NOVICE @ MOST!

For the lazy friends of mine!

2008-05-07T22:44:00.003+05:30

Ahh.. there were a few frnds who complained it was a pain to visit the site and that they did rather have me post my articles here like I've done with my previous work. So here it goes. But mind you, I did rather you go visit the site cause like I said earlier I've designed the site too!!!! so... :D

Edited Version: (after the above post)
It is a damn pain to post all my articles. There are 7 of them in total. Sigh.

The Investigative Report that won me the best IP award at ACJ

2008-05-07T22:38:00.004+05:30

Yes yes, I completely agree. It's been ages, but you know.. :D

Anyways am posting a link to my Investigative Report that I did at ACJ. I've looked at the different aspects of recruitment by IT companies across engineering colleges in Chennai. Your comments/feedback are most welcome

Investigative Report
P.S: The site has been designed by yours truly :)

End or the beginning.............?

2008-03-28T22:11:00.004+05:30

I know I blog in sporadic bursts, but ACJ has taken most of my time. Which is also the reason why am blogging in the midst of all the chaos and pending work that is due on March 31st.

Yes, thats my last day for submission of all my work in order to obtain my Journalism degree, but like most things in ACJ dont think all our assignments will meet this deadline. They cant blame us, they have overloaded us with soooooooooooooooo much work that at two different points in my final term, I wanted to quit ACJ and give it up.

But common sense prevailed and shouts like "Are you mad? You are this close to getting your degree and you want to quit? Crazy girl!" from various corners of the room were reasons for me to go on.

Now that the end of life in ACJ seems so near, I am actually missing the dread of meeting deadlines and the labs seem lifeless.

The past few days that I have spent in labs 3 and 4, make me feel so lonely that I cant sit there for more than a few minutes at a stretch. The labs are empty without the 'staff'' of Digantik working on the site. There is no hollering out, "Is that story in? Where is the damn reporter?" and the frustration creeping in, "Why is the damn style sheet not attached? Why are the links not working?". The tension, "Are MJ and Gita going to approve of this headline? Is the banner all right?" All of this is gone, to be replaced my silence. Although most of us were stressed out with the tension in our news rooms or in this case, news labs.. we used to thrive on it too. We made scores of mistakes and our two Hitlers ensured that we learnt from them.

The postmortems as MJ and Gita liked to call it, but Manikandan, our software prof, thought it was uncool and unfair to call it that as he felt that we were creating something (our site) and not killing it. Nevertheless, all three of them joined hands when it came to ripping the site apart and pointing out our mistakes. Of course, after asking us what our problems were. But at most times I thought that was just a formality and the true reason was that they were eager to get their teeth in.

ACJ is/was stressful annd I have had my moments when I wanted to tear someone else's hair out (mine is too good ;) ), but I also learnt to tame myself and keep my short temper in check.

Alas, it has to end. But there is also a beginning.. to life outside of ACJ which begins with our placements on April 1st. And like a true ACJian, am looking forward to the fun of sitting it a room with media bigwigs and although I did like to tell them that we are a bunch of crazy people to the all that we do, I shall sedately sit there and sell my talents to them. In this case, my ACJ degree will do most of the selling for me. :D

Laugh your way to health

2008-03-01T21:26:00.000+05:30

Doctors may not agree that laughter is therapeutic, neither is there a scientific way to explain the healing powers of laughter. However, 15 members of the Laughter Club at Marina beach believe that, “Laughter is the best medicine” and practice it despite a skeptic audience. Every morning they begin their day with a 45-mts session of laughter.

Manohar Bokadia, a businessman, is the initiator of this club. He said, “Do not call me the club founder. Laughter has been around for centuries. I haven’t discovered it.” His technique includes combining laughter with breathing exercises, which he learnt from Dr. Madan Kataria, a general physician in Mumbai. To spread laughter, he has set up laughter clubs in different parts of Chennai – Haddows Road, Besant Nagar, T.Nagar, and Harrington Road. To be a member one does not have to pay. “You cannot take money to make someone laugh, and then you aren’t making them laugh. You are upsetting them by asking for money,” he laughs.

To keep them laughing Bokadia has named the exercises according to their purpose. The ‘boxing laugh’ is for people to punch their anger out. People form two groups and laugh as they pretend to box. He explained, “This helps people to release negative energy from the body.”

Dr. Pravin Agarwal, general physician at Apollo Hospital, said, “It is true that the common reasons for headaches are anger or nagging thoughts. Maybe laughter can help to a certain extent, but not always.” On a lighter note he added, “While laughing the face muscles are stretched removing the wrinkles from ones face, it would help in making one look younger.”

One of the exercises involves pressing the head with the palms while breathing in and out while laughing. This is an alternative to Pranayama, the breathing exercise in yoga. It helps releasing unwanted energy and keeping headaches away.

The ‘beer laughter’ is the most popular cheering routine. This strengthens the bladder and helps them hold their urine for as long as 30 minutes. All they have to do is place their left hand on their kidney (“pot-belly”) and touch their toes with their right hand while laughing. The ‘backhand swim’ walk helps reduce weight. Kavitha, a 55-year-old grandmother said, “I am as thin as my daughter because of this. So why would I not want to laugh and lose weight?”

Jayvel, former Crime Branch Inspector and a trained Siddha practioner, suffered a 30 per cent heart blockage in 2002. But after joining the club, his blockage cleared and humour found its way back into his life. He said, “I did not need to undergo bypass surgery. After one year of daily dose of laughter, my blockage was completely gone.”

The daily routine also includes pressing acupressure points. Pressing these points activates them and circulates the blood throughout the body. This also prevents heart attacks. Bokadia said, “When you clap with your palms spread out, you are pressing all your acupressure points. Clapping 1000 times everyday is equivalent to a 10 km walk.” Thanks to hearty laughs he no longer worries about those hearty meals “Because of these exercises, I have lost 80 kgs in the past three years and my hair too has grown back.”

There are many others like Bokadia who have recaptured some part of their life that was missing. K. Lal has gained the self-confidence he lacked five years back. He said, “I used to stutter a lot as I was shy. But after coming here it has improved.” Laughter improves team building, communication skills and self-esteem.

There are also members like Radhakrishna who believe that prevention is better than cure. He said, “I do not suffer from any sickness, maybe the laughter has kept them at bay. I come here to forget my worries.”

Next time you a see a group of people laughing hysterically early morning, do not laugh at them, but laugh with them. The happy hormones in the body are waiting to be released.

Shash's DRAGON!

2008-02-09T23:45:00.000+05:30

This is Shash's new ART form. This art work is still in progress. He says it is "a graphic from wheel of time". Ask him what he made this from? His promptly replies, "Vertices and polygons." He emphasizes, "Do not forget the polygons."

And for people like me, just go vistit http://www.blender.org/

"A graphic from wheel of time" refers to the wheel of time by robert jordan. The main character is Rand al'Thor, who's called the Dragon Reborn. Naturally, with 12 books out and the 13th coming, there's a big story behind it, but whenever rand appears in a chapter, it's preceded by that graphic. He has jus added depth to the blue dragon (See the picture with the red dragon). It is actually a 3d model which he extrapolated from the 2d drawing. If you notice around the eyes
and the claws there's some amount of shadowing.

For more of his pictures, Visit:
http://shash.homelinux.org/3dart.html

http://shash.homelinux.org/typo/public/articles/2007/09/05/a-glass-of-wine (Click on the image to grow it)

KNOL no threat to Wikipedia says Jimmy Wales

2008-02-09T11:26:00.000+05:30

Okay the following is the OFFICIAL report I wrote with my friend Brat on my dinner date with Jimmy Wales.

Chennai: “I am not worried about Google introducing KNOL.” said Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia. KNOL is Google’s online encyclopedia. Wales was on his second visit to India to address undergraduates across the country and spoke to reporters in Chennai on Saturday evening.

He said, “Google’s blog says this (KNOL) is not an open source software whereas ours is. This is where our strength lies. I am not worried about them.” Wales added that Wikipedia had built trust with their users and that would stay with them. His idea of starting a free online encyclopedia was criticized as a Utopian goal, but Wikipedia is now synonymous with information on the net and is inevitably the first or second on a google search result.

“I am happy with where wikipedia stands now. It has reached where I wanted it to be; even an African child can access information in his or her own language,” said Wales
Wikipedia is now available in 250 languages.

According toWales a major problem in updating information in other languages is the lack of a vernacular keyboard. He said, “Maybe if phonetics were used to type in one’s own language it would be comparatively easier.”

