Delhi Rape: Random Thoughts

While watching the horrific saga of the rape of a girl in a bus in Delhi unfold on various TV channels, the sound bites that a reporter managed to get from the parents of one of the culprits left me shell shocked.

The mother of the accused said that after the incident he came home, had food and slept. He did not reveal them anything about it  nor showed any signs of remorse, uneasiness or even a lack of appetite. He behaved like one of those regular youths who come home after socialising with friends. 
Probably he thought the girl and her friend may not live to tell the tale. Even otherwise they would never be caught or if at all caught, they will be easily let off. The level of cockiness (no pun intended) and dehumanisation exhibited by the person was appalling, to say the least.

The guy's parents said that he slept soundly till 10 am and they  could not sense that their son had committed a crime that had caused national outrage. They came to know only when they had police at their doorsteps.

However, to the parent's credit it must be emphasised that they showed courage and forthrightness to face the camera and concede that the crime was unpardonable and their son ought to be punished, if guilty.

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Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit comes before camera and says the permit of the bus used by the rapist has been cancelled! Big deal. The guy will most probably get it revoked in a couple of months.
Yet another foot-in-mouth remark by her. It comes close on heels of her earlier comment that a family of five members can buy monthly grocery for Rs 600.

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One Delhi girl says on camera that while travelling in buses, it is routine to get groped on breasts and thighs. Then she adds, in a relieved tone, that  compared to what happened to this para-medical student, it is nothing! Now such is the level of expectation (as good a nil) of safety while using public transport.

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A tweet by Arvind Kejriwal reveals that in 2012, 635 cases of rape were registered in Delhi, but nobody has been punished so far! No wonder these incidents happen with such impunity.
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Poor Narendra Modi. No one doubts his victory chances, but may  have to share the limelight with this horrific incident.
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Wonder why the head of the accused is often covered using a dark coloured cloth.  Surely they do not deserve any privacy or anonymity, unlike the victim. Their face should be very much visible for all to see. An exception could be made for juvenile criminals.
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Delhi is in a league of its own, when it comes to crimes against women. Remember the Naina Sahani tandoor case? or for that Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnap and murder case? The list is sickeningly long.
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TV actress and BJP MP Smriti Irani revealed that while covering this very rape incident, a woman TV journalist  got nearly molested by  some four-five guys who came in a car! She was saved by her alert camera man. Even in this surcharged atmosphere, for some it was business as usual.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat
 

 

 

Guns Come Calling

Yet another shooting took place. No, I am not referring to Connecticut, but our own Connaught Place in Delhi. A guy at a Dhaba was quite pissed off on being served leftover food and after few rounds of heated arguments, took out his gun and fired at the waiter. Probably he was not a good shot, the waiter escaped unhurt and the police were prompt enough to arrive and arrest the quick-gun Pande.

It is not yet clear whether the weapon he used was a licenced one or not, but most probably it might be latter.  Going by the recent events it looks like we are sitting on a huge pile of unlicensed weapons; and they are now making their presence felt in urban centres.

The recent killing of liquor baron Ponty Chadha at a farmhouse near Delhi and the attack on a hospital in Guragon point to the alarming trend of use of illegal firearms and the lack of scrutiny by authorities while issuing licence for firearms. Sukhdev Singh Namdhari - an alleged conspirator behind the murder of Chadha and his brother, obtained arms licence and passport by providing fake residence proof. He even got his arms licence renewed twice without surrendering the original documents.

The landed gentry in villages have always owned guns, ostensibly to guard their farms and for hunting. The gun culture in the badlands of Chambal valley and Bihar enjoyed a wild-West like cult image. The illegal arms factories dotting some of the small towns in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar mainly catered to the dacoits and naxalites in the hinterlands. The end of Phoolan Devi era brought down big-ticket dacoities, which used to hog media headlines.

Now the guns manufactured in these units are finding its way to places such as Delhi, Gurgaon and other urban centres in North India. They are no longer fired just in the air during weddings and other celebrations, but are being used to prove a point. They are brandished during road rages, at toll plazas and other places to prove Mao Zedong's dictum that "power flows from the barrel of the gun".

