dwaraka

Author: Pandian Ramaiah

  • Coping with Fake News and Disinformation – Devlin Smith | Book Review

    Everybody needs information. After the dot-com discovery, there is a massive inflow of information in the world. Every stakeholder wants to meddle and control this flow. They do not hesitate to sugar-coat, malign or even spread rumours. Fake news wave flows across all tiers of the society.

    I know someone in a village, who killed and cooked all his pet chickens. Because somebody told him that world will be no more in 2000. After media is run for profit by private players, journolists starts targeted bullying to bring down their opponents. Governments wants to control the press as much as they can. If not, it tries to adjust the flow of news using its moles inside. On this background, I would like to write about a book, I borrowed recently from library as part of #TBRChallenge by Blogchatter.

    The pouring of news in dailies/TVs/social media are all poured by different parties based on their own interest. When it is in aligned with our view, we believe it is true. In addition, we starts sharing with our circle without verifying.

    Fact-verifying is another jiggery-pokery. It can’t be 100% right always. On the other side, fact-checking all news is not practically not possible at all.

    In this case, making juveniles aware of the news process, news consumption becomes important. That is what this book tries to do. ‘Coping with Fake news and Disinformation’ written by Devlin Smith.

    This book has 6 chapters.
    A Free Press
    Making the news
    Faking the news
    Finding the truth
    Information overload
    Consuming the news.

    It starts approaching the false news behaviour from the historical background. The book ends where it tries to create awareness of how to consume the news. Author tries to target the teens to create media awareness. So the book is pleasingly stitched with bigger fonts, colourful typesetting and interesting pictures. I liked the chapter that describes the fake news that provocated America and Spain to burst into a war.

    I think this book will be of interest of socially-aware teens.

    To write about the author, Devlin Smith, writes across different genres for the past 2 decades. She studies English with Journalism as specialization.

    Name of the book: Coping with fake news and disinformation
    Author: Devlin Smith
    Publisher: New York : Rosen Publishing,2020.
    Genre: Juvenile Literature – Media literacy. Fake news.
    ISBN: 9781725341203
    NLB | Amazon

    I’m participating in the #TBRChallenge by Blogchatter. With this, I wrap up this challenge as well as 2022. See you in 2023.

  • Stories of the true – Jeyamohan | Book Review

    Top post on Blogchatter

    The society is not fit for innocents. It is as dark as we can’t even imagine sometimes. It is the land where charities were made out of business money. What forces someone to pay back to society? It is dharma – aram in Tamil. The victory of Mahabharata war is justified based on aram. Duryodhana has his own justifications where as Yudhishthira has his own. The injustice and humiliations of Draupadi made the Yadava chief choose Yudhishthira’s side – accepted aram!

    Aram was the theme of Singapore Writer Festival 2017, where writers from different parts of the world persuaded this topic. Everybody has their own interpretation of aram to justify their stand. There comes the deadlock. We believe, the one which benefits the victim, is the right aram or righteousness.

    I write about the one of the finest short story collections of Jeyamohan – Stories of the True, as part of #TBRChallenge by Blogchatter. This is the translation of his Tamil collection Aram. It talks about different personalities, who are real persons in the writer’s known circle and their attempts to ensure justice or righteousness.

    This collection contains the iconic stories Elephant Doctor and A hundred arm chairs. Many of the stories would disturb the readers as it has a concentrated extract of painful hearts of our society.

    I read A hundred arm chairs in Tamil a few years ago and blogged here. Still, I can’t resist reading it once again. I can totally absorb the mental agony of a son, a mother, a society, and the conflict around them. The agony of the mother became paradoxical with her son. The struggle between them pierced the reader inch by inch.

    Elephant Doctor is something to be kept as a compulsory school read. Liquor has been made a fast-moving consumer good by the companies and the Government. Having money to travel to forests and waterfalls, consume liquor, break the glasses, create a ruckus is wrongly perceived as a ‘status building’ or ‘socialization’. But the pain created by desperadoes is something no one acknowledges.

