the freedom of the birds

30.12.2025

S: A boy called Leonardo loved the birds. He watched the birds. He wanted to be the birds.

The genius felt the spirit of the birds.

A: You talk enough of this.

S: Drenched in the grey colours of sorrow, waiting indefinitely for a chance to move, I looked up into the trees. There were pigeons frolicking in the heights above mere man. Whatever my genius, I can never be the bird.

A: Why the bird?

S: You cannot curse the bird.

A: And?

S: A man does not possess the freedom of the bird. Nomads, they wander in the realm of the heavens. They do not have to deal with the haters, non-men and cowards like the genius, those that think they are human but are not. The birds do not have to taste the cheapness and meanness that is this life in this culture and this world.

A: Cut off the shackles that bind you to this world. Become the bird. Become free.

S: Freedom is hungry. Freedom asks for an army.

A: The Tiger is not the bird. You were born to fight. To defend the honour of The Mother. You cannot escape destiny.

S: There will never be the day when we fly in heaven. The earth demands.

success

29.12.2025

S: These fucking bastards. These shit eaters. Every thing that you want, they stand in front of you with their prejudice, their stupidity and their bullshit. Blocking you.

A: Would you have life easy and live in their privilege?

S: They say that I am privileged because I am a man. Fucking unbelievable. Ignoring the facts that I am an ethnic minority from the working classes and the low castes, an Untouchable. All the money I have earned myself in jobs below my station working every available overtime since I was sixteen, the same as my father, which have made me well off, now they say I am privileged. Fucking unbelievable. They are scum.

A: Who cares what they think? They couldn’t even hold you down. You are a Curator, a professional photographer, a professional writer, a commissioned artist. Whatever ambition you have had you have had, teaching, whatever, you have done it. You have had it. Despite them.

S: That is the operative phrase. Despite them. Working for peanuts or nothing. And yet, you cannot achieve the next level. Because of them. They close all the paths with their bias.

A: What would you do with this success now? The time has passed.

S: You are right. That family is never going to come. They have fucked me.

A: You will give up?

S: The people expect. They prayed for me to come into this world. Destiny demands deeds. I am a genius. Genius is a gift you have to give to this cold and ungrateful world.

sad songs in the midst of happiness

28.12.2025

S: Do you think someone that has been sad for so long can bear happiness?

A: Why do you say that? Can you not bear happiness?

S: Perhaps. But who can? If you asked anyone in this world, do you think that they would say that they are happy?

A: You are happy. You have someone. You are not alone any more. You have so many good, close friends. How can you be unhappy now?

S: Can you forget the past so easily and all the ones you have lost?

A: Death is natural and to be expected.

S: But it is not just the question of the dead. It is the ones that I have been forced to take out of my life. When they were my life. The family that I could have had…

A: Don’t let them become ghosts that haunt you. That family did not happen. It is not real. Don’t mourn the unreal.

S: So we listen to sad songs in the midst of happiness. Songs of betrayal and the death of love. Sad songs in the midst of happiness.

loving the monster

27.12.2025

A: Are monsters real?

S: Yes. I have loved the monster. In fact, many of the problems that we have in the world stem from the fact that we love the monster.

A: Why a monster?

S: The monster does not look like a monster. The monster is beautiful. But the beauty is deceit. Inside, the monster has this shrunken heart and they are full of hate. That is what makes them a monster. A monster cannot love. They can only hate.

A: You say that because the monster could not love you.

S: But can the monster love anyone? Except for themselves?

A: Can you love anyone except for yourself?

S: It is a redundant point. I loved the monster. The monster was that which was not I.

A: You say loved. Have you cured yourself of this sickness, this love for the monster?

S: The monster has filled me with rage. I boil in this rage. It can last a week or more at a time.

A: Is this monster a person or a metaphor?

S: Why tell? The storyteller says something. It is for the reader to guess at the meaning. I cannot be pinned down. I am the author.

A: Perhaps the monster loves. Another.

S: The monster and I have separate paths in this life. I do not speak or look at monsters. I keep myself away from their claws, their talons and their teeth. Whatever, whoever they love, I keep myself aloof. I do not trust in the love of a monster. Their hearts are not true.

A: Why? You are The Tiger. You are what strikes fear in the hearts of monsters. Are you scared of the monster?

