An Hour of Imprisonment per Murder

"What's in a name? That which we call a murder
By any other name would disgust as much."

Shakespeare would have surely said something akin to that; that is, if he were alive in December 1984. Whatever be the legal terminology, the fact remains that a murder is a murder is a murder irrespective of the the name given to confuse ordinary people.

Over a generation back, to be more precise, around midnight on the intervening night of December 2–3, 1984 a man-made tragedy struck. Over 16,000 lost lives, some immediately and others in following weeks, as a result of release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people. State government estimates are much lower, as normally is the case in India, and its figures can not be relied upon. The actual tragedy is more gruesome than what mere numbers can tell. Most of the money meant for relief of victims has gone onto the pockets of politicians, babus, lawyers and middlemen; hundreds of thousands continue to lead miserable lives which is perhaps worse than death and the effect may continue for some generations, hopefully with diminishing intensity.

Indian judicial system is designed around the ancient concept of kshama (Sanskrit: "patience; forbearance and pardon"); albeit in a completely messed up manner. It is kshama given to convicts at the expense of their victims and victimizing the victims further.

This trial took 19 judges to preside over the case in good 26 years. The judgment which came very late gave punishment of two years imprisonment to surviving seven of the eight convicts. This works out to an hour of imprisionment for every murder and completely absolved for leaving a million or two as living dead. UCIL got fined by Rupees five lakhs (around USD 10,000) which is perhaps much smaller than their accounting rounding off error! This is some judgment!

Abha R.

From the times immemorial there is hardly any girl born and brought up in India who was not taught the stories of Savitri and Satyavan, Arundhati and Vasishtha, Damayanti and Nala and so on with the emphasis on the female member of those famous couples. There is hardly any need to recapitulate the significance of these women in Indian mythology and their impact on Indian society. There are numerous pairs in non-Indian mythologies like Romeo-Juliet, Laila-Majnu, Shirin-Farhad and so on who are internationally recognized tragic lovers. Unlike these tragic women, aforesaid Indian women set an eternal example to the entire womanhood and give a meaning to their very existence!


The entire episode of Ruchika Girhotra which lasted two decades is a saga of triumph of evil over good, smirking face over sad faces, powerful people over innocent, two year imprisonment over death by suicide and a family implicated in false cases.


The entire nation is glued to the news coverage by media and had a sigh of relief when the court verdict increasing the punishment to Shambhu Pratap Singh Rathore to two years of imprisonment, which came recently, which is of course subject to his appeals to the higher courts. Justice prevailed at last? India felt as though it has won a World War against injustice and also swept all the medals in Olympics.

Everyone missed out on the role of Abha Rathore. She stood by her husband like Savitri, Arundhati and Damayanti combined, a three-in-one. She proved herself no less than this troika of virtuous women from epics. She stood by her husband in good and not-so-good times; fought by his side, being a lawyer-cum-wife, knowing fully well that her husband is not an epitome of good character. This is what the girls were taught as their duty when they get married. After all, it is a known rule that at any given point of time at least half the lawyers are supposed to fight on the side of evil. If wife does not fight on behalf of an evil husband, who else will?

It is neither a right thing to rewrite epics nor easy, but there is nothing wrong in appending a modern epilogue by adding a chapter, for the education of girls of present and future generations, on SPS-Abha.

Teenagers Graduating to Adult Games

Abductions, rapes, murders, shoot-outs, blackmails, deploying hired assassins etc. etc. are all familiar adult sports, world over, until the end of second millennium. Acid throwing, eve teasing, ragging and such others were primary games played by teenagers, particularly in the countries like India. Readers of international, national and local news cannot fail to notice that such sports are no longer confined to the adults or teenagers respectively. Age barriers have melted down. Lot of teenagers are catching up with adults and have been acquiring the necessary skill-set and perfecting them, perhaps with an intention of making it their trade as they grow up and make a niche place for themselves in the society. Surely, the big and small screens (also the smaller ones on desktop/laptop and mobile screens) have immensely contributed to the learning process involved in it. A fait accompli?.

It is certainly an alarming trend to note that many kids who are below the teen-age bracket have started practicing these teenage and adult games with impunity and with significant success. It is difficult for the analysts, sociologists and criminologists to understand whether it is due to:

a) Children are growing up faster than ever before b) aforesaid screen based media has been imparting more education than necessary c) it is a paradigm shift brought in by the third millennium d) factors, which are yet to be identified, or e) a combination of all these factors, which is here to stay.

All the common people in our society including you and me, moralists, social workers, politicians, lawmakers, law-enforcers are all busy playing the games appropriate to their age and social hierarchy. None has time to notice these nascent visible trends let alone take measures to reverse them.

As civilization progresses, we cannot retard the advancement of the people and the society. There is precious little we can do to make people play games, according to the prevailing age groups. However, not all is lost. We can redefine age groups based on the games people play in contemporary society and remove the anomaly. The solution lies in bringing in a legislation and make a constitutional amendment to redefine the age groups in line with current realities so that broadly people fall into the age groups based on the games they play, at least for some more time. This might restore the social order to a reasonable level. Let us trust that such a move gets the wholehearted support of the elected representatives of both the houses of Parliament.

Champion’s Champion

In the world of Sports, Champions come and go every year. A Champion of Champions alone makes a lasting impression. Neither an Icelandic volcano nor an unscalable Bulgarian mountain summit called Veselin Topalov could stop one made of sterner stuff. The Champion stands tall among champions.

Topalov is not a chess player to be trifled with. He is Houdini of Chess in difficult situations, a great escape artist. He is an outstanding player of our times known for his ability to discover a winning line in an apparently drawn position and his opponents respect him for what he is capable of doing at the board of 64 square game. He is one of the few players in Chess history with 2800+ ELO rating.

Anand comes with the handicap like most Indian prodigies. India prides itself in nipping its talent in its bud. Indians, as a rule, do not get the same type of governmental and organizational support, which Russian, Chinese and several other European child prodigies get. What makes Anand different from others is he made a place for himself with his genius and humility, parental support and some nominal corporate support. Spain treats him as its son-of-the-soil. He locked horns with Bulgarian in Bulgaria to triumph and prove all pundits wrong.

The Chess is no longer what it used to be; it has changed dramatically as no other sport in last two decades. Now the Chess Championship matches are not mere three-week long chain of games. They are full-fledged world wars not even battles. Starting with Spassky vs. Fischer match, which is a war between two super-powers to prove their hegemony where the players were mere pawns of immense talent, gradually Chess Championships have become Wars of Science and Technology thrown in. These players spend anywhere from 6 months to 1 year to prepare for World Championship match, assisted by a battery of chess talent known as seconds. The winner is the one who is able to execute the plan most precisely in the tension ridden silent playing hall over a three-week long duration. With the advent of super-computers, database of virtually complete set games played till date and being played at any given moment, (the record of which is, of course, available), numerous knowledge-based tools to analyze the games, one can not afford to play a game (or unaware), at highest level, or a line which is already known. Every single game needs innovation, a new approach and variation and of course, an element of surprise.

The overall Championship Plan does not stop with planning the lines of chess games, it goes beyond; Game Theory, Psychology, Guerilla Warfare (ambush), counter-guerilla warfare (anticipation, contingency planning) etc. also come into play. Among all sports, there is not any sport, which is more taxing than Chess at its highest level. It is a truly open sport where a five year old girl novice can take on a nonagenarian former world (male) chess champion.

Sadly, Chess, not being a hit-and-run street game, may not become a national sport or a popular one in the country of its origin in near future.

Chess talent is waiting in the wings to take the mantle forward from ageing Anand. Inevitably, it is a matter of some more years. Yet, Anand is bound to be remembered as one of the greatest sports personalities of all time in the world of sports, by discerning few.

What is not a Fake?

As per RBI, some of the currency in circulation in the denominations of Rs. 1,000 and 500 are fake and they are called counterfeit.

The stamp paper you buy for registering a property or for some legal purpose may also be a fake.

The Nobel Prize medal of Tagore kept in a museum got stolen and the one displayed is a replacement.

The boundaries of mines owned by mining magnets, on their own, get extended.

The boundaries of nations are disputed.

Someone who poses as CBI or ACB or police official is an impostor.

Diplomat with IFS tag could be a spy.

The certificates produced by politicians, prospective govt. employees and students indicate caste depending on the reservation made against it. The reason why some politicians are against 33% reservation for women is that it is somewhat more difficult, but not entirely impossible, to fake their sex.

University selling a degree may be non-existing, apart from being a doomed one.

Most of the beggars are not poor. They beg since it is an easy way out.

The infants carried by begging women are not theirs; they are hired at the current ruling rates of Rs. 125 to 175 per day. Their working day may have fewer working hours; perhaps till the next feed time of the infant.

Lady giving birth to a child of some other biological couple is a surrogate mother.

The medicines you buy might have expired and got relabeled; and with a good probability, may also be fake and they are known as spurious.

The doctor you visit may be armed with a degree and registration certificate purchased at a street corner in Bangalore and practicing illegally.