    I was moved by ‘Aram – The Song of Righteousness‘ and ‘The meal tally‘. Such stories show the gems out of a stereotypical society. ‘One world’ reminds me of Jayakanthan’s Tamil novel ‘oru manithan – oru veedu – oru ulagam‘.

    ‘Nutcase‘ was so closer to my heart because those who struggled for Indian freedom and those who got benefit out of it are different. The regents of Indian democracy showed an overt act of suppression on the whistle-blowers.

    I recommend this book to get the a memorable reading experience. It will help us to reevaluate ourselves.

    About the author and the translator:

    Apart from what is written in Wikipedia, he is one of the best writers of Tamil literature. Apart from his writings, he engages his readers on a daily basis. He used to take a stand, clearly justifying the reasons behind it. He spent an enormous amount of days writing a full-fledged Mahabharata as a novel series called venmurasu, which was released on a daily basis for free. I was one of the readers who followed this novel till the end.

    Translating Jeyamohan’s language is a challenge for any translator. In that way, Priyamvada Ramkumar had done her best.





    Name of the book: Stories of the true.
    Author: Jeyamohan B
    Translator: Priyamvada
    Publisher: Juggernaut Publication
    Genre: Short story collection
    ISBN: 9393986177
    Amazon

  • The Illustrated Mahabharata – Book Review

    Mahabharata does not need an introduction. When we see the scenes with naked eyes, offer our minds a solvency from the monetary outfit of modern day society. Mahabharata admires every one of us. It looked to me like a story of the ramparts when I was a kid. When the read the latest version of Mahabharata novel series in Tamil – Writer Jeyamohan’s Venmurasu, the scourge of mass destruction, ego and humiliation stench all over the journey.

    I saw this book in Chennai airport one day. That was the time Venmurasu was being released every day. I was one of the proud followers. On seeing this book on display, I had no other thoughts.

    Name of the book: The Illustrated Mahabharata, The definitive guide to India’s greatest epic.
    Editors: Bushra Ahmed, Rajrupa Das, Medha Gupta, Hina Jain, Seetha Natesh, Rupa Rao
    Genre: Epic/Paintings
    Buy from Amazon
    ISBN : ‎ 978-0-2412-9972-2

    Picture (c) amazon.

    This post is written as part of #TBRChallenge

    About the book

    But it took me a month to read the whole book, because of the proximity of the characters brought by those illustrations. It has a collection of paintings from different sources.

    One tale in every 2 pages generally. The pages are ornamented with paintings. The books starts at the Adiparva with the snake sacrifice (Sarpa sastra). The illustration from Razmnama stupors the reader.

    There are 18 chapters to take the reader across all parva-s.

    The book quotes the verses from the epic; it shows the family tree. It brings us paintings, carvings, and other art forms across the world.

    Why I recommend this book?

    • This book is a nice story teller. You can leave it in the hands of kids of age 10+. They will get a memorable exposure to the Mahabharata stories starting all the way from Budh, Pururavas, Dushyanta etc.
    • To enjoy Krishna’s stories from Harivamsha.
    • We understand how Mahabharata is being admired by different part of the globe.
    • It is an excellent coffee table book to engage your guests.

  • [Movie] Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

    America Chavez and Stephen Strange are looking for the book of Vishanti. In the space between the universes they were chased by a monster.

    Stephen Strange
    America Chavez

    After Strange died accidentally in that encounter, Chavez brought Strange’s corpse to Earth-616. Earth-616 has a version of Dr Strange. With the help of Buddhist Chief Sorcerer Wong, he saves Chavez from the octopus monster.

    Wong

    Chavez explains that demons haunt her because she has the power to travel between universes.

    Strange consults with Wanda Maximoff as he realized the evil tantric acts in that octopus monster.

    Wanda Maximoff

    But Dr Strange realizes that she is responsible for the attacks.