S: I avoid the monster because loving the monster is death. Love cannot love hate. I am love. To be seduced by the monster is to be seduced by evil. Their lips lie. Their bodies lie. Their eyes lie. They are a lie. They lie that they love. They love that they lie. Once in my heart there was this monster. So I burnt my heart alive. And then, from the roots of the old one, I grew another. I built a wall around my heart. Which no monster can pass.

denial

27.12.2025

S: I don’t care what they say about it or what anyone else thinks about it. They are racist bastards. They are fucking vermin.

A: You think they would admit it?

S: They will fuck you over with a smile. They enjoy it. They are liars and frauds. They are backstabbers and cowards. They are evil. Of course they would never admit it. They deny their evil because they know it is evil. They are fakes. They are not human.

A: Why this tirade?

S: It is not of now. It is what I know throughout life.

A: How?

S: Who do you think has ever helped me or given me an opportunity when it comes to money or status? I am one of the most talented men in this country. Top grades. Massive achievements. Every job I have done I have been a top employee. And where is the reward? There is only one explanation. Racism and jealousy. They are threatened by me and try to keep me and us down. They have shown how much they love us.

A: What would you do? There is nothing you can do about it.

S: But you can always say the truth. That they are vermin. That they have no hearts. That they think they are better than us over nothing. But they are much worse than us. They are not even human. They are monsters. Monsters that deny their monstrosity, that call us mad and liars. I point the finger. I am the truth. I am a man and not a monster.

the happiness of duty (microfiction)

26.12.2025

S: When he died, he said ‘Thank god I have done my duty.’ There is no satisfaction like the satisfaction of duty.

A: Who says? You might have a better life without duty. It can’t be duty all the time.

S: How can you have a moment’s peace or happiness if you haven’t done your duty?

A: What brings this on?

S: I have someone. I feel happy. But I can’t be fully happy until I have fulfilled my duty. I don’t want happiness to take over my responsibilities.

A: Does it have to do that?

S: There is a risk. There is always a risk with duty. Because it is much easier and more convenient not to do your duty. That is what most people do. I do not want to be like them. With me, duty has to come first.

A: Just enjoy your happiness.

S: There is this worry. That this happiness will end.

A: If duty does not make you happy, forget about duty.

S: You know, when we got the news of my grandfather’s death, I had to take the phone call. I was the man in the house. I was the only one that could speak English. I had just been told that my grandfather had died. My beloved grandfather. Do you know the first thing that I had to do? I had to walk over to my grandmother’s house and get her so that we could take care of her and console her. I knew that she would know what had happened when I went there because I had just walked over from her house. I was sleeping over there at the time. I forced myself to walk to her house. I forced myself to pretend that nothing had happened, like I had been told to do. I forced myself to do it. I did it because it was my duty. It was my duty to protect her and look after her so that she was not alone.

A: Don’t think about those moments. They are gone. Forget about them. Heal yourself from those moments.

S: I forced myself to do it. I forced myself to act that part. I did my duty. And every time, I will have to do my duty. It doesn’t matter if I don’t want to do it and it is hard. It doesn’t matter what it costs. I will do it.

christmas day (microfiction)

25.12.2025

A: Now it is over. Did you enjoy Christmas day? And what did you get up to?

S: I spent most of the day with my friend after phoning the Lady for an hour in the morning, learning languages and completing another module of my management course. We had an excellent Christmas lunch of beef wellingtons and spicy pepperoni and pepper pizza. With some beautiful Marks and Spencer’s chocolates. We talked and played Scrabble. Some family time for dinner where I had tandoori chicken, wholemeal pitta breads, a freshly cut salad and a yoghurt and mint sauce. Dessert was a chocolate yule cake which had chocolate sauce on the outside and cream inside. Afterwards, I watched Mrs Robinson with my friend for the first time at his place and then we called one of our other mates together before I called the Lady again on the walk home.

A: What did you make of Mrs. Robinson?

S: She is infinitely seductive. An experienced older lady that knows what she wants. A powerful woman that revolts against the trap that is marriage.

A: You were seduced?

S: Was Mrs. Robinson trying to seduce me?

A: That is for you to tell.

S: Or not as the case may be. A fine film.

A: How do you reflect upon this day?

S: It was fun. Some work and a lot of pleasure. I managed languages learning and reading up on psychology as well. But my thoughts are with those that were alone today.

A: Any other thoughts before retiring for the night?

S: I have decided upon my New Year’s Resolution. To make sure I do either the exercise bike or running on the treadmill more regularly. And to read more. Always, there is more reading to do. If a writer does not read, how can he write?

