This year I am away from home on Malaysia's 69th Independence Day celebrations. Malaysia has grown and advanced exponentially, and yet social prejudice remains an issue. Have we done enough for the population to disregard someone's ethnicity, race, and religion and consider them on the same level as everyone else? There is no superior race or religion over another. Men have always discriminated in this regard. We are all bound by humanity's law and order, and if we fail to see that, we fail as humans and attract indifference and hatred.
There seems to be a stark lack of tolerance and understanding among our own citizens. Are our children taught to accept differences in others? It is important to know that no race can live in harmony without the other. We need each other to lift up a country like Malaysia, with its diversity and multicultural and racial ratio. We need to be role models, with acceptance and diversity playing a crucial role in moulding our world to be a better place for future generations.
This used to be a country for all. Is it still considered a country of peace and understanding? People condone injustices, which is why there are wars everywhere. We need to teach our children to understand the value of accepting the diversity that exists in our country in the first place, before we think of building better communities. Otherwise, it will all be in vain when our own teachers and leaders fail to embrace differences and practice them, and play lip service just to avoid the slurs and racial bias that exist on the sly. It is a sad situation for our children to undergo when they are criticised or discriminated for being different. We have to first accept that the world belongs to each of us, and that it is made up of differences.
Home is where the heart is, and my home is Malaysia.
Happy Independence Day, Malaysia.
The Faction Storytelling Method Modules 1-3
Now available on Amazon as well as Shobana Gomes' Bookstore.
The good has a clean, polished veneer, and the bad is deeply offensive and selfish. Ugliness follows hypocrisy - an impeccably dressed human with a touch of class who hides behind pretentious smiles often constitutes one.
When we step back to examine the morality of these three shared human traits, we can classify them through three distinct postures: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good is quiet, grounded, and rooted deeply in kindness. It lives in a genuine soul who gives without seeking an audience, who listens to understand rather than to formulate judgment, and who honours truth even when it hurts. The good human is vulnerable and holds the umbrella for someone else in a storm. The good human shows their flaws and weaknesses and learns to improve themselves as they go along. Their compassionate nature grounds them as they seek to uplift themselves and others around them. The good strives for success, and their achievements are based on merit and sincere hard work. A good human thrives in the Good since truth is found there.
The Bad is filled with antagonism and revels in destruction. A bad human acts out of clear, undue anger, greed, and malice. You cannot brace an oncoming storm when the bad is around you, as assisting another is not in their league; instead, they add to your trauma and sadness. The Bad breaks rules, causes damage, and leaves scars. They don't wear a cloak of virtue like the good do. The wounds inflicted by the bad are dangerous and stay embedded in one for a lifetime. There are the jealous, boisterious, bad-natured, and envious ones who fail to see good in others. Most of the time, their ugliness is shown in their faces, and they become repulsive.
In the Ugly, the art of pretension, subtle hypocrisy, and self-serving deception is evident. While harbouring indifference, they show empathy. Behind closed doors, they connive and manipulate. They are those who preach ethics only to abandon them the moment personal comfort or vanity is at stake. They don't think twice about rebelling as they prioritise their ego, their status, or their private gain at the expense of genuine, trusting humans.
What do these negative traits do to humanity as a whole?
It destroys our shared foundation of peacefulness. When pretension becomes the language of survival, authenticity is forsaken, for deceitful ways and weaknesses. We become actors in a charade, constantly reading between the lines, questioning motives, and guarding our good emotions lest they be exploited for ambition.
Humanity thrives on truth. It heals through simple, unpretentious actions where it is courageous to be real in a world obsessed with false appearances. To counter the ugly, we must choose the quiet, enduring beauty of being authentic.
Question: Why did Poetry make such an impact on Guyana?
I had the pleasure of listening to young poets from Guyana recite their heartfelt poems at The National Poetry Slam, held at the 19th-century Castellani House grounds in Georgetown, Guyana. It was part of the annual Literary Festival of Guyana celebrations. Organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, it is one of the most celebrated events to mark the literary festival.
