Left: Afghan refugee girls wait for their turn to come to get food in Herat, Emergency aid arrived by road and air for some 80,000 Afghans who have fled their homes. They are scared of US bombs falling from above.  Right: Afghani children walk into a basement used as a shelter to protect them from U.S. and British military strikes in Kabul, Afghanistan. No one knows if they ever came out of this when US dropped cluster bombs and Daisy cutters! Part of statistical 'Collateral Damage', for some mothers.

   Their dark sunken eyes still have a gleam of hope as they hold out their little hands for a coin or two. As the fortunate living souls with their bellies full descend the steps of the elaborately decorated meal house across the street, the relentless sun is blazing hot and thick black smoke billowed from the passing traffic, paint agony on their little faces. It could be many hours before they find a fistful of rice to end their starving.

The satellite images trickling down into our living rooms have those staring eyes haunting our conscience. As we watch, a bombshell blast off somewhere in the background and in shock the stumble over and run in fear to hold onto their mother's hand. We find them in the midst of rubble of their own shattered homes, perhaps searching for their beloved toys, crushed by the so called adults.

Our children…Those precious little ones deserve a better care in a world that is fraught with violence and hatred. The innocent victims of war crimes and adult exploitations; it is an irony that many children around us are doomed to terrible misfortunes through no fault of their own. Caught up in the middle of a family feud, marriage breakups and poverty, many children around the world are being subjected to sufferings of physical and emotional abuses which often go unnoticed by virtue of their inability to express pain and trauma like grown ups.

In the quiet of the night, I look at my own little ones, one of them is fast asleep, unaware of the strange ways, the world has chosen to follow…in his dreams he's probably joined up with the beautiful princess of a fairy tale, I read to him a while ago. For a moment my thoughts wander towards a hapless toddler somewhere out in the darkness, sleeping alone in the cold with an empty stomach, his cheeks stained with tears. And then another feeble voice asks me ," Mama would you tell me a story ?" It's my second daughter. I get a lump in my throat and sharp pain pierce through my heart. I curse myself for my helplessness and a horrible sense of guilt starts creeping into my mind. I try to close my eyes for something to believe in…hoping for a miracle to happen that might bring much needed Peace and Sanity on this Earth. A Miracle...which by definition is a coincidence where God chooses to remain anonymous.

The reason that I still believe in miracles is because I have seen quite a few in my lifetime, most dramatic of them being the pulling down of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War. If a decade or two ago, had someone told me that the Berlin Wall will come down or the Cold War will end,I would have laughed my head off, but now all I can say is, "Yes! I have seen an elephant fly!"

We live in a changing world where quite often our values and principles are tarnished by compromise, our conscience blunted by a potent combination of circumstances and image building. Words like loyalty, integrity and dedication seems to be old fashioned, all that matters is the image you portray - your public relations count more than your inner potential. Well, I personally think it's time to shed the shackles of designer wear, accept each other pot belly et.al. Let's have more of straight talking and less management double speak. Let's have more sincere people who are honest to themselves and others. Let's be more open and more giving. I believe that has to be the New World Order and nothing else can work.

And yes, let's save our adulation for everyday heroes and heroines we meet in our lives and not waste it on farcical facades of royalty, Hollywood or Bollywood stars.

Let us acknowledge the quiet miracles and pray for more to take place in our lives.

Let  us not forget the One who chooses to remain unseen and anonymous.