Bard-Man of Belfast*

A Story by Abishai100

A strange new 'entrepreneur/writer' (Bard-Man) in Belfast erects a carrom-ritual for inter-religious peace and dough in modern Western Europe.

A games-peace promoting fable inspired by The Devil's Own (Alan J. Pakula). Enjoy (and thanks so much for reading!),

DISCLAIMER: I've no formal ties to Northern Ireland politics and present this tale of an inter-religious 'carrom-ritual' (billiards) as a work of modern democratic diary.

----

====

Belfast has some great bars for visits, but you need to refresh on readings so you feel safe amidst the potential IRA-UVF skirmishes (Catholic-Protestant) regarding poverty-induced crime/terror which has made the Western Euro-city dangerous for travel/hospitality (arguably)!

However, Amlan Satan is the 'Bard-Man of Belfast' and purchased saloon-room space for Friday night carrom-gaming entertainment designed to bring frustrated Irish-Protestant men together. Satan also writes a political-cartoon weekly editorial while working part-time in this Belfast drinking establishment...with a 'fine' basement!

AMLAN SATAN: I've Indian ties to the anticolonial movements in the 20th-Century that brought Eamon De Valera to Asia.

Northern Ireland has been cast as divided since the partition of mainland (Catholic) Ireland in the early 20th-Century following the declaration of the 'Irish Free State' which drove the minority Catholic population ('underclass') of Belfast as a minority-group continuing to live under a 'technical' British-Protestant majority-rule population (descended from generations of English colonial settlers), which has generated much dialogue/media/literature regarding the developments in anti-majority rule based in economics in places as different as India and Ireland.

AMLAN SATAN: We're 'transplanting' the spirit of youth-life/traffic in sad Belfast with this carrom-entertainment joy for news!

Now, for those in the unknowing, carrom is a finger-strike billiards-shaped board-came of sliding disc-pieces and a 'striker' piece (like the cue-stick in pool!) which is used to drop the pieces into holes before the opponent using diagonal/parallel target-aiming.

AMLAN SATAN: During the Coronavirus 'quarantine' of Belfast, I became the 'Bard-Man' with my masked tales of religious life!

"It's hard-work to distribute toys (water-guns) to Catholic-Protestant kids in summertime in Belfast suddenly" (Amlan Satan).

Fortunately, the Belfast drinking-place where the 'Bard-Man' is setting-up shop as a community-healing 'carrom' games-master is a place where beautiful ones congregate for songs of peace and love.

AMLAN SATAN: Being the 'Bard-Man' really requires a street-IQ attention to the details of fortune-imagination in young men!

He keeps a 'shrine-like' painting of his favorite video-game 'warrior-princess' on his saloon-basement carrom-gamestime wall to remind his customers/chums that modern 'vigilance' is as much about diamonds as it's about 'real' distance(s).