He did not think adding a video or an audio element to the pages was a great idea and firmly dismissed the possibility of Wikipedia introducing them. He said, “It is difficult to edit the content of a video or audio for facts or for bias. There is no advanced software that would help in editing them to our needs.” He added, “Personally, I prefer reading text. If I get a call, the text is still there where I left it. It is not the same with a video.”

On the latest clash of the Titans, Wales voiced his doubts on the Yahoo – Microsoft deal and was quick to point out that Yahoo mail had many more users than gmail. However, underlining Google’s status as the best search engine, he said “You always google for something. You do not go to Yahoo for search.” He conceded that Yahoo was a good news portal and that Yahoo messenger was widely used.

David Appasamy, Communications Manager of Sify, said, “Yahoo and Microsoft are two disparate companies and they wouldn’t do well together.” Wales agreed with Appasamy. Appasamy also added, “Yahoo has been on a decline for the past two years. This is an act of desperation by both.”

In Parsi land: 'Andar aao ni' (Come on in)

2008-02-08T20:31:00.000+05:30

“Nai nai, you are quoting too much for the tomatoes, Rs 14 is right. After all, yesterday you sold it at Rs 12, and today Rs 16. What nonsense!” argued Dilnaz, a 45-year-old housewife living in Cusrow baug in Colaba, Mumbai. Dressed in a pink flowery nightgown at eight in the morning, she is haggling over the vegetable prices with the tarkariwala (vegetable seller). This is a familiar sight at any Parsi baug in Mumbai.

Most Parsis live in secluded colonies called ‘baug’ that are built by various trusts headed by industrialists like the Wadias and Godrej’s or by the local Parsi Panchayat. The baugs of Mumbai, Cusrow, Rustom, Jer, Godrej, Novroj, Ness, Malcolm, Behram, Panthaky, Bharucha, Firozsha and Contractor, to name a few are home to 35,000 of the 40,000 Zoroastrians. Each baug has its own unique layout with the buildings surrounding the agiary (fire temple) and garden. The baugs with their arched entrances have tall trees that provide shade to the Victorian style buildings enclosed within a compound wall. Each baug has ten of these buildings in the very least that are spread across five acres of land, some of them more, and they house 100 families on an average.

First built in 1912 in Mumbai by the Parsi Panchayat, the baugs are now more than just an address for the Parsis; they are an essential part of their distinct identity. After the first baug, several more were built in 1937 and after the World War II to provide houses for the Zoroastrian community at affordable rates. Even today a Zoroastrian who wants to own or rent a house in a baug can apply to the trustees and will be offered a place based on availability.
Each baug has its own doodhwalla (milkman) and pauwalla (bread man) along with their own tarkariwalla who become part of the extended family and are familiar with the needs of each family. Quibbling over prices is an enjoyable ritual for them.Nanu bhaiyya, the vegetable vendor in Cusrow Baug, said, “I have been coming here for 30 years now and nothing has changed. Every morning I still have to explain to memsahib why I cannot give her a 50 per cent discount. I do not mind because she is like my family now.” The goswalla (meat seller) is the most sought after as a true Parsi cannot imagine a meal without a mutton dish. Ras-gosh, an authentic parsi dish which is a mutton gravy made of apricots and garam masala and eaten with with naram pau (soft white bread), is finger-licking good and a dish to die for.

A baug is a closed community where everybody knows everybody else and if Jahanbax dikro is studying or not. Freni, a 64-year-old in the Old Parsi Agiary in Secunderabad, with her snowy white hair tied back in a braid and a scarf over her head, said, “These children in the colony are like my own. Every evening when I go down to meet my friends; I take a few chocolates for the children.” She laughed and added, “That is the only time they come to me. Otherwise when I ask them how their studies are going and are they troubling their parents, they run away from me.”
Asking questions is natural in the baug whether it is the day’s menu or is Rustom still dating the same chokri (girl). Sanobar, a 30-year-old housewife, said “Every afternoon my neighbour hollers across the passage asking me what I have cooked. When I first moved in, I was baffled. But now if Dolly Aunty doesn’t ask me I would think something has happened to her.” On cue, Dolly Aunty, a cheerful 54-year-old housewife, walked into Sanobar’s flat and said, “It is nice to know what the other is cooking. It’s a sense of being loved. Sometimes we also send food across. This way we ensure the feeling of being a part of one big family.” There are two to three flats on each floor, facing each other. Residents talk across their grilled doors which are always open and people also walk in and out of each other’s home frequently.

While the women exchange recipes the men of the baug discuss matters of the world: on whether 'Bipasha Basu is more attractive or whether Aishwarya Rai retained her charisma even after marriage’. These men or bawajis, dressed in leghas (loose, flappy pajamas)and sudras (a religious vest made of handspun cotton) with a topi (a religious cap) on their bald pates meet every evening in the large garden around the baug’s agiary (fire temple).

Their mornings are spent in their arm-chairs reading the newspapers and slurping tea from their abominably large cup and saucer every morning. Darius Uncle, a 70-year-old grandfather, prefers Bipasha Basu. He exclaimed, “Dikra (child), she is smart and sexy. She has brains to go with the beauty.” And clinching the argument, “After all she is going out with aapro dikro (our son) John Abraham.”

But Jehangir Uncle, a 65-year-old retired bank manager, argued, “Bipasha hasn’t had as many hits in her kitty as Ash has. Even after marriage she (Ash) is going strong. That never used to happen in our times. After marriage the heroines had to settle at home.”

Younger men of the baug are not part of these animated discussions. Jehangir Uncle said in a mischievous tone, “All these cutlets (‘young parsi boys who have meat and no brains’) are busy wooing the fatakrees (a variation of the Gujrati word fatakra meaning cracker) in the colony.” He smiled wistfully and murmured, “In our days we had only one fatakree for the entire colony and now there are so many for them to pick from!”
The fatakrees are not the only reason that keeps the cutlets away from the elders. They feel that the elders pry too much into their lives and can be embarrassing. Pervez, a 22-year-old M.Com student said, “They are so inquisitive that they need to know everything from the ice cream you ate to the girl who dropped you back home.” But Roxanne, a 21-year-old student, said “I will be lost if I no longer hear my neighbours bellowing out at one another.” She emphasized, “I am so used to them discussing their family drama across two floors; it is now a source of entertainment for me.”

No matter what their complaints are, youngsters do not want to move out. Pervez said, “I am so used to it that I can’t think of living anywhere else.” Hormazd, a 23-year-old, said “Living in a baug is dirt cheap. We pay only Rs 600 a month as rent and live in the most posh part of the city which is Napean Sea Road. The same 500 square feet flat will cost at least Rs 20,000 a month. So why would I even think of moving out?!” Godrej baug, on Napean Sea Road, was built in 1984-85 by the Bombay Parsi Panchayat.

A baug is home for the Zoroastrians, a community space for them to bond; a haven where time seems to pause for gossip and naram pau.

"If google goes down, something else will come up"

2008-02-05T15:18:00.000+05:30

Last night, a friend and me had a discussion on why google is better than any other search engine. And also why the Yahoo! and Microsft deal, if it came through, wouldn't do much for the. Note, Shash is a hard core google admirer and the following converstaion could be biased. If anybody has an alternative opinion kindly feel free to add on. I've also added a few links to stories regarding the deal which I personally think is a must read to understand the complexity of it. There again I thought I did write a lone blog on the deal, but thought this conversation sets a good ground for it.

