Intermingling of human emotions always transcends all
Dear Editor,
The recent royal wedding and its endless breathless coverage has an embracing feel good quality about it. In a world tainted by the ugliness and sludge of poisonous contaminants, it is a breath of fresh air. Although I neither read nor look at such happenings, I can only imagine the splendour of the pomp and pageantry that only the British can deliver for such an occasion. After all, they have had a lot of practice. One would have to be a real space cadet not to be aware, even in passing, of where all roads lead.
While I do not have much time or regard for royalty (I routinely dismiss as useless expensive ornaments), I cannot help but reflect on strange and different occurrences as the world turns; they can be so unbelievable as to be true-life soap operas. For not so long ago, it was against the law, and at the level of a felony, for such relationships to be made public, confirmed in marriage, and consummated. Anti-miscegenation laws were the prohibitive legal barriers that captured and projected enduring fears and hatreds. Matters hardened to such an extent in some men’s hearts, that all it took in some of the more ferociously bigoted jurisdictions was one drop of blood. Georgia would not have been on anybody’s mind (especially the nonwhite) during those combustible times; or Nazi Germany from just a little while back.
Yet today the world has turned so much (yet so little) at some poles that a descendant of those previously scorned is now a Duchess, and not a minor one by any measurement; she is the lady of the house, a manor to be more accurate. Her long ago ancestors must be standing tall and proud while humming Halleluiah and thinking of an English seafarer and slave trader named John Newton, as they hear the strains of Amazing Grace, and what it has now come to signify in the life of their progeny. It may take centuries, but there is overcoming the cruel wicked ways of man. From the biblical Queen of Sheba (definitely not a slave) to the colonial Nehru (very much a suited serf), the intermingling of human emotions always transcends all. It instills an invigorating in the spirit when those emotions and passions are ones associated with positive pulsations of heart surrendering to what is natural. It is a long march from not a single drop of blood to the jeweled diadems of a princess (an American no less) crossing the threshold of her own castle in supremely regal fashion.
I wish that those who still harbour anti-miscegenation sentiments and reservations will learn to begin to live. They can make a start by shedding those layered inner skins that taint and disfigure with features grotesque in outline and behaviours to match. They may be words or postures or attitudes; they corrupt. I also wish to extend the very best to the newest royal couple, particularly the bride.
Yours faithfully, GHK Lall