There are approximately 56K people working in my city, Somerville, MA. In the adjoining town of Cambridge, MA, 190K pay property taxes. In an informal calculation of about 246K people who might consider donating $5 (five dollars USD) to CAAS (Community Action Agency of Somerville), the outcome would be $1,230,000.

That amount, the price of a cup of coffee, can probably offset the lack of federal dollars to an organization that directly provides tangible assistance to families in need —-housing assistance, Head Start and day care, tax preparation, community organizing, and advocating for affordable housing.

I don’t use this platform to promote anything except my writing but I make this an exception because I know this organization very well and have a lot of admiration and faith in its leadership. I was chatting with David Gibbs , the executive director, who I have known for more than a decade, and the topic of public and private funding came up.

A cup of coffee can make a difference.

Some notes on pleasure and pain

 I was eleven. After many years of regularly suffering, I had my tonsils removed. At Dr. Sen’s Nursing Home, a private clinic in the Woodlands neighborhood of then Calcutta. It wasn’t traumatic, in fact it was an overnight adventure. The doctor even let me stand at the doorway of the operating room while he performed the surgery on some other child my age. I was given ice cream—not scooped, not served ceremoniously, but hacked off a frozen slab and placed before me like a prescription. It was a three-in-one slab, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. I remember the weight of it, the blunt cold against a throat still raw.

I long for that pleasure now, when the pain clenching my chest is from the shameless cruelty of excess that the country I live in seems to be gripped with. What grows sharper in old age is the longing for pleasure, the avoidance of pain. Or rather, the conditions under which pleasure becomes visible. It no longer requires abundance or novelty, only relief: the taste of good ramen, biriyani with potatoes and mutton, from Kolkata, sentences from a book that trill, scenes from a film glimmer in a darkened auditorium. Pleasure now is an act of permission, not indulgence. In old age, that logic returns. Pleasure no longer pretends to be innocent. It knows what it is for. It is to keep cruelty at bay. This may be why memory, in later life, rearranges itself around small mercies. Not triumphs, not turning points, but moments when the body was briefly absolved of its demands.

Even then, pleasure arrived tethered to pain. It was not a reward but a balm. The ice cream did not erase the soreness; it made it bearable.

Thirty-one years in a house teaches you the grammar of endurance. The banister remembers my palm; the floorboards keep my hesitancies. Selling it feels less like a transaction than a loosening—rooms exhaling, objects asking to be forgiven for having been loved. An independent living community promises lightness, fewer keys, fewer decisions masquerading as freedom. I tell myself that independence can be collective without becoming lonely, that a smaller life is not a smaller self. Still, I pack books as if they were proof, and linger in doorways like a child at a threshold, tasting the air for what might be lost.

I am a brown man in a country that is now mercurially schizophrenic of my kind. I find the irony of being fluent in the mores of this society as well as my birth country more pronounced now than when I came here fifty-five years ago. And the fact that I take reading seminars in totemic literature of the Western world taught by a woman from a distant land who immigrated without any knowledge of English at age six. She is, in my experience, the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic provisioner of seminal Western literature.

What I have learned is that to exist among others is already to participate in their fate. Because our lives are intertwined—through action, omission, benefit, and inheritance—we bear responsibility not only for what we do, but for the conditions we help sustain. Guilt here is not legal blame or personal shame; it is an ethical awareness of interdependence. To recognize it is not to despair, but to accept that responsibility begins before intention and extends beyond innocence. I learnt it, perhaps, in reading Dostoevsky with the woman who a few decades ago spoke no English: “Each of us is guilty before everyone, for everything”

Perhaps this is why that slab of ice cream remains so vivid. It was my earliest lesson in a truth I would spend a lifetime circling: that pleasure is most honest when it acknowledges pain, when it does not deny the wound but cools it. That what we remember, in the end, are not the grand delights but the moments when the world briefly made sense of our suffering and met it halfway.

What I resist most is the drag of collective guilt—the way a nation can act, loud and unapproved, and leave its citizens holding the receipt. There is a fatigue to being implicated by proximity, to being told that silence is consent and speech is betrayal. I want a civic life that does not demand my constant shame. I want accountability to feel like repair. I practice a quieter dissent: attention to a few, refusal to ignore suffering, the small ethics of daily conduct.

So I return, oddly, to the ice cream. To the lesson that relief can be simple and shared without becoming numbing. That there are pleasures which do not absolve but restore, which make room for the next responsible act. Moving on, not escaping, like healing, is not erasure; it is a careful cooling of what hurts so we can swallow again. I carry forward what I can: the courage to downsize without shrinking, the hope that my life—like the country I live in —might yet learn to govern itself with care.