IMJ: Have u read the story in New York Times on Google's (G) take on the bid?
Shash: Yes I read G's take on it.
IMJ: They are definitely thinking if that’s their response. No matter what any one says about the deal, G is definitely shuddering.
Shash: They're playing smooth. Thing is, they can't be challenged that easily
IMJ: Yea. Smooth on de surface chaos inside.
Shash: Too much permission capital with everyone. We all lap up google services and don't care one whit about MS or yahoo search engines.
IMJ: Well think of it this way Micro and Yahoo engineers together working to improve the search engine. It is definitely something to think about
Shash: Lol don't blame you, but that's not how it works. The google databanks account for about 60% of the world's big iron machines, the ones that are publicly connected, anyway.I doubt anyone can beat the raw power of google's systems anytime soon
IMJ: What do you mean by “The google databanks account for about 60% of the world's big iron machines the ones that are publicly connected, anyway.”?
Shash: Simple raw computing power. The google servers are not really single systems. Rather, they're these enormous complexes of networked machines that work together and split the loads between themselves. One could consider the databank to be one huge supercomputer if they do; it's the single largest entity on the internet. You've seen the "(0.13 seconds)" bit on each google search, right?
IMJ: Yes
Shash: Now imagine that each request goes through like maybe 5000 computers in that span of time. The thing is, google makes their own servers - they customize the OS and build their own machines from off-the-shelf components. At the scale they operate at, this is so bloody cheap that they can afford give away things for free even if 99.99% of us never click on the ads.
Shash: Also, they've got this huge amount of advertising capital. You don't yahoo for something - you google it and with blogger, they practically own the word blog and google earth, picasa. Nobody goes to hotmail or even yahoo mail anymore.
IMJ: Then isn’t it unfair for them to say that micro is going to manipulate and violate the idea of the INTERNET??
Shash: Some would say so and in a way, they're right. But remember it's the same site, whether you find it through msn live or google or through a friend giving you a URL. What they're saying is that Microsoft has this reputation for playing dirty. They bundle products with their OS and thus snuff out a great alternative with a "good enough" one. I don't think that'll happen to google though - they're saber-rattling at MS and yahoo
IMJ: G had filed a lawsuit against M when dey had made MSN default search wit their OS.
Shash: yup and a fat lot of good it did MS. Everyone just reconfigured their home pages to G. Including the OEMs who did it out of the box after people complained.
Shash: But even google's power pales in comparison to something else that's just building up
IMJ: Meaning?
Shash: It is the simple fact that wikis, blogs and the rest are user-generated. No more are we tied down by a few sources for everything. Interested in something vague and weird? Make a website or a blog about it. Even if you don't want the free stuff, you can do it for about $5 a month + 9.95 a year for a domain. So if google goes down, something else will come up.

Other links:
Yahoo! and the future of the Internet by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer
Monkey boy's three-legged race
Google and Microsoft Take Up Battle Stations
How Google Could Keep Yahoo From Microsoft
An Offer Yahoo Can’t Refuse

Dinner date with Jimmy Wales

2008-02-04T22:48:00.000+05:30

Okay for those who don't know who Jimmy Wales is (there were quite a few of my friends who didn't!), he is the founder of Wikipedia. Yes, the very site you would go to if you wanted to know about a career option u are looking at like logistics or to look up what a heinie is.

MJ says that it is not the best site to look up when you want details and research. But its an undisputed fact that wiki is the most sought after.

And yes I was lucky enough to meet the man who founded it and made it possible for one and all to add on to the online encyclopedia.

Jimmy Wales is in the country to address a few universities on various issues regarding the internet. As he was in Chennai, two of my friends and me caught up with him at an informal get together at dinner. Thanks to Kribs else we would have missed out on the oppurtunity.
Seated at a table for 10, Jimbo sat at the head of the table. There were quite a few biggies from the IT industry along with two other reporters.

Krib's introdruction of us as the Crème a la crème journalism students was quite a boost. It was an overwhelming thought to meet Jimbo (his preferred nick) as we didn't know what we would talk about. But he put us at ease by drawing us into the conversation right away.

Discussing the motivations of why one would want to sign up with wikipedia to the problems of handling edits made by mischief-mongers. We covered most of the wiki ground.

Asked if wiki would soon go the video or audio way, he wasn't too keen on it. Citing reasons like difficulty editing such pieces on the basis of bias and information or even updating an audio/video piece. He said the technology for editing this hadn't been developed. He also said that to add on information it did be difficult.
He wasn't too keen on any content being linked to blogs as a source of information due to various reasons. Or adding a podcast. He said they were still in the nascent stage and wiki had a long way to go for all of that.
He also believed that it is easier for a person to read text while multitasking, than it would be to hear a podcast or watch a video.

When asked what his take on the new google software 'knol' which is alleged to resemble wiki. He said he didn't feel threatened in any way as it was not similar to wiki at all. Would it change the cartel of google search w.r.t wiki? He replied that wiki was a non-profit organisation and it really did not matter.

Discussing the Microsoft-Yahoo! deal, he played safe and said one couldn't really say if it would work or not at this point in time. He did agree that they were two different companies in terms of work culture and all, but one never knows what could happen. He also said that Google was number 1 as a search engine, but Yahoo mail still has many more users to their credit. gmail doesn't. But he also acknoledged that the gap was fast being bridged.

David Appasamy, Communications Manager of Sify, said "The two companies are so disparate, that its tough to merge the two." According to Appasamy, Yahoo! has been on a decline for the past two years and the bid by Microsoft seems to be an act of desperation from their side.

Well, there were many more things that were spoken about, but more of that when am done writing the story with my colleague Bratatee. Shall post the story, so all you people have nothing to worry about.

You will get the inside story along with pictures. :) Till then goodluck and goodnight.

Jimmy's blog

Discrimination against Indians in Mumbai

2008-02-04T21:41:00.000+05:30

While Indians were raving and ranting about the discrimination against Bhajji in Down under by the natives, Mumbaikars had to face one too.

The almost riots like situation on Sunday, Feb. 3 - 2008, came as a rude shock to the residents of Mumbai. Especially those who are from North India. It is no longer an issue of being an Indian and a non-Indian. But this has been decentralised and come to the very core of being an Indian.

Raj Thackeray and his party (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) members have created chaos in Mumbai suburbs. Raj Thackeray made controversial comments against north-Indians and Amitabh Bachan is particular. He voiced out his belief that maharashtrians were being discriminated against when it came to jobs and other amenities. The northies seem to be all over Mumbai, making it their 'earning' home, but not accepting it full-heartedly.
This entire fiasco was more of a political propoganda and an attempt to woo the 'true mumbaikars'.

It is an expected thing that when the Big B is bad-mouthedc his extended family, Amar Singh - member of the Samajwadi Party (SP), has to come to his 'adopted' brother's rescue. And this is what happened. Amar Singh too indulged in a verbal spat with Thackeray, turning it into a violent clash between the two parties.

MNS attaked a theatre playing a Bhojpuri film and pelted Big B's house with liqour bottles in the wee hours of monday morning.

Thackeray should be told that what the mumbaikars really want is a state that has amenities to provide like water, efficient drainage systems during the rain, adequate housing amongst a few. Rather than indulging in verbal and violent games.

How does it matter if Big B is building a school in Up, if he is so concerned about the lack of education facilities in Mumbai - why doesn't he build one? But NO that is that the issue that he fought on. For him it was a case of people earning in Mumbai but spending in their home town. He claims they are not 'Mumbaikars' at heart.

What does he have to say about those 'Mumbaikars' who are maharashtrians, but not living in their home-town? They are not supporting the city in any way what so ever. They are spending in the cities/countries that they have adopted as home. Should they be called 'mumbaikars'?? Should they be allowed to come back to Mumbai if they wanted to??

On what basis is Thackeray discriminating against north-Indians? Should the other states too start treating the migrated-mumbaikars the way MNS has? Shall we all ask them to pack up their bags and return to their city?

If we start discriminating on people on the basis of inter-state, then where will India stand in the global community? We were dividing people on the basis of religion and caste. Are we now going to adopt the policy of discriminating against people on the basis of which state they come from?

The combination of caste + religion + inter-state is going to be a lethal one that could cause repercussions far and wide.

I love Laloo Prasad Yadav's response when Thackeray asked the obnoxious question, "Why are the Railways full of Biharis? Are Maharashtrians less able?"

"Localisation will not be tolerated in an era of globalisation!" Laloo retorted.

Yes, I completely agree with Laloo.

Team India go kick lots of Aussie A****

2008-01-31T18:59:00.000+05:30

After Bhajji's hearing on Tuesday, all of us - Indians - heaved a sigh of relief and were jubliant. But OZ media played spoilsport like their team. It is hard to believe that the very same media who was backing Bhajji up after the Sydney test are the ones who say that Hansen's verdict is crap and its a "pressure n money" verdict coz of BCCI.

Thats just utter crap! Why cant they, both the Australian team and the Media face it that we got what we deserved? Is it too hard for them to face the fact that we are now giving back as good as we get? They just crying like babies.

Why are the Australians and even a few other former english players forgetting that Symonds the MONKEY!!) was the one to start the verbal assault?? Bhajji just retorted back like any other human being. But here lies the problem, the aussies are just stuck-up snobs who refuse to be beaten at their own game - be it Cricket or sledging! And that too coming from an Indian. No ways, they are not the ones to sit back and say "Bring it on"

There is evidence from the stump-mic that proves that Symonds (MONKEY) was the initiator of what turned the cricket field to a dirty sledging arena.

They should learn from their mistakes and I hope that Bhajji decides to sue Symonds for defamation. That ought to teach the Aussies a lesson even if this episode hasn't!

Music sharing - legal or illegal?