The weights used by vendors are not certified for correct weight (they are manufactured with a lesser weight so that govt. authorities can add suitable quantity of lead and certify for the correct weight with their seal); they are underweight and the liquid measures will have dents!

The meters in autos and taxis, including the electronic ones, display excess fare and they are tampered.

The meters in Petrol bunks read higher liters and rupees and they are also tampered apart from the fact that the Petrol is adulterated.

The tickets sold outside a cinema hall have a color called black.

The people encircling you near Regional Passport Office / Regional Transport Office or a monument are not employees or guides; they are touts.

Person selling you a plot of land may not be its owner.

For a failed internet based transaction, you may get back refund of transaction value in due course abut not the tax, service charge and the cess paid on the transaction value. Shall we call it a tax on non-transaction?

The news of police encounters with terrorists or military with enemies you read in papers are well articulated.

The goods you buy in Parry’s Corner is smuggled.

The Rolex you may dare to buy could be a replica.

In this world full of fakes, we should be happy that our politicians are genuine.

Last but not the least; the name of your blogger is not Tarantula. It is only his pseudonym!

Sinister Spinster

Recall Miss Marple, a fictional creation of Agatha Christie, without whom the English literature would have been poorer by some ten novels and few stories. This elegant armchair spinster detective has a charm of her own and endowed with the intricate knowledge of rural people and their psychology, which invariably proved helpful to the Scotland Yard in solving the cases in and around her area.

We have numerous female spies, both blonde and brunette, created by Ian Fleming and almost all ended up with providing much needed succor to the tired body of our beloved 007 at the end of the day!

In the exotic world of detectives and spies, our own Madhuri Gupta, a spinster, is a class by herself. Until the other day, no one suspected her to be an international spy. She has IFS tag, also works as a junior diplomatic official in the Ministry of External Affairs. Some complain that she is not in the same league as Mata Hari and Virginia Hall. Tarantula does not approve any such remarks, which are, obviously, made with superficial knowledge of the extent of her activities.

Admittedly, it is difficult to understand her motives behind sharing of information with our neighbor. May be she strongly felt that RTI Act should be extended to brothers beyond the unnatural boundaries made by partitioning the country and started acting on this impulse. As readers are aware, India takes few decades to decide on the punishment, if any, but certainly GoP might not take as many days in awarding Madhuri Gupta their hightest civilian honor Nishan-e-Pakistan.

Nature’s Gifts – Not for Us

Air is polluted by industries and poisoned by politician’s speeches; one has no option but to breathe, until his/her last breath. Era of buying fresh air has dawned. Go; buy a can of it, if you can.

Water is mixed with sewerage and industrial effluents. If you have a tenner or more, buy a litre and litter the earth with PET bottle. Remember, our Babus do not drink municipality-supplied drinking water.

Land is needed to build a hut to live? Shell out your life’s savings to buy in retail from land sharks or Dinakarans who grab it in hundreds of acres at a time, free of cost.

Mineral Resources are meant for few people to mine away, never mind legally or otherwise, and bribe politicians and Babus en-route to amassing thousands of crores.

Forest Wealth is for brigands, forest officials and politicians; we have no right to enjoy even the indirect benefits of forestry as they are indiscriminately cut down.

Bandwidth Spectrum is least understood of the natural resources and handful of people own it as they paid thousands of crores as auction price and bribes. Pay to use a negligible fraction of it.

Rains Feel like getting drenched and dancing in the first rains of monsoon? Beware, now it is highly acidic.

Vegetables and Fruits come with a pinch of pesticides and fertilizer residues. You have an option of GM/BT varieties together with not so well established consequences.

SOON TO COME

Sunlight, if used in lieu of erratic and expensive electricity may become taxable in one of the forthcoming budgets.

Moonlight or Scenic Beauty may be enjoyed in future by paying ‘enjoyment tax’.

ALREADY EXTINCT

Sounds of Chirping Birds are only available in recorded versions as most birds are on fast track of extinction.

“I count, therefore I count…”

“I count, therefore I count…” is a slogan on one of the posters for forthcoming ICM 2010.

While people around the world can count from one, Indians can boast of their ability to count from zero. After all, this concept of zero has its roots in India and perhaps it is the most pervasive of all.

“I count, therefore I count...”

Hyderabad has a reason to be proud of hosting the forthcoming event from August 19 to 27, 2010. It is the first ever opportunity India has to host this quadrennial event held from 1897, barring during the periods of World Wars I & II. India will be the third Asian country with this privilege after Kyoto (Japan) in 1990 and Beijing (China) in 2002.

