Double Snake Attack

What a terryfying dream,  three weeks ago i dreamt of two snake attack of giagantic proportion. The first was a man standing by the shore and from an aerial view I saw a snake appear from the depths swam towards the shore and grabbed the man from his torso before gulping him down. Afterwards there appeared a frog seemed to be jumping about on the rocks, it was a big frog and a snake appeared and swallowed the whole frog. So much for dreams man I woke up the next morning and started thinking why would dream of such a strange and

Liberate or Divide

When I chose the title of this blog I never thought of the other side of its meaning, the liberating side. In the old intellect it would been have held as the dividing concept in the divide and conquer tactic. But after pondering on it for few months longer, it clearly reveals the other side of it as a liberating factor. First thing that hits my mind is double edged sword. The idea that it was used as a tactic to conquer has been rather paralleld or entwined with the fundamental craving of any human being to be free from oppression, any form for that matter. Now lets delve on the liberating side of it. Mainasereka if you take it apart would look something like Mai-Na-Sereka, Mai-Give, Na-That, Sereka-Allow to run riot. I guess by now the meaning has somehow changed which shows the different dimension to the Itaukei language when taken apart or fragmented for better perception into the whole, you get what I mean the totality of the word. AsI try and get more into the liberating factor I'm more troubled by the fact I'm revealing an ancient wisdom not meant for the mass lest it be taken asunder and its meaning lost to the ages for who knows who might with the same vigour to find some meaning to his or her origins. If it is true that the birth place of Polynesian ancestry is from Pulotu South East of Viti Levu revered by Tongans as the abode of their ancient gods and the place of origin of Polynesian culture and civilisation and the Tui Pulotu Empire which once held it as their base in the Pacific it lives alot to be complacent about. I believe it's time I changed the title to a more time relevant title. I ask the question at the verge of unravelling the true meaning or what I thought to be its true meaning I find some hidden meaning which as always has disputed my thinking that there was never any ancient wisdom and continuously I'm challenged everyday. If at any time I thought out of sincerity to shed some light into our history I'm just wrapping up here and saving all of you the trouble.

I'll dig at my own respite.

MAINASEREKA

 

The Irony of Christianity.

160 years or so ago when Fijians accepted Christianity as it's new religion, our ancestors laid their clubs hung their beliefs and old religion and accepted the almighty GOD as their deliverer from the darkness that consumed their land from the time they knew of their existence in these lands until the first contact. I for one believe the dawning of the light not only brought renewed strength but the WORD has found its lost people in a far flung corner of the earth. Fast forward today the realization of tribes who really accepted Christianity and the notion that its teachings brought reason, prosperity and common belief that every man regardless of color or creed have their freedom and well-being in their keeping, is beginning to emerge with astonishing vigor. For those that accepted it for political or tribal supremacy back then have to be tracked and realized that maybe these are the confusing factors within a society. The heart of the land is its people, if the hearts of its people are found to be deceitful with malice there is certainly discord and unevenness in every sector of human development. Our social evolution will go hand in hand with our progressive morals.  

Mapping the routes

A while ago or maybe 2 years ago since being involved in photogrammetry I sort of came upon this notion or thought in the possibility of using the photogrammetric process, a significant one would be the tie points in identifying similar features in our culture customs and language concentrating on a particular race as the subject of study.Of course in the final process it would be orientated to its supposed layout and using geographical landmass as backdrop, further analysis could then be made to map there routes. 

Government Shut Down

The first time I heard instrument used in law terms I was curiously awakened by its handling in this case. Sort of gave me another perspective on how things are. An instrument to my rigid and basic understanding from school meant a tool or contraption utilised to create, move or change the spatial property of something thats something I thought was the basic use of instruments. When I started thinking about it as a tool my view on laws started to explore its association with people. Sort of gave a commanding tone or the image of a disciplinarian but then again an instrument that curbs chaos......You would be guessing the comparison to the title well, a master of certain instruments is capable of that.

   

Has it begun.....