2008-01-31T17:36:00.000+05:30

This is a talk that a few of my friends and me had as part of our first Audio podcasting assignment. Turned out to be quite an interesting discussion. Hope you all enjoy it too.

Click here to get your own player.

My first Podcast

2008-01-31T15:40:00.000+05:30

We had this workshop on podcasting today. It was fun n frustrating. Fun coz it was creativity at its best aand we learnt a whole lotta cool stuff that I wldnt have known of or learnt, if not for this wkshop.

Frustrating coz de damn PC i sat on was jus jinxed to quote Unni and James. Firstly de damn Audacity player didnt wk, had to record on a friends laptop. Then got it transferred ONLY to realise the damn Audacity player was a different version than my friend's and hence couldnt do much with the recorded piece. So she converted it to MP3 format. After which I signed up with Podomatic to upload the podcast.. And i'm still waiting for it to be uploaded. Hence the time to post this blog. Once its done, I shall upload my FIRST EVER podcast here.

So wait and listen.

Farmer turns cab driver as crops fail in Cuddalore

2008-01-28T20:13:00.000+05:30

Bhaktavatsalam, a vannair farmer from Sakkangudi has sufferred large crop losses due to the rains in 2007. His 12-year-old son, Balaji, studying in the Panchayat Union School looks on.

Cuddalore: 38-year-old R Bhaktavatsalam, a Vanniar, (a Most Backward Caste), owns six acres of land, that he owned from is father 20 years ago, in Saakangudi, a village in the Keerapalayam block, where he cultivates paddy. But for the last five years, he works as a cab driver with a local travel company to meet the increasing cost of living. He has three children – two sons and one daughter, all of whom are studying.
His farm land is at a one kilometer walk from his house, near the dalit colony of the village. He hires labourers to do the manual work, but he decides on what seeds to sow and what fertilizers are needed. He said, “I do all the administrative work and the physical work is left for the coolies.” Bhaktavatsalam, along with other farmers of this village, who cultivate mainly sugarcane and paddy, faced crop losses due to the heavy rains last December.

Has the government given you any compensation for the crops that were affected during the rains this year?
No, we haven’t got any compensation yet. Our Panchayat leader has told us that the inspection officers from the Central Government will be coming before Pongal. They will check our records and inspect our fields. Then,only if they see it necessary/ will we get any compensation. But the rains were in November-December, so by the time they come here, there will be nothing left of the havoc caused by the rains last year for them to see. So then how do we get our compensation?

What happened in the previous years after the floods? Did you get any compensation?
The last time I got compensation was in 2005. That year the rains were heavy and I lost out on most of my paddy. While I was paid only Rs 2000 for my loss. I incurred a loss of about Rs 45,000, inclusive of all the fertilizers and pesticides I bought. That year was the worst; I had to take a loan of Rs 10,000 the next year to buy seeds and fertilizers.

How did you cope with the living costs after your loss?
I earn Rs 3500 a month as a cab driver. I had to live with that. At least we had some food on the table; my neighbors suffered a fate far worse than me.

What’s the quantity of seeds you buy every year and where do you buy them?
Per acre I sow 45 kgs of rice seeds. Thirty kilograms of rice seeds cost me Rs 400. I buy it from a co-operative society. We have one in every village. I buy the PPT variety of rice as it is the tolerant variety. (PPT is a herbicide called Phosphinotricin. A variety of rice called Oryza Sativa. L, which is tolerant to the herbicide, has been produced.)

Have you bought seeds from the government? If so, have you been given any subsidies?
No, every time we go to the Keerapalayam Panchayat they say that there are no seeds. They say the same for fertilizers. So we always buy all that we need from the co-operative society. It is not that they give us any discount, but at least we get good seeds.

What is the germination of these seeds?
I get 75 per cent germination. But this year due to the floods caused by rains, my crops were affected. A bag contains 10-15 kgs of rice Usually I get 20 bags of rice, but this year I may get just 12 bags.

How many labourers you employ on your fields and what are the wages do you pay?
I have 15 people who work for me - 11 men and four women. The men are paid Rs 100 per day and the women are paid Rs 50.

Why such a large difference between the wages, don’t the women demand more?
(Laughs) The women do not do as much manual work as the women. They are physically weaker, so the work done is less, that’s why I pay them less. They don’t ask for more because this is how it has been all these years and this is how it will remain.

Customs keep mother away from child

2008-01-28T20:09:00.000+05:30

In isolation: Senyami with her nine-day old daughter, Jayalakshmi. Following old customs, Senyami's mother-in-law makes her sit in the corner of the house for 40 days, till she compltes her menstrual cycle.

Cuddalore: Senyami, a 40-year-old woman from the Irula community in Kaliangar Nagar could not reach the hospital in time for her delivery of her seventh child. She was washing clothes at home, when her water broke. Since the nearest government hospital is 5 km away in Killai, she had to deliver her baby at home with the help of her mother-in-law.

It has been nine days since she her daughter Jayalakshmi's birth; yet Senyami sits in the corner of her two-room house isolated from her family and children. Following customs that one believed were long forgotten, nobody touches Senyami and Jayalakshmi, as they haven’t bathed. Senyami said, “On the twentieth day, we both will take a bath. Then her grandmother will look after Jayalakshmi till I complete my 40 days in isolation. Only then I will be allowed to reclaim the responsibility of my house.”

Until Senyami completes her 40 days of isolation, her new born will not be breast-fed. She was unaware of the fact that her milk could dry up or that after some time it would not have anti-bodies which are crucial for the baby's immune system. She has four children who are below the age of five and need her care. When her two-year-old son cried and ran to her for comfort, his grandmother held him back as his mother was considered impure.

At times her eldest daughter, Raji who is an IX Std. student at the corporation school, had to act as surrogate mother for her siblings. She hasn’t attended school this term, which began in January, as she was needed at home to help her mother. Raji said, “My mother needs me. She cannot help my younger brothers and sisters because of her current condition. I bathe and feed them. I have to look after them so that they don’t run into the fields close by.” She also added, “Once my mother is allowed to do so, I shall go back to school.”

Senyami and her family of ten members earn Rs 300 a month. The family depends on the meagre income of her husband, who works as a driver (a person who grinds rice to flour) at a rice mill in Killai. Her mother-in-law is too old to work and Senyami herself works only during the harvesting season earning Rs 35 per day. This year she couldn’t work due to her pregnancy. The family live on Rs 10 a day, which is Rs 2 below poverty line (BPL) and the money is used to buy one-liter milk for the entire family every day. She said, “We add water to the milk so that we have enough for everyone. We buy Ponni rice from the ration shop or sometimes my husband gets it as wages from the mill. The pulses that cost Rs 2 at the ration shop have stones. But we cannot afford anything better.”

Sterilisation was never an option for Senyami. But after her third delivery that was cesarean, the fear of injections and operating theatres was infused in her. Her seventh delivery and increasing financial problems has showed her that the greater fear is that of dying of hunger. As soon as she is physically fit, she plans to go to the government hospital and get herself sterilized.

Flaws foil NREGA in Cuddalore

2008-01-28T20:06:00.000+05:30

Women working at the NREGA site in Kokupalayam village in Panruti block. They were laying a Kucha road that leads to the burial ground of the Most Backward Caste. Photo: Ranjani Rajendra

Cuddalore: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – 2005 (NREGA) came into effect on Feb.2 2006. Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu was one of the 200 districts where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was adopted for the first phase. Two years since and the scheme is still in its nascent stage.The Act states that applicants should be given their job cards within 15 days of registering at the village Panchayat. And if this is not adhered to, the applicants should be paid ‘unemployment wages’ till the date of employment. But in Chinnakomati village of the Parangipettai Town Panchayat, over one-fourth of the households that the Digantik team visited, were unaware of the unemployment wages. The survey was part of a social audit conducted on behalf of District Collector, Cuddalore, Rajendra Ratnoo.

Numerous discrepancies regarding records surfaced during the course of the audit. In Pallipadai village, according to the NREGA registers with the Panchayat, the job cards seem to have been handed out a month or two before the card holder had applied. The applicants were not even issued the counterfoil receipts that they should be given on application for a job card.

The other problem was that people did not get the minimum 100 days of work promised under the Act. Most families get only 40 days of work on an average. The reason given by government officials was the arrival of the monsoons or the lack of work. Most of the work done under the NREGA is desilting of irrigation channels, renovation of existing ponds and formation of earthen roads. Work under the NREGA could be of any kind that excludes the use of machinery. Hence the officials, including the Block Development Officer (BDO) J. Natarajan said that allotment of work is not possible during the rains. Although many people testified that the NREGS was highly beneficial for them and they would like to continue with it, it has gone unnoticed by the officials.