Poetry in Guyana began as a bridge between formal European poetry structures and the rich, expressive cadences of Guyanese Creole and oral storytelling traditions. Poetry articulated the struggles of the people against colonial rule, political detention and imperial subjugation. Poetry was the language of collective desire for dignity, resistance, and self-identity.
Poetry here connects the landscape to mythology. The vast rainforests, waterfalls like Kaieteur, the mighty rivers and savannahs provide the perfect canvas for poetic imagination. Writers and poets alike use nature, not only for its scenery but as a metaphor for historical endurance and indigenous heritage.
Poetry is the vehicle that shaped the cultural society of indigenous, African, East Indian, European, Chinese, and Portuguese legacies. Poetry formulated a multi-ethnic society, just as the Guyanese Motto breathes "One People, One Nation, One Destiny."
A Good God can always turn bad, can't he? His wrath can be worse than the sting of a serpent. I heard about the ferocious fires that burned through forests across the Northern Hemisphere and Europe. They said Europe was burning due to strong winds and the drought caused by the summer's heat.
The fires burned the very ground that man and beast alike walked. Perhaps the birds were lucky; they had wings to fly. Fly away, feathered ones; fly away before you are scorched to death!
Some of the places where these fires occur frequently are Earth's choiciest locations. Some I know I will never see in this lifetime, while some names I can't pronounce rightly. Would they eventually be erased from the face of the Earth - another place to build concrete for a keen investor it becomes.
The islands of Crete, Rhodes and Paros often fall prey to the Meltemi winds. I know the coastal communities are tragically affected by these dry, seasonal winds blowing from the Aegean Sea during summer's hot spells. The Meltemi winds bring cooler weather and clear skies; however, their sudden, powerful gusts frequently start forest fires. Well, Meltemi has the reputation of being "gale-force winds." And what else do you need to start fires if not the Meltemi winds?
Sylvia and Demeritus were born and raised in a village tucked deep in the rocky inlets of Paros. The island's villages were built inside rocky cliffs to avoid pirate raids and the rising tides of the Aegean.
Soon to be published on Amazon. Look out for this revealing story that will touch hearts.
WHY?
Why do they occur so rampantly? Doesn't man learn the first time it occurs to be more vigilant the next time? Some blame these natural disasters on the Bad God? The Bad God has a fiery temper, and I shudder to think how the fire sizzles out when tons of water are poured over them. They would go out with a mighty explosion that reaches the skies before dying out, having fought the good fight. Do you think the fire wants to be vanquished? No, they are not done until they have devoured every bit of forested land. But man braves these fires, and eventually, after much fighting and striving, will win.
Part two of the story:
More than religion, a good heart serves humanity better - shobana
From the beginning of civilisation, humanity thought it wise to fight over religion.
What is religion actually if it invokes fighting?
Other News:
For aspiring writers and writers who want to know what the book is about.
THE FACTION REVOLUTION MODULES 1-3 (Free Nature Poetry Ebook with every purchase)
For those starting out as writers and wanting to succeed, this is the book for you. For experienced writers - something for you to read about. For readers who love information.
Thank you.
Get your copy of The Faction Revolution Modules 1-3 and find out how I engage my readers by blending facts with fiction. Read compelling stories that blend history and culture, reigniting the past through a brand-new faction storytelling method. Only USD 0.99 on Shobana Gomes' Bookstore: https://shobanagomesbookstore.blogspot.com.
It began about 200 million years ago when a deep rift split the supercontinent Pangea. As the land tore open and ocean waters flooded the fiery valley, intense evaporation created vast salt beds, birthing a saline seaway that would eventually widen into the Atlantic Ocean.
A colossal drama took place beforehand. Ever in Earth’s history,
one of the most cataclysmic situations unfolded to form continents.
Long ago, when there was no Atlantic Ocean, South America and Africa were locked together in a giant, borderless landmass, Pangea.
The pink granite of the Guiana Shield (now Guyana) was joined directly to the Man Shield, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
The Man Shield is a massive geological formation located in the southern part of the West African Craton.
It is roughly the African counterpart to South America's Guiana Shield, and billions of years ago (before the Atlantic Ocean opened up), these two shields were part of the same giant landmass. Source: Wikipedia.