    Maximoff has two children, Billy and Tommy. She created them during his time in the Westview.

    Westview image (c) marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com

    She is trying to reunite with them. Scarlet Witch Maximoff hopes that she will be able to use Chavez’s cross-universe-travel skills to reunite with her children.

    Maximoff at Westview – image (c) marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com

    Dr Strange refuses to handover Chavez. He hides her inside the Kamar-Taj Buddhist monastery. War is raging between the witch Maximoff and the monastery sorcerers led by Wong. But Maximoff tricks them and kills many sorcerers. Before she capture Chavez, Chavez takes herself and Dr Strange to Earth-838.

    Kamar-taj

    *.*.*.*

    Earth-838 has a verion of Maximoff in a suburb and lives with his children Billy and Tommy. At the same time as Chavez escapes, Maximoff uses the dream-walk technique of ‘Darkhold’ to control her counterpart, living on Earth-838 in a dream state. Sarah, a Buddhist sorcerer who survives the Kamar-Taj attack, sacrifices her life to destroy the witch’s Darkhold’s magical action, breaking her dream-walk.

    Sara

    An angry Maximoff threatens Wong to take her to the forbidden ancient temple, Mount Wundagore. There she continues her dream-walk again. She causes destruction in Earth-838 through her counterpart.

    image (c) marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com

    Meanwhile Strange and Chavez are looking for help. He is then arrested by Supreme Sorcerer Carl Morto of Earth-838, and is brought before the Illuminati, a group consisting of Morto, Becky Carter, Blogger Bolden, Maria Rambieau, Reid Richards and Charles Xavier.

    Carl Morto

    The Illuminati had previously recklessly used the Darkhold of their universe in an attempt to defeat Thanos. So they explain that Dr Strange version of Earth-838 triggered the “incursion” that destroyed the universe.

    Thanos

    After defeating Thanos, the Illuminati kill their Dr Strange, to prevent further harm. Morto believes that Dr Strange (the one currently seeking help) of Earth-616 is equally dangerous.

    Before the Illuminati’s verdict on Dr Strange is finalized, Maximoff restores her dream-walk from the Forbidden Temple on Wundagore Hill to arrive at the body of her Earth-838 native. She brutalizes all members of the Illuminati except Morto, and subdues Strange before he escaped with Chavez. The two escape with the help of Christine Palmer who is the ex-fiancé of Dr Strange’s of Earth – 838, He was a scientist working for the Illuminati.

    *.*.*.

    Strange, Chavez and Christine enter the space between the universes and locate Vishanthi’s book which helps to destroy the evil acts of Darkhold. Alas. Maximoff appears and destroys it. She, then, takes Chavez’s mind. She uses Chavez’s potential to infiltrate others and send them into an universe which is destroyed due to incursion.

    Meanwhile, on Earth-616, Maximoff begins her next attempt of Chavez’s attempt to seize power.

    Meanwhile Dr Strange, sent by Maximoff, defeats the Strange version of the infiltrated universe. The Darkhold of that universe has spoiled the native version of Strange. He became a bad boy already!! After pushing down the villainous Strange, Dr Strange infiltrates the corpse of Strange buried in Earth-616 by the same Dream-walk technique. The corpse rises and acts against Maximoff. Was Dr Strange able to beat Maximoff? Was he able to save Chavez? You need to see the movie.

    As the name implies, it is pure madness to write the plot of the movie. Unless we see on the screen, we’ll be mad!!

    —

    Earth-616 – Where Chavez and Strange escaped.

    Earth-838 – The universe where Chavez and Strange escape after the defeat of the Kamar Das Monastery. This is where Maximofin’s children live.