With wheels of justice in our country hardly proving to be any deterrent, guns are being used with impunity and often in public places like crowded streets and hospitals. It looks like we are heading towards a Kalashnikov culture that has blighted Pakistan since late 1970s.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Intrepid Katju

Justice Markandey Katju never fails to create a stir or for that matter stay away from the news for long; but he does manage to kick up a meaningful debate. Though his provocative remarks often contain a kernel of truth, not many seem to get a sense of it and quibble over the form. When Bal Thackeray died Katju was one of those honourable exceptions, who chose to call a spade a spade and did not resort to singing his praises out of fear.

His recent remark that "ninety per cent of Indians are idiots and can be easily taken for ride" has not gone down well with many. He himself said it was to provoke people into thinking and not fall to the guiles of politicians and religious mobsters.

He said that a communal riot could be set off in Delhi for a paltry sum of Rs 2,000 as all somebody has to do is disrespect a place of worship and people will start fighting. "You mad people will start fighting amongst yourself not realising that some agent provocateur is behind this," he said.

One can hardly disagree with him as numerous inquiry commissions held after riots have time and again proved it. But sadly little action is taken against the guilty or hardly any lessons are learnt. Hence these riots happen with alarming regularity. Katju then remarked that “80% of Hindus and Muslims were communal.”

All these comments did not go down well with the Internet Hindus, who were more than eager to brand him a Congress agent. The comment boards in Hindustan Times and Times of India, which are never moderated, were replete with trolls against him. However, unlike other occasions, this time they did not have a free run as there were many Katju supporters vociferously defending him.

The very next day two students from Lucknow filed a case saying that Katju's remarks denigrate Indians. To the credit of these students, it needs to be said that they took a far more civilized route than say burning effigy or hitting the press council's chairman’s photo with chappals; usually the norm in our country.

In his rebuttal he said, "The figure 90% is not a mathematical figure, it simply means that in my opinion a large proportion of Indians (and again I repeat, not all) are fools."He then goes on to say the he wants Indians to prosper and have decent lives, "which is only possible if the Indian masses develop the scientific outlook and scientific temper and give up casteism, communalism, superstitions and other mental attitudes which a large part (not all) of them presently suffer from." The Press Council chairman added that, "Truth is sometimes bitter, but sometimes bitter medicine has to be given to an ailing person."

Katju then recounted some of the scientific developments that happened in the ancient history of the country and felt that down the line we gave up the scientific temper and lost out to Europe in the race to civilization.

Tracing the origin of communal divide within various communities, Katju said they began after 1857 revolt, thanks to the divide and rule policy of the British. This explanation to me sounds a bit simplistic. The divisions along caste and communal lines was in fact more pronounced during those periods, but somehow each community used to live in isolated enclaves and was at peace with others. What the British did succeed was in fomenting tensions and violence among them.

After Independence initially some of our leaders tried to build bridges among different communities. But somehow all that was undone by later leaders, who began treating each community as vote banks. Regarding this he said, "When most of our people go to vote they cast their votes on the basis of caste or religion, not the merit of the candidate. What else is the meaning of vote banks? And this is exploited by some unscrupulous politicians who know how to manipulate and manage these vote banks. That is why many persons with criminal backgrounds get elected."

He also laments about the rampant superstition in the country and describes astrology is 'humbug' and says that even the so called educated people are hooked to it. In a recent survey at software firms across the country, it was found that superstitious practices were rampant, especially in companies based in Bangalore and Delhi. The high pressure dog-eat-dog atmosphere in these offices is making them do whatever it takes, even superstition, to succeed.

It was found that employers were resorting to Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra, while employees were using lucky charms such as stones, rudrakshas and bamboo shoots to boost their careers. Superstitious practices were more prevalent among top management officials.

Lastly he does not spare his bugbear - the media. "A large section of the media, taking advantage of the backwardness of a large section of our people, dishes out lives of filmstars, cricket, etc as if these are the real issues before the people, when the real issues are socio-economic."

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

Indian Sports in Dire Straits

Indian sports across the board are on a bicycle-stand-collapse mode. The humiliation at Eden Gardens on Sunday was the new low of this free fall. For England the happy hours started shortly after lunch on Saturday, when they picked up six wickets for 36 runs. Only R Ashwin stood in the way from an innings defeat.