A continuous mountain range linked the ancient highlands of Guyana directly to West Africa. In those days, a traveller walking eastward across those peaks wouldn't hit an ocean, but would descend directly into the prehistoric forests of the West African craton.
Then suddenly the Earth began to breathe fire.
Deep beneath the crust, massive plumes of superheated magma began to
rise from the mantle.
The immense heat was like a burner under a pot of boiling soup,
as convective currents from deep below pushed upwards against the
rigid continental crust.
These plumes began to swell and rise, and stretched the land to
an absolute limit.
Giant deep cracks called rift valleys ripped across the landscape as Earth began to fracture under these tense conditions, spreading over the land.
As a result, the land tore open to gigantic fissures. For millions of years, basaltic lava poured from these volcanic fissures, creating the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.
It was a time of great upheaval because, as the magma kept rising and rising, and spreading horizontally beneath the crust, it relentlessly pulled the two tectonic plates apart.
The rift valley of South America and Africa grew wider, deeper and even more threatening. Like jagged chunks of rocks, they rose high from the land, until great blocks of the Earth’s crust collapsed into the valley’s floor, and the valley sank below sea level.
Then the most magnificent thing happened. The surrounding oceans blocked by the mountains earlier poured into this fiery, scarred landscape.
At first, periodic surges of seawater spilt into the hot, sunken basin, forming shallow lakes that evaporated rapidly under the sun, leaving behind immense beds of salt.
A fiction follows this magnificent storyline. Look out for the next exciting faction story. I have not decided on the title yet, but It's going to be just as engaging as my other books in the faction genre.
I have written about Chief Kai, the legendary 'Old Man' of Guyana's Kaieteur Falls, in my poetry blog, SHOBANA. Plus, on Biopage, The Story of Chief Kai. The links are below. Enjoy, and have a nice weekend.
Only another few more days to support me on @Inkitt with this story. Please press the like button after reading. Thank you.
Gods of the Digital Commune: An inspiring story about a man who was brave enough to make his vision a reality. Read about Stewart Brand and the first paper internet he invented. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1768939
Get your copy of The Faction Revolution Modules 1-3, and find out how I engage my readers by adding facts to fiction. Read compelling stories that blend history and culture, reigniting the past through a brand-new faction storytelling method. Only USD 0.99 on Shobana Gomes' Bookstore: https://shobanagomesbookstore.blogspot.com.
Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend - shobana.
Wildsound Festival presents A Poetry Reading, The Long Road, by Shobana Gomes
WEEKEND READS JUST FOR YOU!
Here are some stories you'll love. Read them on @Inkitt. If you liked the stories, please press the heart-shaped like button on the left, and please write a review. I'd love to know your thoughts. The books are entered for contests, and I appreciate your support.
Falling in love with a North Indian will take you to the streets of Trivandrum and back to the shores of Malaysia. Come join me in this exhilarating love story. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1733283
The Frenchman & His Lady: https://www.inkitt.com/stories/689705. It was quite an embarrassing moment when Maria first met Morabad. The beautiful Maria was swimming in the stream that ran alongside her house when the dashing soldier came searching for insurgents hiding in the jungles nearby...
Gods of the Digital Commune: An inspiring story about a man who was brave enough to make his vision a reality. Read about Stewart Brand and the first paper internet. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1768939
Get your copy of The Faction Revolution Modules 1-3, and find out how I engage my readers by adding facts to fiction. Read compelling stories that include history and culture, that would reignite the past in a brand new storytelling method. Only USD0.99 on Shobana Gomes' Bookstore: https://shobanagomesbookstore.blogspot.com.
A look at Guyana's forefront, famously referred to as the Land of the Six Peoples, is an enigmatic experience. I had never experienced such astounding interest in learning about a country as I did when I visited Cuba years ago, which took me back to the 50s and 60s with its vintage cars, architecture, and lifestyles. There's such historical depth in these Caribbean nations that absolutely enchants me.
Ever since I landed a couple of days ago, I have been taken in by the hospitality and friendliness of the Guyanese people. Their smiles reflect their nature. The country is transitioning into quite the empire with the recent discovery of oil, its gold and diamond mines, and the various businesses that are economically adding to the country's fast growth - one of the fastest growing economies in the world now, I must say.