(Photographs courtesy of the author. All Rights Reserved. Reproductions without permission prohibited)

The cost of a monthly subscription is the same as a cup of coffee in metropolitan city

“I consider a painting to be a quick glance at reality. A light bulb that turns on and then turns off." (~ Pietro Lista)

Let's get two things out of the way. First, I know that the person closest and dearest to me was a " winner" in the Green card lottery decades ago. And, secondly, I am always searching for the light and as the new year is forthcoming , it is of great importance to me.

As I roam around Naples, Italy, and a few neighboring places, the past is shivering in its immediacy. We aren't the first of humankind to face rogues, dictatorial cruelty, and futures unbeknownst to us.

A few days ago, I sauntered through the Archeological Museum of Naples, one of the world's greatest collection of Western antiquities. The collections from Pompeii and Herculaneum predates the volcanic gauze of 79 A.D. from Vesuvius on these cities.

Through gargantuan efforts by archaeologists and restorers and all manner of experts, hundreds, thousands even, of everyday objects and icons of city life have been preserved in staggering majesty. Western antiquity is no longer dusty and hot. It's important to draw the distinction since Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus Valley civilization predates Pompeii and Herculaneum by close to 2,000 years.

What was the state of the world in the 5th century B.C.?

The very truncated version is as follows:

Mediterranean & Europe

Ancient Greece

• Athens and Sparta repel invasions by the Persian Empire (Marathon, Salamis, Plataea).

• Golden Age of Athens under Pericles:

• Democracy expands (for male citizens).

• The Parthenon is built.

• Drama flourishes: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes.

• Philosophy begins to formalize:

• Socrates teaches in Athens (later executed in 399 B. C.)

• Peloponnesian War (431–404 B.C.) Athens vs. Sparta, weakening the Greek world.

Rome

• Still a young Roman Republic.

• Struggles between patricians and plebeians shape early republican institutions.

• Rome is regional, not yet imperial.

Near East & Central Asia

Persian Empire

• The largest empire yet seen, stretching from India to Egypt.

• Rulers include Darius I and Xerxes I.

• Innovations in:

• Administration and taxation

• Roads (Royal Road)

• Religious tolerance

• Zoroastrian ideas (good vs. evil, moral choice) circulate widely.

South Asia

Indian Subcontinent

• Period of the Mahajanapadas (large kingdoms and republics).

• Buddha (Siddharth Gautama) and Mahavira (Jainism) teach in the late 6th–5th centuries B.C.

• Concepts of karma, rebirth, renunciation, and nonviolence gain  understanding

• Oral traditions that will form the Upanishads circulate

East Asia

China

• Eastern Zhou Dynasty, during the Spring and Autumn Period.

• Political fragmentation, but extraordinary intellectual creativity:

• Confucius (551–479 B.C. ) teaches ethics, ritual, and social harmony.

• Early Daoist ideas emerge (later associated with Laozi).

• Foundations of Chinese moral and political philosophy are laid.

Africa

Egypt

• Under Persian rule for much of the century.

• Egyptian religious and cultural traditions continue despite foreign governance.

Carthage

• A powerful Phoenician city-state dominating western Mediterranean trade.

• Expands influence in North Africa, Sicily, and Iberia.

The Americas (Pre-Columbian)

• Olmec civilization has declined, but its cultural legacy persists in Mesoamerica.

• Early urban societies developing in what is now Mexico and Central America.

Historians say that the 5th century B.C.  was important because :

• The birth of democracy (Athens)

• The foundations of Western philosophy

• Major world religions and ethical systems taking shape (Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism)

• The rise and strain of large empires

• The idea that human society could be governed by reason, ethics, and law, not just divine command

Many historians call this part of the “Axial Age”—a moment when human thought pivoted toward introspection, ethics, and universality.

In our last century, the 20th, we made quantum leaps in knowledge and creativity.

I asked AI to formulate total number of deaths in the 5th century. Given the population, it calculated approximately 420 million.

And the 20th? With population increases as well as our capacity for cruelty ~ genocide, famine, wars, epidemics~ the number suggested is 5.5 billion.

The point here is that we humans have the facility to seek the light as much as our capacity to suffer. Each and every one of us. Seek the sublime. Seek  beauty. Revel in it and embrace what is of goodness and comfort.

Each of us has the potency to define all of that for ourselves.

If you cook. Cook

If you look at wildflowers. Look at them even more closely.

