An Immortal Click

While the world was observing the 15th anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks, a 92-year-old woman Greta Friedman passed away in the US. The name hardly rang a bell, but the accompanying picture did.

Like the iconic picture of plane crashing into one of the twin towers, which epitomized terrorism in 21st century, her photo of being kissed by a sailor at New York's Times Square went on to acquire an iconic status to evoke the end of a turbulent era in the 20th century.

The photo was taken on Aug. 14, 1945 - the day Japan agreed to surrender and it marked the end of World War II. Known as V-J Day (victory over Japan), it evoked relief and euphoria in the backdrop of cataclysmic events such as Nazi concentration camps and the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since then this particular photograph has been a regular fixture at photo exhibitions and photography classes. Apart from those pursuing serious photography, I mean those clicking beyond selfies, not many knew about the photographer or the people featured in the photo.

Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt randomly clicked the photo amid the crowded revelry in the Times Square and he had little idea who the people were.The photo was first published in Life magazine without much fanfare, in the inside pages, and gained recognition (or 'got viral' to use a social media term) much later. It was widely reproduced by various publications and so did the reader curiosity regarding the couple.

There were many claimants to be the kissing couple and it was only around 1980 it was confirmed that it was George Mendonsa and Greta Friedman, an Austria-born nurse who lost her parents in Nazi concentration camps.

Those days photography was coming of age, stepping out of the shadows of painting to be an art form in itself. The cameras had become less unwieldy and user friendly (though still primitive by current digital standards), but colour photography was still many decades away. 

As only black and white photos were possible Eisenstaedt was looking for contrasts. In his book 'Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: A Self-Portrait' he said, “If she [Friedman] had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same.”

And the rest they say is history. 

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Blood On The New York Subway

While the Indian media was fixated about the Delhi rape and issues related to safety of women, a brutal hate crime on December 27 involving an Indian man in US went under reported. A 46-year-old man was shoved in front of a subway train in New York by a woman, who appeared to be mentally deranged.

Sunando Sen was pushed from behind onto the tracks and was crushed by an incoming train. Probably in his eagerness to board the train, he was standing close to the tracks. The woman fled the station but was later tracked down based on a black-and-white video footage that was broadcast on news programmes. Someone who spotted her called up the police. Despite her mental illness she had enough sense to flee the scene after the attack.

Police claims the woman, Erika Menendez, had selected her victim because she believed him to be a Muslim or a Hindu. She told police that “I pushed a Muslim off the train tracks because I hate Hindus and Muslims and ever since 2001, when they put down the twin towers, I’ve been beating them up.”

She also did not show any remorse at her arraignment, laughed uncontrollably and said that she did not regret her actions.

Menendez has a history of run-ins with the police. She was arrested at least twice on misdemeanour charges related to violence. Her family members have also called the police several times about her erratic behaviour and mood swings, including once when her mother reported to police that she was “threatening to harm herself and others.”

She was arrested on charges of possessing cocaine and marijuana, using a stolen credit card, harassment and assault.

In 2003 she had attacked a firefighter and he said her punch was strong like a 'guy punch'. He did manage to overpower her and hand her over to police.

Sen has been in the US for the past 16 years and after years of struggle had recently managed to set up a printing and copying business near Columbia University. He was a bachelor and was staying with three other immigrants. His friends describe him as a quiet person and his Muslim roommate said that he admired the respect Sen showed for those who saw the world differently than he did.

Indian media's compulsions are understandable, but I am surprised the Indian community in US too seems to have not yet taken up this issue. They had gone ballistic on a Time magazine article written in jest by Joel Stein on Indian immigrants at Edison, a New Jersey suburb, and had forced the magazine to issue an apology. But seem to be maintaining a deafening silence over a far more serious issue.

The textual diarrhea prone internet Hindus too seem to be very rationed in their outpourings. And Indian government which went on an overdrive when some Indian students in Australia were attacked and when a Indian doctor there was held for terrorism charges, is yet to open its mouth on this issue.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat