Reflections

7 cases... diverse in their nature, different in the appearance, varying in their causes - and yet, each connected in some way with 2 aspects that are common: The Indian Society, and the Rulers of India. Each connects with a different aspect of the microcosm of India - ranging from an unknown Indian to the mafia to the honest police to the top echelons and classes of India... Each is unique in its own way, and each a truth. And yet, somehow, each are saying the same reality: something, somewhere is wrong... We say the politicians are bad, We say the babus are corrupt. We say the police is inefficient and bad apart from being corrupt. But   baar baar meer zehen mein ek hi baat aati hai... iska kaaran kyaa hai? Aisaa kyun ho rahaa hai? Aakhir pareshaani kahaan hai? Yeh bharatvarsh kaa sundar sapnaa itnaa kaalaa kyun dikhai de rahaa hai? Aur kyaa waakai itnaa kaalaa hai? Humne kahaan galti ki hai?  Where have we gone wrong? A collection of news items from older p...

Interview with Nirbhay's Friend: It is an interview that has made bile rise up in my throat in disgust and horror. I was at first rendered speechless at the collective behaviour of society, at our callousness and our uncaring attitude and at our brutality and intense stupidity. For the first time in my life, I am ashamed of calling myself an Indian. If this is typical Indian behaviour, there can be no India Shining, and there can decidedly be no pride in being a member of Indian society. The interview is a scathing indictment of our behaviour, as well as that of our police: "Nirbhaya's friend said on Friday that the two of them lay naked on the road for more than two hours with people stopping to look at them and then moving on. " My friend was grievously injured and bleeding profusely. Cars, autos and bikes slowed down and sped away. I kept waving for help. The ones who stopped stared at us, discussing what could have happened. Nobody did anything ,...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/AndhraPradesh/Akbaruddin-Owaisi-charged-with-promoting-enmity/Article1-984597.aspx The hate speech by a member of a non-hindu community that has caught the media attention now is, in my opinion a back cloud with a silver lining...  Why? Because all those gentlemen who are raging against hindus are only serving to drive more and more hindus into the arms of hardliners; all that is being achieved is the firming up of Hindu opinion. That is admittedly worrying, since the hindu was never a fundamentalist; he/she was always pacifist. It is sad to see the firming up of opinion in a very secular religion; but it is happening, and is a decided cause of worry. I am a moderate; and am feeling extremely worried by this disturbing trend in our religion. The greater worry is that this is happening apparently as a response to - shall we say - external stimuli. Why cannot the Government manifest itself strongly against pro-religion fundame...

20 days... 20 tumultuous days of non-stop protests, and the stories of the rise of the Indian Young generation.  20 days replete with hope, with genuine hope that the younger lot can force a change in the direction that our nation is taking... 20 days. Yet again, for the third time in three years. the people of India, expressing dissatisfaction with their lot, and with the bureaucrats and politicians around them, the people of India held centre stage... And then: this happens.  http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Girl-molested-abducted-in-public-view/Article1-984181.aspx An excerpt: " What is more astonishing is that even though the victim was kidnapped after being molested in public view, the UP police booked the accused under a milder Section 294 (obscene act in any public place) of the IPC as opposed to pressing kidnapping and molestation charges . Due to this, the car driver, identified as one Javed, and his accomplices Sagar and Aashu got ...

Once upon a sweet, sweet time there was a man with some money; he decided to open a bus service. This was achieved by the simple expedient of falsification of documents, submission of false address proofs of a residence he had never even visited.  For registering the bus, he gave proof of a bank passbook (never mind which bank), and a driving licence. However, as per the landlord, this person never resided there.  Having done this, he proceeded to hire staff. The bus began plying on the roads of a smallish central Indian town called Dilli. One fine day (or night, rather) the bus driver, cleaner and some decent friends, having had some somras (alchohol), decided to partake of some female fun. Fun for them, that is. The female afterwards left for the heavenly abode after being raped by these 6  - aaah - Gentlemen.  It does not take a genius to figure out that had that bus been kept off the roads of Dilli, the girl would be alive.  Now we g...

The past few days since December 16th have been full of the normal public up in protest against the horrendous attack on Nirbhay. This was a reflection of the public's disgust with the police forces as well as the Government. People from all walks of life came together again to protest. And yet again, the inefficiencies of the police and the inadequacies of the political class were brutally exposed. This activism is indeed welcome, and will put some pressure on the Government to get its act together.  The disgust in the people with both the police as well as the political class has been apparent for quite some time now; yet, there has been little discernible change. It is reminiscent of the physics law of inertia, wherein an object remains in its current state unless there is some outside stimulus. Now imagine our society as an object moving on a line, and these protests as stimulus to change. Currently, our society is moving along a defined direction at a defined speed. Then...

This post is in memory of "Nirbhay" who was brutalised and murdered - shaking a stoid, careless nation to the core of its existance. Rest In Peace is all I can wish you.... Fact No 1: Tinted Glasses were banned by the Supreme Court in 27th April 2012 in response to a Public Interest Litigation, which explicitly stated the risk of sexual assault in its submission to the court Fact No 1A: The apex court said it could not impose a total ban on use of tinted glass and interpreted rule 94 and 100 of the Motor Vehicle Act which forbids covering of the glass beyond the permissible limit. “In face of the language of the Rule, we cannot grant the petitioner the relief prayed for, that there should be 100 per cent VLT. This Court cannot issue directions that vehicles should have glasses with 100 per cent VLT.” Fact No 2: Nirbhay was assaulted in a bus with tinted glasses - dark tinted glasses Fact No 3: The bus was moving in the city in contravention of the rules, and was not...