  • Naan Nagesh – நான் நாகேஷ் – Book Review

    The history of Tamil cinema cannot be written without Nagesh. Nagesh has left his unique way of his body, mouth and eye language. He was captivated as a promising actor and protagonist by Director Sridhar and K Balachander. So stamping him as a comedian is like an attack on his personality. He was a full fledged actor who acted in different roles like comedian, hero, villain and supporting actor. He was super busy in the industry to the extent of participating in the shooting of two to three film companies on same day. It was written like, many cars of different film companies will be waiting for him. Whatever the car he chose, will be followed by the rest, to take him to the other shooting spots. He was also the one abandoned by the same film industry. He has also been overlooked by the award committees of Government of India.

    About the book

    The newsletter from Kizhakku Pathippakam had information about ‘Nan Nagesh’. It was also in Amazon Prime Reading. It was written in a very simple (spoken) style so I was able to read it quickly.

    Nagesh said that he was proud of his beauty at his young age. He thinks that he was punished by God for losing his face due to the subsequent measles for boasting his beauty. He has been humiliated in various places due multiple scars of chickenpox on his face.

    He has worked in various places like factory, supermarket, drama companies and Indian Railways. Two kind of people can not stick to same job for long time. One – who does not know any work. Another one – someone who is not interested in doing same job repeatedly. Nagesh is of the second type. Even more, his interest in acting has pushed him into the screen industry.

    Facial makeup is more addictive than alcohol.

    -Nagesh

    He faced various insults. So he nullified them over by his unique way of acting.

    T.M.S. tried to know the actor for whom he will be singing. He used to mimic his voice while singing the songs. Accordingly, he asked “For whom I am singing this song?”. M.S. Viswanathan said “Nagesh”. On hearing the name, T.M.S. Laughed jokingly to say “I sing for him? Should I sing it? Such a big setup for him?” in a tone T.S. Balaiya’s dialogue of Thiruvilaiyadal.
    ……
    One day I was going for a walk on the beach. Then I met T.M.S. On seeing , he said “You won sir!, I said that the song will not be well received and there will be no one in the theater. Anyway, I heard that people watch the movie just because of that Song. I’m Happy sir” and greeted before he left.

    A.V.M Kumaran,  Dhina Thanthi

    This book is a compilation of auto-biography articles published in Kalki magazi with the title ‘Sirithu vaazha Vendum’.

    Why this book is important?

    Nagesh does not talk much. He does not have much media exposure like present day actors. This is a book containing 58 biographical articles to document his words.

    It is written in a easy-reading style

    Nagesh’s view on other artists (Director Sridhar, Actor Balaji, MGR, Sivaji, Rajini, Kamal, MR Radha, Manorama, Poet Vaali etc)

    Could have done more

    This book seems to be written with some restrictions to keep it simpler. Nagesh had concerns about the National awards avoiding Tamil artists. He raised his voice in an interview in The Hindu that Actor Sivaji Ganesan in particular was not given a good recognition by Delhi. These were not found anywhere in this book

    This may be okay for the light readers of the magazine. The book should have shed more light on his personality to suit different set of readers.

    Conclusion

    Nagesh is no more. No further attempt is going to take place. In that sense, thanks to the effort of S Chandramouli to record his words.

    As far as I am concerned, actor Nagesh deserves any major award presented in Cinema. If he was born in France, America or Germany, I can guess the kind of recognition he would have received. Despite 12 years having passed since his death, the government continuing to ignore him is a disappointment

    Kamal Hassan, The Hindu, September 28, 2021,

    Naan Nagesh – நான் நாகேஷ் (autobiography)
    Publisher : Kizhakku
    Writer : S Chandramouli
    Language: Tamil
    Price : ரூ. 239 / Kindle Prime / Kindle Unlimited
    ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8184935625
    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8184935622

  • The zeal with zest – Desert Safari

    Any adventurous attractions involve risks. So is, Desert safari. Not sure if Indian families visiting Dubai realize it. Rangamani’s wish in Flying Ravana was blocked by the veto powers of Thangamani due to her calibration of risk against fun.