Guyana is a Commonwealth country and gained independence from the British 60 years ago in 1966. It is the only English-speaking nation in South America and is defined by its unique geographical location on the South American mainland, and is deeply entwined historically, culturally, and politically with the Caribbean. Guyana is a founding member of the Commonwealth and hosts the CARICOM (The Caribbean Community) headquarters.
Just to be clear, the CARICOM is a political and economic union of 15 member states and 5 associate members stretching from Belize to Guyana. CARICOM promotes regional integration and coordination of foreign policy to encourage functional cooperation in education and health, at the same time amplifying the Caribbean's collective voice on global issues like climate change, trade, and regional security.
Guyana's unique blend of ethnic groups consists of the East Indians (Indo-Guyanese), which makes up the largest ethnic group in the country and descend from the indentured labourers from India who were brought in by the British after the abolition of slavery. This group has influenced the country's politics, agriculture, music, and food.
Then we have the Africans (Afro-Guyanese) who were brought in from largely West Africa to work in the sugar plantations during the Dutch and British colonial rule. These people play a massive part in the cultural, urban, and administrative functions of the land.
The indigenous peoples - the Amerindians- are the original inhabitants of the land. This group comprises several distinct tribes, such as the Macushi, Wapishana, and Akawaio. They reside in the pristine and lush interiors and forested highlands.
The Portuguese were brought in from Madeira in the 19th century and have established a merchant class in commerce, business and retail sectors.
The Chinese arrived as early as the mid-1800s. Like the Portuguese, they moved from plantation labourers into the business sectors, influencing local commerce and cuisine.
Finally, we have the Europeans, mainly Dutch, French, and British, who were the early colonisers who built the architecture of the land, who make up the six peoples quotient.
Guyana also has a significant "mixed" population, which gives credence to its national motto, "One People, One Nation, One Destiny."
Guyana relies on its coastland and traditional resources to supplement livelihoods. Rice and sugarcane, mining of bauxite, gold, and diamonds, and the country's untamed rainforests, majestic Kaieteur Falls (pictured above), and the indigenous villages support community-led eco-tourism. Let's not forget the discovery of oil in the country, which has led to upscale living conditions for the people of this diverse nation.
Massive restoration and construction works are ongoing everywhere I look. The country is set to develop in a big way for the benefit of its people and make an indelible mark on the outside world.
Look out for my next instalment on this tiny, intriguing nation that has moved the writer in me. Thank you for reading, and have a happy week ahead.
-shobana-
READ OTHER NEWS:& VIEWS:
On SHOBANA (Poetry Blog) - To the Land of the Six Races:
I don't think our world will ever be the same again. Look at what's happened. Everywhere there's carnage. death, and devastating occurrences. A never-ending tragedy of all sorts. What's going to happen to our future? Will peace be in the shadows from now on, while we fight in the name of peace? How ironic is that? Wars and killings take place to attain peace. Couldn't it be done another way? Don't people talk till they find resolutions anymore? The Earth is reeling and fighting back to help nature survive. So it's not just you and him fighting; Earth has also joined the fray.
Who do we blame but ourselves? People have become hostile to each other, not caring even for the children. These days, staying alive is hard. There are so many out there who are willing to kill for money. When you question them, their reasons are shocking. They want money to better their lives, and so they kill people who are different - different faith, different dressing, different colour, different anything.
Why have we bred this intolerance into our children? They will carry them throughout their lives, becoming worse than their fathers or their father's father.
There's a reason why the blood that runs through our veins is the same colour. To show that we are all the same as humans. The diversity is there to show the beautiful colours of mankind. Their mother tongues carry their namesakes to the graves, so someday people will know that we share the same grave when our time is over. Different people who made a difference in our lives. They had different names and shared the same soil when buried.
I feel so much for what's happening around the world. Can't we save Earth in some way from the madness that has taken over people?
Here are some weekend reads you'll love: If you liked the stories, please press the heart-shaped like button on the left, and please write a review. The books are entered for contests, and I appreciate your support.
