Stenches of the decaying copses,

wailing of the victims;

the wars encapsulating lands,

claiming innocent lives,

that leave not a soul spared.

The morality lies shrouded before our eyes and

humanity in tatters.

Sufferings,sufferings and more sufferings.

Is there any respite?

As you and I watch with crossed fingers

hoping for a new dawn to arise,

where there is no greed and no hatred.

With the debacle of peace in the world today, O! mankind regard my humble plea -'Do not use religion as an excuse to slay one another. Religion came 'to reform and to unite, not to deform and to divide.'

But men will be men and continue to err, without ever learning from the past. Sometimes, I question myself, are we even worth being called humans?If yes, then why are we so indifferent towards the agony of millions who are being mercilessly bombed and killed each day? If God exists, why does He seem so silent and so distant in this treacherous ordeal of humanity with tyranny? Last night, as I kept thinking and lamenting the horrific effects of war on our civilization, I found an answer to my query on God. We have probably angered Him way too much by our misdeeds and selfishness, that he abandoned us long time back to settle our own scores in this world, and what better way of settling scores than by killing one another to attain our vested interests. Bravo! Humans you have slain humanity after all.

What are we trying to prove to the world? The extent of destruction we can cause in one go or flaunting the quantity of lethal weaponry we posses or to show how lives are at the mercy of our command? I think we can not fall any lower than this. I'd like to challenge such nations, if they have so much in hoard then why not kill the real perpetrators and cleanse the earth of their menace? But why do they show the teaser of their nuclear might by targeting innocents; the helpless women and children. This is something, I completely fail to comprehend. Kill the terrorists, wipe out the mafia, put an end to the corrupt politicians and help resuscitate humanity. But no, we all want to be a part of this bloodied game of supremacy, so as to be at the top, to be able to dictate our terms, and force the rest of the world to kneel down before us, and satisfy our corrupt and selfish ego. We take pride in seeing countries trembling before us, and to fulfil our wild ambitions, we have resorted to all unethical means. Hardly do we realise, that greed is doomed forever. I earnestly hope that such malignant terms like- oppression and suppression, be erased from the world and peace be restored....that's my silent prayer.

Let's forsake the current wave of global unrest for sometime, and talk about mightier concepts we have grown up reading, say for example, terms like democracy. Despite, growing up in the world's largest democracy, I have always been sceptical regarding its real implementation. Ironically in India, democracy is nothing more than a chimerical phenomenon. Even in a socially conservative country like mine, voters are being enticed by all means, booze, bribes, journalistic lies, to name a few; all sponsored by our dear politicians. During the 2014 elections, it is reported that the election officials seized around 22.5 million litres of illegal liquor, $52 million in cash, in addition, 400,000 pounds of marijuana and heroin- all illicit tactics to woo and buy the voters. Investigations are on for a further 3,553 allegations that the political candidates bribed media to give them positive coverage, the practice referred to as 'paid news'. Keeping aside politics, and talking about day to day life, democracy seems to be beneficial only for the rich or the 'haves' of the society. In general, any country where your rights are being constantly denied to you, where you can't freely walk, where you can't freely express your views lest you be caught and thrashed, where women are not safe, where there is an exploitation of the poor or the 'have-nots' and, where all the rules and laws are enforced upon the middle class while the rich are exempted, where you are killed in the name of honour if you dare to fall in love etc, etc, how can such a society boast of being democratic? And here, I am talking about the so called real democracy whose definition we have been mugging up since childhood. I now realise, what we read and parroted all these years, was nothing but a hypocritical idea of democracy; a preposterous notion!

As I was getting convinced that no such thing as 'ideal democracy' exists, I happened to land up in Germany and things began falling into place. Not that it was my first encounter with Europe, previously too, I had lived in Europe but those countries were predominantly Catholic, not very acceptive of other religions. Germany proved to be a complete contrast, very accommodative of people irrespective of their religion or no religion. Here, I can be myself without having to worry about what I wear or whom I hang out with; in other words, Germany ensures you, your own time and space, which we all need but seldom get. As part of my profession, I read a lot and believe me, the more I do research on present day Germany, the more and more I keep falling in love with it. The sense of freedom and security which I have experienced here is no match to all the lands I have lived or travelled so far.

Last year, I followed the federal elections of Germany closely. I was so impressed by the straightforward and no false promises manifestos of different political parties. Angela Merkel's election posters depicted her in her usual dignified de meaner with a plain yet so effective party slogan- ' Successful together'. 'Together ' which implied collectively all the people, not barring a few or including a few, no! together stood for all the citizens of Germany, no matter what caste, what creed, what religion, they belong to. The entire elections reflected no mud slinging, no blame games, no misuse of resources, just a simple and a direct electoral procedure.

Germany's non participation in global arms race or its abstinence from the league of nuclear superpowers is another worth mentioning feature. A few days back, out of curiosity I google searched the list of most peaceful countries of the world based on peace index. The list that popped up brought a sarcastic smile on my face, and the next moment, I decided to close the page. The countries that topped the chart of being the most peaceful were clearly the ones that have robed away the peace of so many other countries. Bottom line- not everything on the internet can be trusted.

Since, I live in Germany I would rather talk about life here. What I truly admire about this country is the uniform set of rules for all, irrespective of the class, in other words, rich enjoy no special privileges. Everyone is equal before the law.

And who says diplomacy is bad, it is the trait of the intelligent. I live in Aachen which borders with Netherlands and Belgium, but never have I seen any check post barriers along its borders with Netherlands and Belgium, or the Polizei vans being deployed. The Germans, the Dutch and the Belgians, live in complete harmony with one another. Even during the FIFA world cup, I saw the flags of so many other participating countries in Aachen and not a single case of violence. This is what is meant by 'peaceful coexistence' which comes from tolerance and acceptance of others irrespective of their origin, religion or culture. Further, the Deutsch-Fußballmannschaft (Germany's football team)has set a perfect example of multiculturalism. It comprises players of different ethnicities and backgrounds, coming together and playing as one team, for one nation in a truly remarkable, and an absolutely delightful manner. I observed that all the countries that played in the world cup relied too much on their master players except for Germany that relied entirely on its team and eventually lifted the world cup trophy. That is the spirit of Germany and we are all proud of it.

To all those who single out Germany and repeatedly attack it for its harrowing past, I would simply like to tell them; One-it's politically incorrect to forever drag Germany in the picture, even when there is no co relation. Two- judge anything by its present not by its past. Every nation has produced home grown tyrants and many have produced in surplus, refer to history if you lack knowledge. Present day Germany stands firm and tall on its belief to be a peacemaker in the world. It is one of the few countries that shows olive branch for restoration of peace and harmony in the world.