ICM-2010 watchers have a lot to look forward. Who is going to get Fields Medal in 2010, who will get first ever Chern Prize, if Lilavati Prize contemplated by GOI takes off, who is this worthy woman mathematician and who are going to be the winners of other coveted prizes.

Perhaps, the most important question is whether the efforts to make Grisha (Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman) participate fructifies; which is, in an inexplicable way, related to whether he agrees to receive the first Clay Millennium Prize Problems award.

ICM would also feature a chess match between world champion Viswanathan Anand and 40 delegates; Tarantula wishes Vishy Anand 38(wins)-2(draws)-o(no losses) or even better against this group of august August delegates.

One disturbing aspect is that even a non-believer has no option but pray that event takes place smoothly with what all going on in the city of Hyderabad and the havoc caused by the variety of disruptionists.

Life and Uncertainty

What makes life interesting is the element of uncertainty - not in just one aspect, but in every aspect and at every moment. It is uncertainty, which is the essence of life and without which life becomes so drab and perhaps not worth living. Will a gambler gamble but for the uncertainty involved and his misplaced confidence that he somehow mastered it?

The chance of birth itself vastly varies on several factors. If the fetus is that of a female, its chance of survival beyond few minutes after its detection (which is illegal in India), is low in several states in India. Its survival depends on numerous factors like whether it is a resultant out of wedlock, whether parents are ready to invite the baby into family, financial status of its parents, if it is ‘n’th child, on that number ‘n’ itself, healthcare facilities available and the affordability factor, infantile mortality rates of that country and that section of society and so on.

Soon after birth, anything can happen; for instance, stray dogs in the government hospital can snatch away the baby for breakfast; another woman hovering around can snatch away with the connivance of the hospital staff and sell for a tidy sum, faulty incubator can burn the baby and co-residents of the baby and leave a combined pile of ashes. If it were a child born with a deformity, granny or midwife would end its life even before mother gets a first look; this is more of a norm in India rather than an exception.

If by chance blood obtained from a blood bank is transfused, there is no guarantee that it is free of AIDS or such other deadly deceases. One is never sure whether the doctor is performing the surgery in a private hospital or his school going kid eager to become a doctor one day is performing. Never ask questions like whether the doctor is actually qualified or not - there are no right answers. For someone hospitalized, there is no guarantee that doctor will not steal a kidney to make a pile of money elsewhere. None of these is figments of imagination of an author habituated to writing horror stories. These are regular happenings even in major metros of India.

It is difficult to give an exhaustive exposition in a brief post of a blog. There is no guarantee that the medicines taken are still effective or have long expired, not to mention whether it is a dummy pill or a spurious drug or actual medicine. There is no guarantee whether the school/college the child registers is recognized or doomed; existent or non-existent. Let us not discuss whether the child gets admission for a course he/she deserves.

By skipping all intermediate stages, families are not sure whether the missing family member is alive or not since they cannot recognize the charred bodies in a fire accident; or an early bird came first and claimed a dead body with a cinematic wail and ran away with accompanying compensation cheque.

Unexpired Expiry

Albert Einstein once said: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I am not sure about the universe. Time has antiquated this quote partially. Human ingenuity is infinite. If you disagree, read the following news item:

http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/tamil-nadus-deadly-drug-scam-unearthed-18418.php

While all Indians are exceptionally talented in wide ranging areas and roles from politics to cricket, film star to god men, the most “ancient language” speaking state in India is endowed with unusual talents to a good measure and there is a poetic justice to it. They are trend setters to the rest of the world.

Is it fair to put a label on life-saving drug and make it expire after 24 or 36 months? How can drugs helping people avoiding expiry, expire? This is illogical. A genius recognized the truth behind it. Drugs are like Sanjeevani and their purpose is to save lives and they are immortal. They have self-preservation properties. Have you ever heard of gold or silver or pattu sarees or wine expiring?

Let us face the facts. India is still a poor country despite having handful of multi-billionaires in US dollar terms. We have unusually high wastage and shortage of food and medicines. Food only sustains life. Medicines give second lease of life. While food has a short shelf life and is difficult and expensive to prolong its life, drugs (read as medicines) are amenable to a fresh lease of life by a simple and inexpensive operation of replacing the label. They can be discharged from the warehouse same day! One should admire and reward the ingenuity of the kingpin, the brain behind this operation and the savior of thousands of crores worth of medicines from expiring . Whoever it is, this genius should be awarded with Bharat Ratna without any delay for his yeomen service to the nation and public by demonstrating that drugs do not really expire. India should launch an all out effort to get him, for his efforts to save the lives of medicines, a Nobel Prize in Medicine.