Tuvalu at twilight

These are times when the mind struggles to make sense of things.

- NAVTEJ SARNA

The old measures are discarded, and the new ones unacceptable. Humanity and decency cower in the corner, arrogance and brute strength play centre stage. Wealth is flung in your face so hard it hurts, empathy is so 20th century: images of uncaring billionaires in their slinkiest and blingiest in Venice compete with those of miserable children in Gaza begging for biscuits under fire.

At such times the mind escapes to faraway places, such as the island nation of Tuvalu. Possibly because I have a story: I once knew a man who knew a man from Tuvalu who had given himself the name “I Lost my Heart in San Francisco.” All of it, passport name. Since then, I see Tuvalu as an idyllic heaven where charming people lead simple lives, where guitar sounds mingle with the roar of azure oceans, where a thousand palm fronds are silhouetted against a setting sun.