profoundly disrupted and unstable childhood. It flattens her emotions, blanks out parts of her memory, and colours her world with anxiety. Undertaking a pilgrimage around Britain’s flatlands, seeking solace and belonging, she weaves her impressions of the natural world with poetry, folklore and history, and with recollections of her own early life.

Masud’s British-Pakistani heritage makes her a partial outsider in these both coloniser and colonised, inheritor and dispossessed. Here violence lies beneath the fantasy of pastoral innocence, and histories of harm are interwoven with nature’s power to heal. Here, as in her own family history, are many stories that resist the telling. She pursues these paradoxes fearlessly across the flat, haunted spaces she loves, offering a startlingly strange, vivid and intimate account of the land beneath her feet.

Masud combines memoir, nature writing, and literary reflection to explore what can be drawn from these powerful places, and to understand her own experience of complex trauma and post-traumatic stress, as well as grief and loss. A Flat Place is a book that drives to the heart of what it means to experience place — bodily and psychologically — and the healing properties of literature and landscape.
Genres
Nonfiction
Memoir
Nature
Psychology
Mental Health
Biography

In My Hands Today…

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Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives – Siddharth Kara

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt.

Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo ― because we are all implicated.

World Cities Day

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Held annually on October 31st, World Cities Day was established by the United Nations to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanisation and sustainable urban development. World Cities Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 27, 2013, starting in 2014. The day was created to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanisation, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanisation, and contribute to sustainable urban development around the world.

The observance of World Cities Day is a legacy of Expo 2010, held in Shanghai, China. The Expo’s theme, Better City, Better Life, emphasised the importance of cities in fostering sustainable development and improving the quality of life for urban residents. This theme continues to be the general theme for World Cities Day, reflecting the ongoing commitment to enhancing urban living conditions globally.

World Cities Day aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. This goal underscores the importance of sustainable urban planning and management in achieving broader development objectives. By focusing on cities, World Cities Day highlights the critical role urban areas play in driving economic growth, innovation, and social progress.

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The general theme of World Cities Day is “Better City, Better Life.” Each year, a different sub-theme is selected to address specific challenges or highlight successes in urbanisation. This approach allows for a focused discussion on various aspects of urban development and encourages the sharing of best practices among cities worldwide.

The theme for World Cities Day 2024 is “Youth leading climate and local action for cities.” This theme emphasises the role of young people in driving climate action and local initiatives to make cities more sustainable and resilient. Young people are increasingly advocating for bolder steps to tackle the climate crisis, and this year’s theme aims to capture their bold ideas and ambitious targets, turning them into tangible achievements.

Youth engagement is crucial for sustainable urban development. Young people bring fresh perspectives, innovative solutions, and a sense of urgency to address climate change and other urban challenges. By focusing on youth-led initiatives, World Cities Day 2024 aims to empower the next generation of urban leaders and foster a culture of active participation and collaboration.

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The theme encourages cities to meet young people where they are, which often means utilising digital platforms. The theme also promotes the idea of youth participation in decision-making processes. This could lead to the development of new governance structures in urban planning, such as youth advisory boards or mandated youth representation in city councils. The theme highlights the importance of addressing climate challenges in informal settlements, where many young people reside. Urban planners need to develop more inclusive strategies that consider the unique needs of these areas. Youth engagement often highlight intersectional issues such as social equity and environmental justice. Young people are early adopters of new technologies. Their involvement could lead to greater integration of smart city technologies and data-driven decision-making in urban planning processes.

World Cities Day serves as a platform to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable urban development. It encourages governments, organisations, and individuals to reflect on the role of cities in shaping our future and to take action to make urban areas more inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

One of the key objectives of World Cities Day is to foster collaboration among countries, cities, and stakeholders. Urbanisation presents both opportunities and challenges that require coordinated efforts and collective action. World Cities Day provides a forum for dialogue and cooperation, enabling cities to learn from each other and work together to address common challenges and achieve sustainable development goals.

World Cities Day also celebrates the achievements and successes of cities in promoting sustainable development. It recognises the efforts of cities that have implemented innovative solutions to improve urban living conditions and enhance the quality of life for their residents. By showcasing these successes, World Cities Day inspires other cities to adopt similar approaches and strive for continuous improvement.

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To celebrate World Cities Day, one can do an urban safari, which is a fun and engaging way to celebrate the day. So one can grab a camera and explore a city, capturing photos of hidden gems and famous landmarks, reveling new sights and interesting angles in familiar places, and encouraging one to appreciate the beauty and diversity of their urban environment.

World Cities Day is a vital observance that highlights the importance of sustainable urban development and the role of cities in shaping our future. The day encourages active participation and collaboration among all stakeholders, particularly young people. As cities continue to grow and evolve, World Cities Day serves as a reminder of the need for inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban environments.