For a country where cricket is nothing short of religion, losing back-to-back matches on the home turf is nothing short of sacrilege. The players got pilloried by all and sundry. Amidst this entire din, Indian hockey squad, which lost to Pakistan in Champions Trophy for third position, got off lightly. But to be fair to them, their performance in this tournament was far more laudatory.

A couple of days ago it was India's Olympic shame, with the International Olympic Committee suspending the Indian Olympic Association for violation of the international Olympic Charter. At least in this case the players were not to blame. In fact they had done the country proud by bringing in the richest haul of medals in the country's history at the recently concluded Olympics.

The suspension will prevent them from competing in the Olympics under the Indian flag. For the athletes it is a harsh punishment for no fault of theirs. This suspension could also cost them in terms of funding from international organisations. Barely have we started tasting some success at Olympics, but now it looks like it’s going to be snuffed out.

Following IOC's example, the international boxing body International Boxing Association (AIBA) also decided to provisionally suspend the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF). Boxing has brought many laurels to us in international events and we can ill afford to allow the suspension to happen.

On both counts the international bodies have objected to the way elections to these sports bodies were recently held, which of course were riddled with allegations of nepotism and corruption. Its an open secret that almost all sports bodies in the country are dominated by politicians with dubious credentials, with some like Suresh Kalmadi even having served jail terms. They are attracted because of the money involved; nurturing talented sportspersons is the last thing in their minds. Not surprisingly, they inspire little confidence among international sporting bodies.

It’s time we brought in candidates who are interested in sports, preferably former sportspersons or coaches and those industrialists who have set up institutes to nurture sports, like say MRF pace academy or Tata football academy.

Hitherto, if at all we have produced sportsperson of world class stature, the country's sports system had little role in it. They all came up despite the system and each sportsperson has his/her story to say as to how much they had to struggle to overcome the obstacles posed by the system. It’s time we made the system work for them.

Also Read: Bangalore Beat

SMS turns 20

Hi, 2day (Dec 3) is my b'day. It was xactli on dis day in 1992 a msg wz sent frm a comp to mobile. It wz a bland 'merry Christmas' (no shorthnd or :)s). Since den der wz no lukin bak.

Now, 4 bln people arnd d world uz me to say things rangin frm simpl 'hi' 2 sumthin veri imp lik 'letz brek up'or 'u r fired'. In d hands of yuth i hav becum a tool 2 twist langage, much to d discom4t of eldrs (i mean all those >25 yrs) and langage purists.

In India i strtd off as pagr killr. It soon wnt out of biz. D fall in sms rates made me hot favrite amng yuth. Dey usd it 4 jst abt anythin - frm wooin girlfrnds to orderin pizzas. Promoshnl offrz lik free sms after midnite kept dem hyper busy. Soon many devlpd 'text msngrs thumb' cauzd by ovruz of thumb.

Bizmen startd usin me 4 promotin their prodcts in a big way. Soon poor custmrz were bombard'd with msgs rangin frm persnl loans, credit crds to cure 4 baldness, fallin sperm count!!

I becam a conven'nt tool for employees wantin to bunk offiz, but not havin guts to call up d boz; 4 schoolz to remind parnts abt last date of payin fees.

Nosey spouses startd checkin sms to see if der was anythin fishy goin on. Husbnds startd storin their female collegz numbrz under male names 2 avoid arousin suspishn and vice versa. I am bein accusd of many brek ups. Poor me, wat can i do, am just a medium. D most famz case wz of ShaneWarne. He may b a grt in crickt and pokr, but a dodo while using cell phone. He keyd in a sexy sms meant for his grlfrnd and sent it 2 his wife (lol)! Now u only tel me, is it my fault?

The guvmnt 2 trets me badly. Whenevr ther is sumthin sensitive happnin dey stop all bulk sms. Of corz itz a big relief for custmrz, but our biz suffers. Unfortunately their fears r not baselez. Many times anti socials hav used me to sprd rumrs.

In tech world 21 yrs is a long period & am sufferin mid-life crisis. Am facin stif competition frm othr comm tools such as instnt msging and social media sites. Wethr am dere or not, the sms lingo iz here to stay.
tc & xoxo

Also Read: Bangalore Beat