    Ocean, Forest, Desert, Sky are symbolic representations of the behemoth called the cosmos. They are carnivorous creations of great power. When someone finds himself abandoned in a desert – where the massive dunes are being moved by dusty storms – he may lose his sense.

    An adventure against those dunes without safety is insane. So this is my warning in the last post of #BlogChatterA2Z about any such adventures.

    Desert safari is offered as a culture-coated adventure sport in Emirates. The smart drivers drive their SUV vehicles up and down, turning left and right, tilting here and there to abnormal inclinations relentlessly in the deserts of Dubai. With opened windows, half-bloated tires, these beetle like vehicles make the drivers the guardians of the lives of their guests.

    Several incidents were reported about the fatal accidents in these desolated multitudes of sand dunes. Emergency services find it difficult to reach the location due to off-roading. So try on your own risk! Certainly do not risk your little ones by making them sit on your lap or shoulders or wearing unworthy seat-belts. Know what you are doing!

    Your desert safari may have a shubh ratri!! Yes, Belly dancing.

    Exotic belly dance in an oasis, after the sun hid himself behind the dunes, at an aura of yellow lights, is another attraction somebody should not avoid. There are tourists, who take the wise decision of skipping desert safari, but they assemble at belly dance camp. You may follow them, if you feel you are vulnerable.

    Image (c) desertsafaridubai
    Image (c) Habeeb
    Deserted streets on a Friday morning (weekend)

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

  • Yet another outsourcing story, Makati

    “Philippines is taking away our jobs”. I have heard this many times in exotic Indian IT industry since 2007. Indian BPO companies have haunting stories. It may be their work pressure, office hours, and cultural issues. Above all, customers blasted Indian BPO agents for their Indian accent. Some of them used racist comments, too.

    It was at the time, Philippines became a pet of Silicon Valley. Philippines’ sales managers became am assailant to challenge the Indian sales executives. Conventionally, they exported nurses and maids. If you take Singapore, more than 2 Lakh Filipinos stay here to contribute to Singapore’s healthcare and IT industry.

    When I went there, I felt I was in OMR – the IT corridor- of Chennai. But I tried to pacify myself with many ‘too’-s.

    “Ok.. Manila’s traffic is so congested like Indian cities, too.”

    “They, do not respect traffic rules, too.”

    “Hmm… same pollution too..”

    Wah.. same hot weather too”.

    But there are some key points behind their rise. We, Indians, need to learn these to compete with them.

    Makati, the richest city of Philippines, is the heart of outsourcing industries. Despite the low cost of Indian call center agents, Makati won many BPO projects from the US. Over the period, the outsourcing industry has changed like – Indians for development and Filipinos for soft skills (Voice based/call centers). They started winning IT development projects too.

    Certainly, Filipinos’ accent was better understood by Americans than that of Indians’. It is also noted that they have better infrastructure than Indians. Though Indians rulers boast themselves, symbols of misfortune – like power cuts, water lorries, poor public transportation, increased business cost (because of too much admin tasks such as buying diesel to run gen sets, finding contractors to run company bus services, finding reliable catering partners to fill the tummies of their employees, etc) – are inevitable. Indian entrepreneurs should overcome the perils of poor Indian infrastructure before focusing on business.

    One of the important factors is, Filipino kids are aligned towards American English and culture. They start reading American literature in their schools itself. Indian kids are aligned towards British English. American culture did not reach Indian commoners; it was something followed by a small group of elites. So, it is a bit hard for Indians to catch up.

    Still, Indian engineers strive to deliver their best. Kudos! Alas, Indian infrastructure should gratify them!

    ***

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

  • Xellent Metro

    Why everybody rides a two-wheeler or car in Chennai? Why not we go by Bus? I thought like this once. I decided to go to the office by bus. On the same day, with a blanched face, I decided not to choose the bus once again. With horrific traffic, speedy water lorries (How long will the ‘prosperous’ Tamilnadu run water lorries?), above all, the bus drivers disregard the passengers by not stopping at the bus stops – It is one among the worst.