Yet another drawback was that not all the labourers seemed to be aware of their rights and the provisions under the Act. As a result they did not know that they could go to the Gram Sabha and put forth their demands regarding NREGA projects. Even though the Gram Sabha decides on the work to be taken up, the sarpanch and other panchayat officials have the last word.
Most people who have registered and are given job cards do not work from mid-September to end of December. During January the landless labourers prefer to work on the fields as they earn more doing agricultural work. The NREGA in Cuddalore gives a daily wage of Rs 80 per individual , whereas the farm workers get Rs 100 per day. The government also ensures that no work is given during the harvesting season. This is another reason why the subscribed 100 days of work is not adhered to.

Another discrepancy that came to light was the fact that the labourers did not always earn the promised Rs 80 a day because they had not completed their share of work. The women in the region claimed that the work involved backbreaking tasks and due to this they often lose out on full pay. At the NREGA site in Kokupalayam village, Panruti block, several workers said they received only Rs 60 on an average. Technical assistant, Alamelu,said that they calculated the work completed by the entire group. If one individual in the group hadn’t completed the work given to him/her, the entire group lose out on their wages. The time duration taken to pay the workers money was also a source of concern. According to the Act, they should be paid their wages within seven days of them working, but this rule too has been flouted. Most people were paid after a month of them working on the site.
There have also been numerous cases of ‘ghost’ workers. In a number of cases the applicants’ photographs were missing from the records, which was essential to prevent fake cards from being issued. In other cases, fewer job cards being issued to a family than had been applied for. In Chinnakomati , most of the application forms that were in possession of the Panchayat were not dated. So there was no way to check when an applicant had submitted the form and, when and if the applicant had been given the job card on time.

Despite claims that measures were being taken to ensure proper implementation of the NREGA, which has tremendous potential, the numerous discrepancies that surfaced during our social audit showed otherwise.

Pattas no panacea: Irula sore with leaky roofs

2008-01-28T20:02:00.000+05:30

Watery settlement: The 165 Irula houses in Kalaignar Nagar, constructed by the government with the help of NGO CREED, have rain water stagnation. This is due to the lack of proper drainage system provided at the settlement.

Cuddalore: The 165 Irula families, living in the Kalaingar Nagar of the Killai Block for the past three decades, are now burdened with maintenance and, electricity bills, health problems due to stagnant water and the lack of drinking water, thanks largely to post-tsunami housing programme. Earlier, they were living in kachcha houses made of thatched roofs and mud walls.

The Government and the Centre for Rural Education and Economic Development (CREED), and NGO completed the construction of these 165 houses, over six acres of land, by the end of 2006. The Irulas were also given pattas (land deeds) for their houses. Each housing unit is built over an area of 350 square feet at the cost of Rs 1.5 lakh, consisting of a small room that is also used as a common room, a kitchen, bed room and an attached toilet cum bathroom.

Block Development Officer (BDO) of Portonovo, P. Natarajan said, “This community was a second line victim of the tsunami. Water seeped into their houses, destroying them. We sought this opportunity to build houses for them.”

While the settlement, from a distance looks like a neat row of houses with cement roads, a closer look reveals stagnant water and a lack of a drainage. Residents complain of mosquitoes and other insects. A kilometer into the settlement and the cement road ends with 40 houses and the primary school where the Irula children study, without access. A resident, Rani, said, “We have asked both the government and the NGO repeatedly to complete the road on this stretch. They do not pay any heed to us. During the rains our children have to walk through the muddy waters to go to school.” Not surprisingly, most children skip school during heavy rains.The interior of the houses is also in a pathetic condition. Each house was provided with one bulb and one tube light, but in most cases either one or both do not work. A fisherman residing here, Ramalinga, said, “We are provided with electricity only from 6 pm to 10 am everyday. I have taken the bulb from the entrance of my house and fixed it inside as the tube light does not work.”

In addition are problems like leaking ceilings during the rains - a result of the poor maintenance of the houses. People complain they do not earn enough to feed themselves and cannot afford repairs. Another resident, Pushpa, said, “My husband earns only Rs 50 a day by selling fish. We barely have enough to feed our children. Adding to that they (the government) expects us to pay for the maintenance? Why can’t they do it?”

An anthropology student freelancing with CREED, Stefan Inglin, said, “While building the houses, the government did not consult the residents. They did not think of how the people would maintain the houses. They just built the houses with the intention of giving the Irulas a house.” He further added, “Even though the Irulas were given bulbs and tube lights, they have to foot the electricity bill.”

The Irulas refuse to use the toilets attached to their houses as they believe that the water used in the toilets is what they would get for their other household chores like cooking, drinking. The Director of CREED, Nadanasabhapathy, said, “We have provided them with two septic tanks, yet they refuse to use the toilets. What can we do?”

Drinking water is another problem that the community faces. Every house has been provided with a hand pump, but not all work. For every four water pumps, only one is functioning. People have to use their neighbours’ pumps. Rani said, “We have told the panchayat president innumerable times about this problem, but nothing has been done to solve it.” Neither the BDO nor the NGO commented on this. Nadanasabhapathy said, “Ensuring continuous water supply is not our job. The Panchayat has to do something about it.”

Being given a patta for their house has not solved the problem of the Irula tribe, instead, it has raised more complicated issues of maintenance and basic amenities.

Samiyarpettai’s fishing woes

2008-01-28T19:54:00.000+05:30

Fishy tale: (From left) Rajendra, Subramani, Narayana and Vella, fishermen in Samiyar Pettai, removing their day's catch of Sardines from the fishing nets. Rajendra's mother Kasima (sitting in the centre) sorts the fishes for sale.

Samiyar Pettai: “I want my son to study and earn a better living than me, but I have no money. The banks refuse to give us loans, as we do not have any collateral. We are helpless,” said Subramani, a 55-year-old fisherman. Lack of money for education coupled with the problem of dwindling fish catch is cause of concern for the fishing community in Samiyar Pettai. Many of the fishermen are in debt.

Samiyar Pettai is a small fishing hamlet in the Portonovo block in Cuddalore, with a population of 2215. During the tsunami 24 lives were lost along with boats, motors and fishing nets. The fishermen were given token amounts of Rs 2000 to Rs 4000 by the government, but this was not enough to piece their lives back together. It’s been three years since the tsunami struck this village but the government refuses to pay heed to the villagers’ problems.

Rajendra, a 54-year-old fisherman said, “I lost my boat and nets during the tsunami. The government gave us boats but no motors. I am using my old motor. The amount given for our nets were not sufficient. We had to pay from our own pockets.” A new engine would approximately cost him Rs 40,000, which he said was unaffordable. He added, “We do not catch enough fish to even pay for our diesel. We earn Rs 50 per day and our monthly income is Rs 2000. We are in debt to meet our diesel costs.” Due to this a few fishermen prefer taking their thoni (small wooden boats traditionally used by fishermen) as it means lesser fuel costs.

Nahgayam is 50-years-old and she sells her husband’s catch in the market. She said, “The last two days we got good catch and we earned Rs 100 a day. But during the storms, when the sea is rough, the men cannot venture out and hence we do not earn for days.” She also added that during the 45-day ban imposed by the government between March and April, the fishermen are deprived of their livelihood. They do not have any alternative work during this period. The fisher folk are left with no choice but to dry the fish caught previously and sell the dried fish. Some of them make fish pickle, but the market for this is not very good.

The fishermen do not want their children to take up their profession, as they see no future in it. They are doing all they can to ensure that their children get good education. Even this is a burden for many, as they do not have the money to educate their children beyond the XII Std. Subramani, who took over his father’s thoni at the age of 15 said, “My son is studying in the XII Std. I want him to do engineering, but colleges are demanding Rs. 5 lakh just for reserving a seat. Other fees are additional.” He lamented that he could not get any loans from banks, as he had no collateral.

Four hundred fisher folk like Nahgayam have registered under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA). But this too has its own problems, as the fisher folk are allotted work irregularly. They work in the mornings at the NREGA site and come back by three in the afternoon. After which they eat and go fishing in the sea by six in the evening. But there are also fishermen like Rajendra and Vella who say that digging up roads and desilting ponds was not what their forefathers did and hence neither would they. Despite the problems faced by them while fishing, they are adamant about not doing any onshore work like digging. Rajendra emphasised, “We are not educated and hence there is no chance of us getting another job. But we will not do manual work.”

It's Up!