Suneel’s Christmas Message – TfL RACE CNG Newsletter December 2025

It is time to write a Christmas message. I write this message as someone that comes from a Hindu, Guru Ravidasia and Sikh background but, as everyone knows, Christmas has become cosmopolitan in the United Kingdom, even regarded by many as a secular festival. All faiths and backgrounds sit together on Christmas day to make it an occasion for family and friends. Christmas is celebrated in different ways by all of us but we share the celebration together.

In my view, one of the themes of Christmas is a belief in dignity against a society that may take dignity away from people. Jesus is born to a poor family, in a stable, and first welcomed by shepherds—people on the margins of society. In addition, Jesus was a Jew from Galilee and Jews in 1st-century Judea were an ethno-religious minority living under Roman imperial rule, with limited political power. Within the Roman world, Jewish people were often stereotyped, taxed heavily, and at times persecuted for their customs and beliefs. So for me, the nativity story, which sees Jesus as God, returns dignity among those often overlooked.

If there was an earnest belief in dignity, I believe the work of improving society would have been done and the champions of diversity could rest. This could have happened long ago. One of the great examples of the belief in dignity is the Edict of Ashoka from the 3rd Century BCE. Reeling from the devastation of wars that he had caused, wracked by guilt, Ashoka turned to compassion and respect for all people to transform himself and his world.

In his rock and pillar edicts, Ashoka affirmed the inherent dignity of every individual, passing over divisions of ethnicity, religion, or social status. Ashoka supported religious tolerance among Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Greeks, Persians, and other groups within the empire. He promoted equal justice and humane treatment under the law, as well as respectful dialogue between cultures rather than dominance or suppression. Ashoka wrote that honouring others’ beliefs “strengthens one’s own faith,” reflecting an early understanding that dignity and equality thrive in diverse societies.

The nativity story and Ashoka matter to us today. The belief in human dignity is not a modern invention but has deep historical roots. This belief has long been essential to peaceful coexistence in multicultural societies. I hope that we can all believe in dignity so that we can all live dignified lives. Not just at Christmas, but all the year round. My thoughts go out to the Jewish community as I write because of the recent Bondi Beach mass shooting, but also to all in this world affected by those for whom there is evidently not a belief in dignity, of the dignity of life, the dignity of choice, the dignity of difference and the dignity of diversity.

Dr. Suneel Mehmi (Lead Editor)

christmas eve (microfiction)

25.12.2025

S: I feel content and peaceful. Fulfilled.

A: How so?

S: This Christmas Eve, I have spent it with three of the people that I like the most in the world. The Lady. The Friend. And The Mother.

A: What did you actually get up to though?

S: With the socialising, a walk in the park. Dinner at home. And then the pub.

A: I won’t ask the different combinations of venue and party. Anything else that added to that feeling of contentment?

S: Here is the list of things that I did today:

– meditation

– chi building

– Weight training with light weights

– reading about Ancient India

– languages learning in Spanish, French, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi in newspapers and poetry.

– listening to Hindi film songs and Chinese film soundtracks. Listening to jazz and soul.

– shopping and window shopping for jewellery, books, chocolate, cakes and clothes.

– a long walk in the park

– a photoshoot and editing photos

– sharing a previous photoshoot on social media

– looking at art and photography on Instagram

– writing

A: A busy day indeed.

S: I like to keep very busy. It makes life go along quicker.

A: When do you relax?

S: That is my relaxation. Self improvement. Study. Creativity. Time with the people that are close to me. I want to keep getting better and better. A great day today and many more to come this season and New Year. It is a lucky time in my life.

security and happiness (microfiction)

23.12.2025

S: If you know that when you fall, that there is someone to catch you, that is happiness in love.

A: How do you know that they will catch you?

S: Because when you slip along the ice, they hold your hand tight, they hold you tight in the cold. They would rather fall with you then let you go.

A: You trust so much.

S: Whatever I say, I believe in the goodness of those close to me and their love.

A: You have curated people very carefully.

S: I made mistakes. I was with the people that are false. But when The Tiger opens his heart, he never fears. My duty is bravery.

A: And you?

S: Nobody around me can fall. This hand is strong. I have been a nurse, a carer, a counsellor, a therapist, an advocate, a teacher, an organiser, a babysitter, a playmate. Everything. Love has taught me.

A: Well, you have done the work. Now you have one that thinks of you, that looks out for you, that looks over you, that cares for you.

S: Our choice, our judgement. It has been proven right. One recognised what was within and I also saw what was in their heart. The heart that is true – a rarity in this world of deceit and hate.