I've been having this dream lately and it has taken sometime for me to find a meaning to it. On certain nights I dream of a man with a war club in his hands, it slips from its stem to its holding grip. On those nights it would be the same.I would ponder on tht thought, is it a call to arms or a sign of an impending disaster in the horizon.... The stance of a weapon sometimes signifies its status of action I believe military ways could testify to this....But then this morning the book of Amos 7 & 8 sheds some light into this .......  

Tribute to my old man....

 

Isaiah 59:15

This morning I read this verse and it struck me that it seems our current status is such......once again the WORD has withstood the test of time, isn't it astounding.

Twisters

Past couple of days started contemplating on this.Why is it that sometimes people tend to compare human emotions to natural disasters? The violent ones or the hurting ones, ANGER, JEALOUSY, RAGE and others which I cannot mention now. Lets try and elaborate on one. Twisters or Tornadoes and malicious rumours based on jealousy, anger. The devastation caused by both can be fatal and massive. A twister or tornadoe in the physical world rips, tears and lays its victims miles from where it was geographically altering its location. The latter wreaks havoc on humans emotional well being, destabilises or shakes and unsettles ones foudation. Rumours have a way of twisting the truth at the dispensation of the propagator, the damages are always vast and takes years to amend depending on the perceived credibility of the propagator. Reminds me of a verse in Proverbs 22 : 1, Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than silver and gold. We are born into a world with its natural disasters and according to earth scientists this is the way that the eco system maintains its balance so in a way it is unavoidable so the only way is to build stronger structures or ones that can compensate the force brought by this natural catastrophe. Compensating is sort of a forecasting thing anticipating the dangers that they possess and implementing measures to minimize or totally nullifying the damages.

 Lets continue this later....

Patience and the bait.

I remembered a long time ago back in my primary school days, it was beneath the wooden buildings. We would wound up cobwebs on some sticks and would start lowering them on this small volcanic shaped mounds and would compete, who manages to the hook the most insects that dwelled on those mounds. I would sometimes marvel at the skills we've acquired in being engaged in this activity and sometimes laugh when I would think back at those days, the concentration and the time spent in catching these little creatures we gave them their name the 'leka'. As soon as the recess bell rang, the enthusiatic 'leka' catchers would race beneath their classrooms to be at the place where most mounds would be, experience had been gained in identifying what sizes would be inhabiting which mounds and the task resumes.
From those innocent days recalling them reminded me of where some valuable lessons in life can be taught. Recalling those memories and overlaying it with some current situations the comparison is sometimes astounding but everybody has their different memories to overlay with their daily encounters. 

Create and Counter

Think about this. I somehow picked this up with all the ramblings happening around. I just came up with this findings, I hope you'll find a good time finding the answer, I know its happening, well the net is spreading wider. Let me give you hint that could be used as a comparison something along that line. "Eating your own pie." Well its working for some.

Peace out.

Time to scatch those fleas.

I once heard this saying being said by someone in a movie sought of explaining to the other guy his intentions of getting rid of someone or something. The context of comparing his uncomfortable situation as to the pestilence behaviour of a flea aroused my curiousity as to why the comparison to a small, tiny insect. As always I started tapping on the google tab to give me some hits on this tiny insect. Well I mght have been disappointed because I thought all the quotes on fleas would be detrimental to the little bug. But to my surprise I found out it had some positive remarks about it. I won't show them, just search on google. Okay back to the quote above, well in this instance we'll take it that the flea was a nuisance and it had to be taken care of, not killed but scratched. The idea was to get rid of it, dispense. It had been sucking the blood out of its host so what he meant was taking care of the situation was like taking care of a flea problem.

There goes my post.   

When Love Conquered

I've had this as a draft from last year and the time must be right to carry on and finish this piece and immortalise it.