2008-01-28T19:50:00.000+05:30

After two weeks of working our butt off, our site is up. http://www.digantik.com/

It's pretty cool if I say so myself. The design team has done a brilliant job and the edit team has done it too.

MISSION COMPLETION

2008-01-24T12:05:00.000+05:30

I know its been a long time since I posted a blog, but cant help it. Life has been hell for the past one week.

We have been working 13 hours a day on getting our site ready. And all the hard work and tension has finally caught up with both the edit and site design teams. With tempraments changing as fast as F1 races and tempers rising, we have made lab 3 and lab 4 our homes. MJ trying to keep every one calm and collected and getting haggled herself.

Just cant wait for the site to be completed and uploaded tomorrow. After that a respite until the next gruelling work shop on multimedia begins next week.

Yes i shall blog a detailed account of my deprivation trip with lots of opinions over the weekend. And my articles too will be up on the blog. But please do visit our site, coz u have many more stories there.

Link to the site once its uploaded.

Indian’s back to barbaric times

2008-01-19T21:10:00.000+05:30

The attack on the NDTV office in Ahemdabad for conducting a Bharat Ratna poll that included M.F Hussian shows how intolerant the Indian society is becoming. Being nominated for the poll was the reason for the barbarism being unleashed.

Cowardice is most suited to explain the character of the attackers. Why would any one who believes in what they are fighting for/against take up the disguise of anonymity. Or even worse, a mob? Why not stand up for what you believe in? If one strongly condemns the ‘Bharat mata’ painting by M.F Hussian, then they are entitled to their opinion. But this does not give them the right to vandalise a person’s property. And only because he was nominated for a poll.

This is not about a Muslim painter, but it is about Muslims at large. What is more intolerable to right wing Hindu activists - The fact that a Muslim dared to paint a ‘Bharat mata’? Or the fact that a Muslim did not understand the sentiments of the Hindus? But why do we forget that these are the same Hindu activists who did not think twice before scorching scores of Muslims only because they sought a place in a country they adopted as theirs after 1947 partition?

Is it wrong for Muslims to think of India s their own? Is it too much for them to ask that they be treated the same way as any other Indian? Why are they discriminated against on religion? India is most intolerant when it comes to caste and religion. We refuse to talk about it in the open, but we practice it in hushed tones.

A recent incident at Modi’s event in Kamaraj Arangam in Chennai was an eye-opener. This taught us that to be a Muslim at a Hindu function is the biggest crime a Muslim can commit in a secular country like India.

Two young Muslim boys who decided to attend the ‘Tuglaq’ magazine event on 14th Jan were in for a rude shock. They were taken to the police station and harassed only because they were Muslims. And one of them was not an Indian, but a neighbouring country’s citizen. The police accused them of being Muslim extremists who might have been at the event to cause communal disharmony.

When will we stop this unjustifiable act of discrimination? We are no different from the Americans when it comes to treating Muslims. The high-handedness and the arrogant way in which we portray that the Indian society seems like it is all about Hindu beliefs.

If a Muslim decides to make his presence be felt in any manner what so ever, he will be gunned down. Like an illegitimate.

Caste Discrimination

2008-01-19T14:55:00.000+05:30

P. Sainath has done it again with his article "Discrimination for dummies: V.2008" http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/18/stories/2008011853351000.htm

This is one article that comprehensively talks about caste discrimination at all levels. Be it education, marriage, jobs, reservations, food, water - name it and you have it. It might be hard to digest, what with the neo-youth claiming reservations are not about caste, but merit. But its de truth, we refuse to acknowledge it's caste.

We paint a thick coat of "merit" on everything we do. If thats the case then how many of those who go to the STATES to their masters go on merit?? Is it not because they can afford to pay their Rs 10 lakh (minium) fees?? Even if they don't have the money, how many of them are refused bank loans on the basis of caste?? Not one, cause the lower caste wouldn't even cross the border of their intra-states. How many are refused loans due to lack of collaterals?

Scotty boy proves that all boys are jerks!

2008-01-19T12:29:00.000+05:30

Silky black coat on his back with a few stray grey hairs on his head, he sits on the balcony soaking in the hot afternoon sun. Turning his face ever-so-slightly so that the sun doesn't blind his eyes. A few minutes of this and he starts sniffing in the air, bolts from his lazy posture and sprints to the kitchen.

Sitting on the kitchen floor is Kasi amma, shredding the boiled chicken for our dinner kebaabs. She is soon joined by the man with the shiny black coat, and before she knows it, he leaps onto her. She is startled by his behaviour, he has never done this before. This is a first. "Why is he doing this?" asks Kasi amma. The next few minutes happen in fast motion, she doesn't understand what is going on in the Kitchen and with her, until she sees the plate of shredded chicken and the bones on the floor. My dog, Scott, eating it up as though it were quick silver. He, the man with the shiny black coat, was the most well behaved gentleman in my house. Until this day. Mom says its because of his old age. Scott turned 10 on Nov 5, 2007. That should make him old and wise, but he seems to me like a kid. He was better behaved when he was a pup.

He snaps at mom when she reprises him for his bad behaviour. He looks at her, with a mean look in his eyes (replicating the look of a bad-very bad Doberman, well atleast he tries!). He growls and on mom further screaming at him while trying to pull away the lilltle chicken left, he finally goes "snap-bite-snap". Mom is taken aback with his behaviour. She always believed he was the better behaved of her children. My brother gleefully sqeals, "See, I don't snap at you!"
Psst psst, think my lill bro has forgotten all the times that he has snapped at my mom, verbally!

That day Scott didn't get any food. Mom decided that enough was enough. Old age was no excuse for bad behaviour. But that's not where Scott's misbehaviour ended.
As he did not get his lunch, he decided to show his disappointment in my mom. Scott did his poop just outside the balcony, our DINING ROOM! Mom was so furious it's not funny.

Scott was the one man in my life who hadn't proved he was a jerk. But yesterday he did.

Natalia's Reference letter

2008-01-17T22:21:00.000+05:30

The day my cousin does ask me to write her a reference letter for her graduation in Forensic Pyschology Crime and Deviance , it will read like this:

My cousin is the most suited person for this course because she is the craziest and most erratic woman in our family. She gets weird mood swings which only she can understand. She understands the pyschology of a dog cause she bites like one. This was after she got bitten by a pomeranian at the age of nine. She got 14 injections and ever since then, she shares an unbreakable bond with them. She is a neo-pyschopath with all the frills of a Forensic Pyschology expert. Nats will be the best person to crack cases. After all her suspects think like her!

Love you Nats, inspite of your crazy whacky self! Mwaaaahhhh.

Cranky, sleepy, murderous and deprived!

2008-01-17T20:06:00.000+05:30

Okaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... I'm suffering from one of my mood swings. Lots of reasons and then again nothing in particular for my mood!

Spent all afternoon listening to Kishore Kumar with a few other friends while writing our stories. Yea, the covering deprivation trip (more details on that when I'm done writing the stories) does that to you. I came back with an allergy (is what I think), but the dermatologist says its an "exaggerated insect bite!". Yea right, thats why I've been itching all over for the last few days?? BULL CRAP! I feel like a tomato field with red boils all over me.

Now for the cranky and sleepy part, add the above reason to the fact that I havent slept well in the past few days. This also for the reason mentioned above. I'm on this weird allergy (insect allergy?? ask the doc!) antibiotic which makes me drowsy at the wrong times. Like for instance, when I have got this sudden urge to write my story and its all flowing through my head. But the left part of my brain argues with the right part and the Winner isssssssssssss the Left! Have a few hundred stories to write and am suffering from WRITER"S BLOCK. Okay. I agree few hundred is pulling it a bit too much, but it's ummmm well you can definitely count them on your fingers! :P

Murderous cause whatever I've written until now is just not acceptable. It has to be revised, re-revised, re-re-revised and then edited and then loads more editing. Argggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Trust me it sounds much more simpler than it really is!