If you write. Write.

If you do yoga and Pilates. Do yoga and Pilates.

If you watch basketball. Watch basketball.

If you are lonely, keep trying to connect. You are not alone.

Always keep the light that propels you toward kindness, goodness, generosity and love aflame.

Even when the jackboots are near. Especially when the jackboots are near.

One day these jackboots will not exist. They'll be others. Teach your children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren to keep the light in view. They too will hear jackboots.

To all ~ a year ahead filled with your personal light.

(ALL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE COURTESY OF AUTHOR. REPRODUCTIONS WITHOUT PERMISSION IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN)

I, as an immigrant in a corner of the world 8000 miles away from Italy, still look at immigrant faces and tries to travel the miles they have.

I see immigrants everywhere in  Naples. Chinese, Thai, various African countries, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis ( all these I can identify by looking) . Sometimes when I ask for directions or clarifications on the street, I get asked about my nationality. It's easier to say Indian than U.S . passport-holder!

Though I see immigrants working everywhere and speaking Italian, I do think of the  Meditarranean crossings from Africa, though far fewer in recent years, is still considerable. About 67,000 migrants arrived in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route in 2024 — a 59% drop compared with previous years.  Migrants from African countries such as Niger, Burundi,   As well Indians, Pakistanis, Eritreans, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Egyptian. In dangerously over-crowded unseaworthy vessels. Their desire is profound. We who are economic refugees of a sort, are leisure travelers compared to them.

With AI's assistance, here's the breakdown:

The visual chart shows Mediterranean crossings from Africa to Italy (Central Mediterranean route), comparing:

• 2024 full year

• 2025 January–July

• 2025 January–September

How to read it:

• The sharp drop from 2024 to early 2025 reflects tighter controls and fewer departures.

• The rise by September 2025 shows the strong seasonal rebound during spring–summer crossings.

• Even with lower totals, the numbers remain historically high for a single sea route.

🔹 1. Western Balkan Route → Italy (via Slovenia)

This is by far the most important land migration path connected to Italy:

• Migrants travel from Turkey → Greece/Bulgaria and onward through North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Croatia.

• They then cross the border into Slovenia and move toward Italy’s northeastern regions (e.g., Friuli-Venezia Giulia near Trieste and Gorizia).

France ↔ Italy Transit

Although not a direct entry from outside the EU, many migrants reach Italy (by sea or by land) and then attempt to cross the Italy–France border (e.g., Ventimiglia) to go north.

3. Routes via Switzerland and Austria

Migrants who arrive in northern Italy sometimes travel onward across:

• Italy → Switzerland (e.g., Como border)

• Italy → Austria (e.g., Brenner Pass)

These are largely onward transit paths rather than direct external entries into the EU.

Top nationalities (in land crossings):

• Afghan, Moroccan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Syrian.

They are all---ALL--- looking for the same things I and my friends did: security, a better life and standard of living, educational opportunities, diversified employment.

Reality is always more scruffy and frayed than what we imagine.

Let's start with air travel. Sixty, seventy years ago it was for the elites. Today, access for most has turned it into Greyhound flying buses. It's crowded for sure and I even got missed being served a meal on an international flight. The brutal capitalism of airline profits puts me, the paying customer, but not the most expensive, at the bottom. I barely made an international flight connecting at JFK because the Boston flight was delayed for some spurious reason. No one seemed upset; except me.

So here I am on a train from Rome airport to Rome Termini to catch a fast-train to Naples. But first, Rome airport. Gone are the days when Western airports were models of efficiency. No more.

( I must stop for awhile. My train is pulling into Roma Termini, ruins on my left and zigzag of tracks and glistening trains ).

Rome airport has installed a ton of kiosks for digital passport verification and finger printing. Unfortunately, few work properly. So we are forced to look for a human who can stamp your passport. The lines, you guessed it, are very long and the electronic passport verification is done by a human who has the magic touch. It reminded me of labor-intensive India except the international airports in India are very well organized.

I always enjoyed the frenetic energy of Roma Termini and the hundreds of trains, the accurate departure boards. Today is a bit trying. You have to know the system. I had everything except the platform number and to locate the train number out of the swirling names on multiple boards is . . . well . . . sweat-inducing. And what else did India prepare me for? Crowded trains!

But it's Italy. And Rome. And Naples and all that awaits me. Travel is to experience the new; not the familiar.

And just when I thought that humans aren't helpful, a woman and a guy rearranged luggage and made space for my luggage.

Gentilezza!

(All photographs courtesy of author. All Rights Reserved)