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

    One day, the chief of Hong Kong’s Metro – Mass Transit Railway (MTR) – was traveling on London’s tube. The journey stuttered like listening to music from a decade old audio cassette. It runs for sometime, then stops, then goes again. The WIFI was intermittent; finally it stopped working. Finally, there was an announcement that said, there was a signal failure. Later Hong Kong’s MTR won the crossrail project for London, which connects East and West.

    Image (c) SCMP

    MTR was known for its efficiency. MTR chief – who leads a train service that runs the trains at 2 minute intervals; who leads a train service which provides uninterrupted WIFI to all its users – might have compared the efficiencies of both systems. Could you imagine? A rail comes in 2 minutes interval. When I missed the first train, the next train arrived immediately. For someone, who waits at Chennai’s local railway station for 20 minutes or 30 minutes, it was a stunning scene. It is something, world train services can not deliver even today. In addition, the number of interchanges reduce the travel time considerably.

    One more sequin that dazzle MTR is its earnings. Train companies are making losses. But MTR is making huge profit. But not by running the trains alone. It has a real estate business as well. Malls are built on top of train stations. The shops pay for rental, too. In addition, before building the station MTR used to buy land around the station, to generate revenue. In addition to Hong Kong’s railway, they won a project to run London’s crossrails. They have operations in China, Australia too. They wanted to work on Kuala Lumpur – Singapore metro project too.

    In addition to MTR, they have trams and buses too. Passengers used to pull the rople to wield the ‘ding ding‘ bell, which became an important part of Hong Kong’s culture.

    One more notable thing – to avoid chaotic traffic like Chennai – Government encourages people to take public transportation and discourages owning private vehicles.

    ***

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

  • Water Ghost of MacRitchie Reservoir

    MacRitchie reservoir has plenty of nature trails of different distances and different difficulties. I had been there a couple of times to take the smaller trails. I had the courage to run my Decathlon Run 2021 there. One fine day Kannan and I went to the full stretch of 11Kms.

    This attraction has a haunting tale of love behind the screens. A lady whose last name was renamed as Fann and a guy, whose last name was renamed as Lok, fell in love. Macritchie viewpoint was their meeting point. At that time the reservoir was not built. Fann’s father was a ProBritish business man. Lok was the leader of a local Communist clan. Obviously there comes a conflict.

    Fann’s father arranged her marriage with another person, whose last name was renamed to Tai. Fann did not like it. But Tai loved her (One-side). At one point in time, Fann was identified as a dead body, near to the place, where she used to meet Lok.

    Despite his refusal, Tai built a tomb for her. Everybody might be praising him for building a tomb, on the MacRitchie hill itself to value his one-sided love. Actually, there was a twist. After a few weeks of Fann’s death, Lok was killed in a riot. His tomb was built at the other side of the hill, on which Fann’s tomb was also built.

    Later Fann’s family and Tai’s family were found to be guilty of murdering both. Seems to be Tai murdered Fann. Later, a plot was conspired to kill Lok in the riot, with the support of his Communist leader and built the tombs on opposite sides of the same hill, so that they would not join.

    Fann’s soul realized about the deception. It is believed that she used to come out on the water surface during the night to roam around!

    Don’t worry. She didn’t harm the trekkers. May be, the trekkers help her not to feel her loneliness. 🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♀️ We had the cross-country, nature walk, and tree-top walk all on the same day! To feel and enjoy the ekantham (loneliness/tranquility), you should start your hiking early in the morning. Put on your walking shoes, take your walking sticks, and carry enough water. Be careful about the food items, as it may attract Hanumans 🙂

    The tree-top walk may require some waiting time. If you go with kids, plan accordingly. Water stations are rare. There is one near the tree top walk. But it is almost the peak of the hill. You may not be able to relinquish your hike just because you are thirsty. You will be stuck.