I for one will not attempt to argue or dispute this point. This is dedicated to a special person whom I met a long time ago on the same path maybe through fate or circumstances but cannot deny the fact of divine intervention. The notion of love has been researched, pondered upon, studied to the extent that there are even devoted followers who have dedicated their life to its study, a whole lifes work. I will try and attempt to unravel a story which I thought would shed some light in the power of love.
Once a young girl met this young man both staggerring into this beatiful and yet tricky world of love and life. I'm saying staggering (I believe she wasn't) because the meeting place was at a water hole frequented by night revelers of that city with a specific kinda taste in music and drinks, the now music so to speak. So this meeting was something special for the young man as it would also change his life and also the destructive path that it was leading him to. The path to redemption might just have been shown to the boy that night. So here's how it all happened. He came into the bar with some old school mates, one of his old school boy was at the bar, they knew each other only by faces but the camaraderie is very much intact. Drinks were flowing and the young man mustered up enough courage to get up on the pole and started performing some circus tricks, I guess at the time he was fit and actively involved in contact sport (rugby league), judging from the acts, he had good upper body strength, who does a horizontal extention on a bar with his legs straight out, who wouldn't be impressed, the alcohol must be kicking in too.The impressing part was he never fell or disturbed the other guests who were standing close by while at it. But sure enough he had drawn some attention after quite a few numbers and amongst those impressed ladies was that medium sized, curly haired nicely layed out and eyes that was kinda mysterious but gives off that slight expression of friendliness that would let a young mans guard down. It was after a very nice and groovy song that he came down and the girl walked straight up to him and hugged him, speechless and a little bit exhausted from impresing the ladies which was not his intentions but just partying like he knows how, they stood there entangled in eternity as if they didn't care about the rest of the people there. They just stood there still hugging each other as if either one of them has just been reunited with a long lost cousin or something but sure enough it had purpose. Then the  girl releases from the embrace and asks if she could just go to the wash room and be back. The young man waits and ponders at the circumstances that has led to the situation and what next after that. What could be more demanding then trying to measure up all the possibilities of having a relationship with this lovely girl. Then the young boy decided it would be wise to let the girl carry on with her life and left, I guess the girl would have been surprised when she came out of the rest room he was no where to be found for the young man had stepped out reluctantly but knew that at that stage he was in no condition to start a relationship, just couldn't drag her to the life that he was in at the moment. She'd sure be lost and lose her luster. In the days that followed she ignited a flame that would conquer the world with its power, its purity and its beauty, expressing her love in a way she felt the young man might pick up and try and usher him back to her. She worked for this TV company and had this gig going anchoring for this program on latest musics what would be termed nowadays as a videojockey. And on those programmes she would string out a combination of songs that would be the melodies of her expression and it resonated to the young man sitting at home watching TV in a way that it made his heart heavy and he felt it alright. The girl found a way to get through and in doing so she captivated others who caught on and it sought of became viral, anyone who caught on got captivated and it took the world unaware as if it had been sleeping and the people found their meaning and purpose. Time passed and they passed each other on the streets and glances exchanged, nobody made a move but the songs kept on playing and all of a sudden they knew that something extraordinary was happening just from the circumstances they were in. Even nature seemed to behave in a precarious way. And slowly as the saying goes "time heals a wounded heart" . The young girl moved on without knowing or had been soothed by friends with stories that would see her through that period got married to a good man and had kids. The young man turned himself around, changed his life some of it, but still enjoys his beer got married to a good woman had kids and they lived their lives to its fullest.

People say Love Conquers but have never felt its power or seen its potential, its like I'm lecturing here...it is a wonder to marvel at its force and power the way it ripples and shakes the thoughts and moves people to perform in astounding ways and its indirect effects leaves traces of its footprints along them.....I can only marvel at how much it can achieve, it is truly a gift from God wielded by his true servants for only they have witnessed, dared and felt its power and the places where it is kindled is like venturing into the devils lair and draggin' it out of him.

Hope you have managed.

Ezekiel

A warning worth heeding: Chapters 2,3,4. Read this moning and made perfect sense.