Deprived - cause I want sleep, I want a non-itchy body and I want Peruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Silent is the land : Silence is the tower

2007-12-24T21:53:00.000+05:30

Today was my first trip to the Bombay Doongerwadi i.e. the Tower of silence. Zoroastrians do not cremate their bodies as they worship fire and believe that even after death they should donate their bodies. Yes, we are the benovalent creatures who consider themselves as pure as white snow (a lot more things that can equal pure, but I shall leave some work for your grey cells).
Spread across 70 acres, Doongerwadi is till date the Bombay Parsi Panchayet's (BPP) largest golden egg. And they seem in no hurry to give it away. The class divide is most prominent in the allocation of bunglis (house of rest for the bodies). The poor section of the community are given bumglis in the lower part of the doongerwadi where as the upper middle class who can afford to pay Rs 900 are given the Wadia bunglis. These are situated near the prayer hall

If one thought that the caste factor would be missing in the small community consisting of 69,790 Zoroastrians (India Census 2001), they are sadly msitaken. The Nasasalars or the Nascisar Khandia's(meaning people who carry bodies on their shoulders) are the body bearers of the community. Dressed in white flowy gown like robes, they carry the dead bodies all the way from the bungli's upto the Tower of Silence. This is a 2km walk up a steep slope and requires a lot of energy. Their work does not stop with carrying the body up with a stream of people walking behind them. But they also have to take the body inside the Tower of Silence and walk amongst the other bodies to find an empty slot to place the new body. They also clean the interiors of the tower ocassionally. Clearning up bones and left-over body parts makes these people impure. Hence there are considered the untouchables of the community.

They are not invited to the houses of chust (pure) Zarthusthi's. They find no one from the community who would want to marry them. They are left with no choice to marry the poorest of the poor, the pit of the pile.

They are the outcasts, the outlaws. They are who we made them. We didn't find the courage to pick up our remains after dead and so left them to do it. Those remains which are ironically donated after death.

"Dikra, jara ai kar ni, pelu kar ni ne pachi jara iya avine maari aagal bes ni!"

2007-12-24T16:50:00.001+05:30

White haired and wise, sitting on the rickety chair reading three newspapers every morning - Jamejamshed, Times of India and Mid-day - is granny dear (maternal). A most common sight at the Kola house every morning. This is my maternal home. Located on a busy road in South bombay, with cars buzzing by and people queing upto buy tickets at Liberty, granny is oblivious to all of this.

Granny is oblivious to all of this. She lives in her own small world that revolves around newspapers, crows, food, chappatis, switching on and off the fans and many more things that would seem trivial to you and me. But this is her life. It has been for the past the last 20 years. And it will remain so till she exists.

We kids find her extremely repetitive (polite way of saying irritatingly nagging!). But we lover her, never-the-less. Her "Dikra jara ai uchak ni." (Child, plz pick this up.). And that 'this' will be a miniscule paper on the ground or something equally microscopic!

Her never ending, "Dilnaz, kekli chappati bana vanich?" (How many Chappati's are to be made?) is a daily extra dose one gets. She will call my aunt's workplace just to know that coz granny suffers from short term memory loss.

In the morning while eating her breakfast she hates the crow cawing at her. The black crow perched on our hall-room balcony door, caws away asuming he is entertaining my granma. But she thinks, he is complaining about her not feeding him!

These are a few things that havent changed since I was a kid.

(The title translates to "Child, do this, do that and then that also. After all of that come sit with me.)

Reminiscing...

2007-12-24T16:11:00.000+05:30

Ever thought you did catch the flu a few days after landing in Bombay? I got the worst flu that has stayed with me most part of my trip. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh! I never though I would, but then again I have never thought of any of the things that happened to me. Like my dad says, you do things to learn from them especially mistakes. I never do. Cant help it, I think the world is a nice place and people have better things to do then do what they do in reality.

Sneezing away on my wicker chair, wondering if I'm going to get the one call that will answer my questions (Psst psst, not all but most of them), I sit reminiscing of all the days gone by - good and bad. I have been doing that quite often.

Yesterday I went to Bandstand (in Bombay) after 10 years; the one place that my cousin and me would go to frequently when we were kids. All those memories came back like a flash flood, only to make my mood more pensive as my cousin wasn't there to squeal at and say "Look, that's the jungle gym we learnt to hang on like monkeys." Nats where are you? Missing you sweety. Remember all the times that we sat on those horses asking the 'godha wala' to go faster so we could out do one another? We did quite often didn't we? I remeber ruhi and mom saying, "Bhaiyya dheere chalo. Bacche hai ghir jaayenge.' and we used to contradict them, urging them to take us faster.

Things haven't changed one bit at Bandstand. It's the same. Almost. The horses aren't same, neither are the godha walas. But the kids who play there, making their own memories are the same. Faces aren't, but the spirits are. Why Nats couldn't we be just kids, with none of the problems to share but just fond memories. We could grow old by staying young and living our stories. Our fairy tale stories, not the 'big bad world' stories that we living through now.

Why o why did things have to change?

Long last.....

2007-12-20T11:18:00.000+05:30

It feels like donkey years since i wrote a personalised blog. The last few have beena plug of my work which i shamelessly posted due to lack of time and motivation to write :) Five months spent in ACJ,gives you a lot to reflect on and very little time to implement it. Scraping my knees against the gruelling schedule that MJ puts us through, its no surprise that we are working through our holidays- either for our dissertation or gearing up for our deprivation trip to Cuddalore.

Sitting on my cousin's PC with nothing better to do in bombay, yes you read right - BOMBAY. Tired running around the desks of beuracrats gathering information for my dissertation. The threat of facing a RTI doesn't really bring a change in the sourly looks on their faces. The atrocity of this being, i had to take permission to enter the Doongerwadi (written to the Bombay Parsi Panchayet a letter, but havent got a reply on that as yet.) - atrocious cause I'm a Zarthushthi myself. This is the whole mess in my religion that i was/am talking about. Thought the dissertation would help answer a few of my questions, but it has raised more questions that what I or THEY- the wise men of my religion can answer.

Wonder what MJ would have to say about my dilemna. I think her reply would be "Jessica if more questions are being raised, you are on the right track. Follow the trail." But how do I follow the trail, if there is nothing for me to sniff around? BPP refuses to talk about the nuances of their funds as its not open for discussion and at this point I remember P.Sainath saying "Follow the money, that's where your story is." All i've got from the BPP is that thei liquid assets are Rs 50 crores! Mind you, this is not counting the property they own, which would cost a few billion rupees in the very least. Our Doongerwadi's minimal SP would be 1000crores (at the very least!) The baugs are a different story altogether. This is the story i've to get to the bottom of! The other conflict that arises is the intra-communal conflict, which is larger canvass that i've to paint.

I've one helluva long trip ahead, I'm not expecting it to be smooth without any bumps. But I do want to reach my destination with all the places I passed and stopped at on my way carefully marked out.

Landfills need no more refills

2007-11-01T21:20:00.001+05:30

Ten feet high-unsorted garbage spread over 250 acres of the Perungudi landfills is testimony to the fact that there is no segregation of solid waste despite the claims of the Chennai Corporation.
No effort for sustainable waste management has been taken by the Corporation or the private companies who are in-charge of collecting the waste despite the MSW (Handling and Management Act 2000) which specifically states that segregation of solid waste is a must. The garbage is also dumped in ecologically fragile areas like the Pallikaranai Marsh in spite of the High Court granting it protected status. A corporation official says that it does not dump waste at the marsh but it’s the local people and town panchayat who do. But one look at the Pallikaranai ‘dump yard’ and the leveled out garbage spread across 10 acres is proof that an organization is involved. There is a run-down unit with a dysfunctional weigh bridge and private security guards at the entrance of the marsh leading to speculation in the involvement of the Chennai Corporation and other private players. Prashant, a resident of the area, says “Once a week, the garbage at the ‘dump yard’ is burnt and the smoke causes a lot of health problems. We have to wait for the smoke to settle before we can start driving.” More garbage is heaped onto the ashes and the cycle goes on.
The Perungudi landfill has been in use for 20 years, yet there is no reform in the manner in which the garbage is dumped. The road that leads to the landfill is a mud-track despite the claims made by the Corporation of spending Rs 25 lakh to build the road. It is a place where rag pickers earn their living. Plastic, paper, optical fibers, rubber products, organic waste all of it can be found together in large heaps that have accumulated over the years. It is left to dry in the sun; the latest garbage is taken to the back of the landfill and the front of the landfill is dried garbage. During the rainy season, the environmental and health hazards are prominent and the stench is unbearable. Bags with segregated garbage which is meant for recycling can be found lying amongst the other trash. So the efforts made by an individual become meaningless due to official apathy. 50 trucks carrying garbage come to the landfill everyday and they cannot measure the quantity as the weighbridge hasn’t been working for the last two months. The Supervisor at the landfill says, “Each truck can hold 5 tonnes of garbage and that’s how we note it down.” As per his calculation there are 2500 tonnes of garbage that are collected and disposed at the landfill. But most trucks are not filled to their entire capacity and this is overlooked by the Chennai Corporation.
The Chennai Corporation could learn from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras on how to collect and manage waste. They segregate their garbage into organic and non organic waste. The organic waste is dumped into a pit dug in the forest which is partly consumed by monkeys and deer, and the rest is composted by nature and acts as manure. The non-organic is sold and sent for recycling.