Falling in love with a North Indian will take you to the streets of Trivandrum and back to the shores of Malaysia. Come join me in this exhilarating love story. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1733283
Gods of the Digital Commune: An inspiring story about a man who was brave enough to make his vision a reality. Read about Stewart Brand and the first paper internet. https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1768939
The Faction Revolutionary Modules 1-3 is a great book to read and learn about the 'fact into fiction' storytelling method. The book comes with a free copy of Nature's Poems. Get it here: https://shobanagomesbookstore.blogspot.com.
Thank you for reading. Have a great weekend - shobana.
About a hundred miles south of Menlo Park, perched on the wild, rugged cliffs of Big Sur, sits Gorda Mountain. The untamed beauty is set in a landscape defined by dramatic cliffs that drop steeply into crashing ocean waves, where the constant flow of water rushes to the shores in outlandish motion.
Here in Gorda Mountain, overlooking the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, anyone could settle. Stewart Brand did just that. He treated the muddy, off-grid commune as a live-in laboratory, researching how people survived away from traditional infrastructure.
Brand became a cultural architect, bridging the gap between the sixties counterculture and the looming digital age. Armed with little more than an X-Acto knife, a typewriter, and a shoestring budget, he began compiling a revolutionary paper treasury known as the Whole Earth Catalog.
The Whole Earth Catalog is a mind-blowing invention which paved the way for the first global communication on paper.
On the day he got his insight, young Stewart Brand was sitting on a Victorian rooftop in North Beach, San Francisco, in the spring of 1966, when he noticed something amiss about the infrastructure before him. At the time, glass skyscrapers hadn't dominated the city. The 19th-century Victorian buildings were weathered, their grey and brown paint fading in parts, and packed tightly together.
His mind was hazy, and his eyes were glazed from the after-effects of LSD. A brisk, cold and biting breeze blew in from the bay when he concluded that the buildings weren't parallel. From the low roof, covered in tar and gravel, he stared out across the skyline. As the buildings rose towards the skies, they diverged slightly. And suddenly, across the horizon, he felt the terrestrial arc move beneath him.
In that fuzzy state of awareness, the truth struck him that we live on a sphere, and yet have not actually seen our own home from the outside.
He asked himself a simple question: Why haven’t we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet? He knew NASA would have a picture of the Earth, and yet it wasn't made public to the people who lived on the planet. Why?
The more he pondered the question, the more curious he became as to why an image of our planet wasn't accessible to us. He came up with a plan to have the question printed on twenty-five-cent buttons and mailed to NASA officials, Soviet scientists, and UN diplomats, which turned his plan into a movement. The movement connected us to the Whole Earth Catalog long before the internet. Brand built a paper universe, and decades later, Steve Jobs would perfectly capture its essence, calling it “Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along.”
Free to read on @Inkitt! Ever wondered what it takes to be a visionary? Read Stewart Brand's story. Dive into a legacy, a gift to our world and the world after us,
and his monumental 10,000-year clock hidden deep inside a mountain. Vote for the story to be a winner by liking and sharing the biography. Thank you.
There are pink roses blooming in the garden of a house where an aged woman who is ill lives. She was as gorgeous as the flower during her he...
The Faction Revolution Modules 1-3 (A revolutionary method of storytelling)
Fiction writing, the traditional way, can feel too distant, while traditional non-fiction writing can feel too mundane, almost boring to the readers. This is where Faction is the bridge, providing the legitimacy of facts with an emotional touch to a narrative. In this module, we move beyond "contemporary storytelling" into "Truth+Fiction, a revolutionary storytelling method that has worked for me to tell my stories. An unquestionable approach to adding facts within a fiction genre will allow you to preserve a veritable record of human history within a framework that is easy to consume and imagine. Faction is a pragmatic approach to a world losing its grip on historical truth. It has turned into a connective arc that ensures history remains alive, vibrant, believable, and, most importantly, relevant to the people of tomorrow. It is another way of ensuring that historical events and other factual information are widely read and disseminated. GET YOUR COPY FOR $0.99 at Shobana Gomes' Bookstore: https://shobanagomesbookstore.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-free-copy-of-nature-poems-with-every.html and get a FREE copy of Nature Poems)
Children of War
From Skopje to India
Majaorie, the Albanian, starts a new life. Read about her intriguing story.