Paternal Discrepancy

A while ago I read the betrayal of a husband by his wife in that he never knew he was raising somebody elses son until he encountered an incident during his boys' baseball game. Just as his boy was about to bat, he stood up to cheer his boy on but suddenly there was someone else who stood up and the resemblence was almost unmistakeable and started shouting and cheering as well. What happened was he went home, didn't finish his sons game and started on a fact finding mission and booked for a paternity test to determine who the father really is. Results came out and all the worst fears was realised, he was not the father, confronted his wife who denied point blank but the test was there. The term used for this type of thing is "paternity discrepancy". Knowing the truth is the onus of the concerned father himself. How do you react when the truth is revealed? Is the human intellect capable of forgiving such betrayal? Well one things for sure, failure to find out the truth might mean your genes end with you, it doesn't make you wonder why our ancestors had many wives, it could have been the fact that spreading the net so to speak would bolster their chances of survival but some might disagree, hey, we are not all the same actually some battles are fought this way to breed the other side to extinction. We have come so far but looking at our history when the Radini Levuka, the Vunivalu of Bau Ratu Nailatikau's wife was impregnated by Niumataiwalu founder of the Vuanirewa clan one would think that the child would have been killed with his father but it wasn't the case, Ratu Nailatikau raised the child himself and later became Vunivalu himself. But then again the prupose of him raising the child and whether he had other wifes who bore him sons is yet to be known because only Ratu Banuve seems to be prominent in digital records.
Lets head back to the the topic and delve more on its inception how it is brought about, infidelity, promiscuity the casual, sex friends with benefits and many more feel free to drop some in. Okay but the thing is the search for the truth is always the painful part but for I wouldn't settle for nothing less, if my wife is involved in infidelity I wouldn't mind hearing the truth, it won't kill me life goes on although years of trust gone down the drain but its always better late then never. Rise again and move on. 

Concocted Peace

On a far away land where skirmishes and killing was part of everyday living the more advanced or should I say the civilised side decided to put together a plan not only for the safety of their wealth but their future as well. The rest of the world was becoming tired of tyrants and oppression and the UN has just been formed for its purpose of expelling notions of dictatorialship and the assurance that the world conforms to a certain principle that every race regardless of differences has a right to live peacefully in the world. The leaders of the one side knew that it would be time before the rest of the world would be looking into their backyard. So a plan was weaved to infiltrate the other race without them noticing any difference and in turn unite them without fighting, this is a case almost similar to a cancer but this one the virus is planted and it weakens or diverts them to the required path. So they found one of the other factions own to do the deed for them. He goes through a scrutinised process to ensure no one becomes the wiser. Lead the country, end the war and bring about a smooth transition of leadership through the guise of peace. It is a tactic which could be brought about by the determination to survive on the other hand for the unsuspecting party its almost like watching a predator stalk and kill its prey, the depressing part is that that person and his lot stand to gain but the rest of their people are weakened further to the extremes of silence.  

A life of debt

 Living in debts could be one of the worst feelings that one could have, I didn't say the worst but one of the worst. Now that I have been ridden with it and trying to fight my way out of it, I felt it was my own negligence that has gotten me this way. Laziness, negligence, disregard and slackness seemed to be the order of the day for sometime now a trait which I have felt has crept in. From this experience I would rather not go through an ordeal such as this again. I know I'm not the only one, after appying for a refinance I was somehow surprised at the amount of files stacked with declined written on the paper band that held those file. It was thick enough that I knew if that girl carried it, she might have back cramps, that brought a little relief but still the thing is I didn't care about the debt but how I ended up to be such a wimp with that debt makes me doubting myself........  

The Wicked Man

 

“I am a wicked man... But do you know, gentlemen, what was the main point about my wickedness? The whole thing, precisely was, the greatest nastiness precisely lay in my being shamefully conscious every moment, even in moments of the greatest bile, that I was not only not a wicked man but was not even an embittered man, that I was simply frightening sparrows in vain, and pleasing myself with it.”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground

Customary Proceedings

I could have chosen a better topic to accompany the change in name of my blog but I felt this was worthy enough. Sometimes it feels as though I'm looking for a tool that fits the job.......hmm
It is a talked about issue nowadays for the Itaukei communities how we are coping with our traditional obligations as opposed to our domestic or family responsibilities. Nowadays the main factor is how hard one is able to cope with the costs of attending to these obligations and upholding our traditions. This has lead to the attempted reseaches by various institution to bring to light the issues surrounding these complications of the Itaukei way of life. The question is, are traditions based or governed by a set of rules that determines its acceptance in a society or is it made to depict the nature of that society and its surroundings or is it a divine structure that we adhere to with strict attention to its details. Sometimes I ponder and realise this is just our doing.
During a talanoa session we had a discussion on how difficult it is to find a Tabua(whales tooth). To those who don't know, it is an item of great reverance in the Itaukei culture and holds its status in the hierachy of Fijian traditions. The gravity of the gathering or traditional obligation would determine its presence and sometimes how one perceives it to be. So we talked about how at different Itaukei customs the presentation of tabua would also allow the other side to return the gesture. In doing so every one goes back with something unlike in other customs as in mine the Tabua once presented does not anticipate such gesture. Though a marked difference it is still the Itaukei tradition and one would notice the difference in traditions even within Fiji.
After that small talanoa session I thought long and hard of why do we have that difference. Well heres my attempt in trying to shed some light on this subject. The presentation of the Tabua back to the presenting party is a show of respect and acknowledgement of their presentation. On the other hand there's the possibility that certain traditions are sometimes associated with their geographic location. It would be reasonable to note if Fijians from inland, the mountanous regions, would derive such tradition to avoid the scarcity of Tabua and ensure it's presence, hence the question Tabua could only have found their way up there if there was trade in exchange for big timbers that were used to build big bures and war canoes with the coastal tribes or those who have lived out in the islands with their links intact to the mainland and links which was as clear as day in those times for the frequency of their travel and visit.  

Lets end there for today...   

A City Indeed

During our photo control work around western Viti Levu, it was the first time for me to see and set foot back in a place where a lot of stories of Fijian history resides. That place is Rakiraki or the yasana of Ra. All of my preconceived ideas and wrong expectations about the place was quickly transformed into curious questions as to why this beautiful and breathtaking place had so many negative attachments to it. The stories of the Kalou ni Draki, the witchcraft pratices, criminals and the recent disappearance of the Lata sisters somehow draws my attention back to a conversation I had with this man from Nakorotubu in Ra about a statement that Ratu Madraiwiwi( Ratu Sukuna's father) made during his term as the 1st Roko Tui Ra; this people or their land is never to be a strategic part in Fijis development now and in the future. Then it reminded me of the exile of the Na Vosa Vakadua from Drauniivi a Fijian history not seen by our educators as worth teaching, I for one feel disgusted about all this nonsense, this Fijian history which needs to be taught in school of what reality is and what really happened to the changes in time and how those changes affected us Fijians, if it had been taught I cannot even imagine how differently our young ones would seen dvelopment and advancement. We don't need weak educators, if can't bite the bullet on certain issues then we will continue to be a whining nation whining and whining. Back to Ra. The first impression of the place and the many islands floating beside it just made me realise of how blessed our ancestors was, if this was truly the first place they settled in.
Recently the story of the girl found in a yacht bound for overseas led me to question as to how they got caught now and not then, is this political, why did they get caught now, I thought of calling my friend in Rakiraki Mr George Shiu Raj who might be able to lend a few insight as to why this is happening in Rakiraki but no I just went with my gut instincts on this and something surely wasn't sitting right in my stomach.
While there during the field work I saw just how magnificent the place was, we went to a trig next to a Telecom substation and all I could see was breathtaking, every story that I used to hear has just been put to shame. It was just perfect, the weather was fine, clear sun, less clouds and I could only imagine if that was how it looked when it was settled, those blesssed people. Nakauvadra laid on the right and the array of islands laid along the coast. Then we went inland nothing seemed to change, fertile land, healthy people and boisterous children. I have never seen a place so blessed that I felt that this people have been denied something for so long.
Its location, the close proximity of it to Vanua Levu makes it an ideal place for a central  port in Viti Levu or link between the two islands. Not only that there is even closer links between the people itself they could have been traversing those waters daily back in the days as Bua is visible from Rakiraki. I believe a city is to be built there, Waila is to close to Suva can't have that. If ever there was a place to initiate the Look North policy Rakiraki would be the platform for that. Rakiraki has the potential to sustain its new development.

If ever there was a time to put Bauan supremacy aside and really think about the advancement of ITaukei and our nation as a whole then this is the time for those who really care about their land and start thinking about this in the long run and seriously for the furtue of our nation.

Don't choke on that.