    The maps are available at Nparks website. The same is displayed at important junctions of the trail.

    ***

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

  • V for Victory – war & love at Jersey

    Jersey is a small and autonomous island under the shadow of the UK. It is part of Channel Islands. But it is not part of United Kingdom. St Helier is the capital town.

    This small water-locked country, has a close connection with India. Lal Bahadur Shastri wanted to transform a milk-deficient India into the world’s largest milk producer. National Daily Development Board was formed and Dr Verghese Kurien (Amul man) became its chairman. As the Jersey cows were adaptive to hot climates, they have been imported from Sweden and Germany. In Nepal, these cows are called drought animals!

    It is a well-known financial hub. They use English as their main language. They have their own currency. At the same time, Pound Sterling is also allowed at 1:1 value. It has lovely beaches on all sides too! I went there on a sunny morning. After my commitments of the day were over, I used to walk around the streets of colonial buildings. That is how I crossed their Liberation Square.

    France and Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, as it invaded Poland. They knew Germany was trying to reach them. German army was known for its valor and efficiency. After Poland, Germany wanted Western Europe. By 1940, France had surrendered. Followed by that, Channel Islands started vacating as they were prone to attack.

    Despite Channel Islands being at its door steps, the UK remained indecisive. (But the irony is, they had a clear vision of splitting India and Pakistan 😉 ) Germany occupied the islands in 1940. German press orated their victory. It appeared to that world like ‘England was finished’. But it is not 100% false. The UK lost a place, where its flag was flown for eight centuries, without firing a shot. The UK was questioned for demilitarizing the islands.

    Picture (c) Imperial War Museums

    1941 – UK radio asked the islanders to put up ‘V for Victory‘ sign boards. Some of the islanders joined in that movement, which angered Germans. It was not an organized protest. Individuals and small groups did it. German’s imposed curfew and censorship of press to safe guard their interest.

    While Germans fortified the islands heavily, there started a scarcity of food. The West, who destroyed colonial India by their man-made-droughts, sent Red Cross ship to deliver food parcels.

    A girl of Jersey, Edna Loftus Channing, was unhappy with the brutal ruling of Nazi forces. She was working as a launderer. She had no other choice except adapting herself with the new rule. She received an identity card, which is to be possessed by her at all times. She has been warned to adhere to German rules.

    Their driving rules were changed. Time is adjusted to Berlin’s. German currency was hailed. The Germans looted Jersey’s garment shops to send back to their German girl friends. German soldiers wrote letters with Jersey’s British stamp, which contained the king’s face. Singing National anthem was restricted. Public entertainment were screened for Anti-German propaganda.

    Edna was happy when the British Liberation Army came for rescue.

    German’s influence declined after they lost in D-Day landings in 1944. Jersey took one more year to get itself liberated in 1945. The Royal Navy and British Army liberated the island. British flag returned to Jersey Island after 5 years. Islanders cheered it on with joy and gratitude. This is where Liberation Square was established on its 50th anniversary.

    Edna, too, joined the gathering to welcome the British soldiers, who landed in St Helier and St Peter Port. Nazi Swastika flag was replaced by Union Jack. The islanders rejoiced and partied.

    Few days after the liberation, she crossed a sentry post where she found a soldier with charming face. He smiled at her and said a ‘hello’. He was Silas Martin. He was one of the British troop. Edna and Martin fell in ‘love at first sight’. Both of their minds might be arrested by each other. Because Martin did not go back to his home country. He worked as a builder and and Edna worked in a guest house near by. Their endrance made them as a great couple. They married and lived together happily.

    Edna died at 68. Martin died 6 weeks later.

    ***

    2011-09-02

    I’m participating in #BlogchatterA2Z 2022 with theme Yātum ūrē!

    Liberation Square
    Crowds welcome British troops on Jersey during the liberation of the Channel Islands. Picture (c) mirror.co.uk
    V for Victory – Winston Churchill. Picture (c) mirror.co.uk