Jackpot with Garbage: IIT-M

2007-11-01T21:17:00.000+05:30

Zero Waste Zone (OZONE) is IIT-Madras’s scheme of handling solid waste and recycling management. It was started in October 2004 with the help of Exnora, Vellore who studied the garbage in the campus. Based on the study a segregation plan for garbage disposal was set up.
The OZONE follows an eco-friendly method of disposal. They segregate their waste into organic and non-organic material and dispose it in two different bins present all over the campus. Pits are built in the forest area of the campus and the organic waste is dumped into these pits. Jayashree Anand, committee member of OZONE, says “The monkeys, deer and other campus animals know our timings and are ‘bang on time’ to pick the best out of the lot for food. The rest of it acts as manure for the forest.” Apart from being eco-friendly, this is also an economically viable method as IIT earlier used to pay Rs 30,000 once in two days to Onyx to collect their garbage. The non-vegetarian organic waste is dumped separately in a bin which is emptied once a week by Neel Metal Fanalca. Sujatha, Treasurer of OZONE, says “If we dump the vegetarian and non-vegetarian into the pit, it will cause a foul smell.”
The non-organic waste consisting of glass materials, plastic, cement, aluminium foils, electrical and barbed wires, papers are all collected into separate bags and at the end of the month it is auctioned to the highest bidder who then recycles it. OZONE earns Rs 70,000 a month from selling their non-organic waste. Jayashree says, “By the mad scramble for our waste material, one would think we have gold. There is a slight problem when it comes to selling polystyrene as there is no way method to recycle it.” even the paper is separated into colour and white paper as the Weight of colour is more and fetches a higher price.
The campus is divided into three zones – residential, academic and hostel. An awareness campaign via distribution of pamphlets was carried out. Each of these zones has red and green bins for people to throw the garbage in. From here, the garbage is collected using tricycles to a shed in each of these zones where a group of men and women segregate it. The segregated garbage is stored in synthetic sacks until the month end.
There are a total of 75 men and women employed from the neighbouring slums. They work six and a half days of the week and earn Rs 90/day. There is a two-week training programme conducted by Exnora and everyone is given certificates. Jayashree Anand says, “We have adult literary programmes as most of them couldn’t sign their names. Each one of them has a bank account now and all of them can at least sign their names now.” These classes are held every afternoon for half an hour and an incentive of Rs 4 is given to every worker to motivate them to attend these classes.
FRINGE BENEFITS FOR WORKERS
In collaboration with State Bank of India – IIT Branch, OZONE has formed two women and one men self-help groups. Taking into account how long these people have been working here, they get a loan from Rs 5000 to Rs 25,000 per person. These accounts are handled by the Ladies club and they help out the workers in case of any problems. There are quite a few men who have been working within the campus for as long as 14 years. One of the workers has built himself a house. They use the loans for paying their children's school fees, taking care of the house, investing in small chit schemes. Most of their husbands are contract workers and do not have a permanent job hence the women have to take responsibility of their family. A few of the worker's children are given scholarships for their education and recommendation for admission in the Kendriya Vidyalaya – IIT by the resident professors. This has helped them deal with financial problems largely. They are also paid overtime in case of extra clearance work in labs.
Salary of the workers is drawn from contributions made by the residents and is handled by the Ladies Club Madras.
OZONE’s policy of non-hazardous disposal of waste is one that should be replicated by larger sections of the people for a pollutant free environment.

IS IT REALLY HELPING?

2007-10-29T19:13:00.000+05:30

The Education Department of Chennai has a list of objectives set for its corporation schools. Some are being implemented partially and most are just ignored altogether. Books are a source of knowledge. The absence of a library in a primary corporation school is one in a long list of missing educational basics in the corporation schools. The government has said that a library facility is a must, then why has it not been implemented? Are the funds allotted for this being siphoned off for ‘other’ purposes? Does the government have the soul to look into these fine flaws and take corrective action? We are talking about the future of young children who are the tomorrow of India. There are many other flaws in the system.

All students are promised free uniforms for all but only the ‘white’ uniform is provided by the government, which is worn only once a week. The students buy the ‘blue’ uniform which is worn more often and two sets of the same are bought by the students. Is it really necessary to have two uniforms? Why doesn’t the government supply these too? No footwear is provided by the government. There are children who walk bare feet to school over long distances. Bus passes which also come under the government scheme for corporation students are also not implemented by all schools. A lot of these students walk a few kilometers everyday to get what is rightfully theirs – education.

The government promised free textbooks and notebooks to all the students but then ONLY the SC students are given free note books, the others are asked to buy their notebooks. Why this caste rift? Do these children understand what a SC is? When they make friends they don’t ask what and who you are, but it does get them thinking ‘Why am I not given free books, why only them?’ Is it right to embed such caste issues in children at such a young age? Why can’t free notebooks be provided to all children? After all they too come from a poor background and their parents are also working like the rest.

Most corporation schools don’t have a first aid box, so where is all the free medicine meant for the children under the Health and Hygiene scheme promised by the government? These schools have poor or no laboratory facilities at all. No step is being taken by the government to change this. An empty classroom for a lab exists collecting dust and cobwebs.

The mid-day meals scheme is the only scheme of the government that is carried out impeccably in most places. It is heartening to know that the children are fed well at least once a day, but then again not all children benefit. What happens to the many children who sleep on pavements and die of malnourishment?

'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction'

2007-09-07T19:37:00.000+05:30

The physical universe is governed by laws, not law of the land or state, but by scientific laws that are rational and logical. These laws were brought into existence after extensive study and substantial proof to support them. And hence we have accepted them. In physics when a single particle disobeys a law it's subjected to intense study, and the law maybe rewritten, in nature it leads to a new avenue of evolution. If our law, which dictates our behavior, is broken we are punished.

We are all human and we are prone to error. Let’s face it, the laws of physics too are written by us and we are infinitely more complicated than a single particle. We each react to the same situation in different ways, to make laws that are applicable to all of us is therefore more complicated. The law does exist despite all its flaws. But is imprisonment the solution? President Roosevelt of America once said “Speak softly, but carry a big stick”, he was referring in many ways to human nature itself. Punishment has always been a part of how we maintain order in our society. Law makers, make laws to make our lives safer. Today we live in a world where we cohabit with terrorists, arousing mere suspicion is a crime that warrants punishment. Doctor Haneef’s case is the latest where anti-terror laws were used with little to show for our safety.

Crime, the world over has increased ten-fold. One could argue that with better technology it is harder for criminals to escape the law. Politicians the world over are “getting tough” on crime. Harsher sentences are being handed out, often for small offenses. Yet crime rates are rising, this shows the system is not working. Instead our jails are filling up, resources could be dedicated to progress - provide the offenders with shelter, food and clothing. The problem with the system as I see it is that it is a reactive system. A crime is committed, society is outraged, and it reacts by showing the criminal its wrath. Who is a criminal? Was he/she not a part of society at one point, before they broke the law? The time to be proactive is now. Can we prevent crime, without carrying a big stick over our heads? Maybe not, that would be a bit idealistic, maybe a bit intrusive. So what do we do? The answer isn't easy; education plays a big part, perceptions another. The latter calls for us to change the way we look at criminals. Criminals shouldn't be considered misfits, or as unwanted elements as they are. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov the protagonist deals with his demons and finally confesses to his crime. His ordeal is punishment enough. Again maybe this seems a bit idealistic to believe that one's conscious is punishment enough. There are cold blooded mass murderers out there who show no sign of remorse. This needs more study, what goes through their minds, is it genes or their surroundings, the circumstances that they have been in, which creates them.

Handing out life sentences, capitals punishments or sentencing them to jail is not the solution. Justice delayed is justice denied. Let us take the case of Sanjay Dutt, his verdict was given after 14 years of the crime being committed. For 14 years, he has made a notable contribution to the society, and has been A role model to many. Munna Bhai, Lage raho! Is it fair then to sentence him to five years of prison, now? The law does not consider what is fair, just what is right; a new system should be empathetic. Under trials in this country face nearly endless amounts of time in jail, simply wasting away, awaiting a preliminary hearing. This must stop, we need to quickly review our jails, statistics on the number of under trails in this country are sketchy at best. There are no checks and balances in place to ensure that law enforcement agencies do their job. Ironically the Indian police are considered second only to Scotland Yard, in terms of number of cases solved, but least we face it statistics lie. Human rights violations in this country are comparable with states like China. Compensation is unheard off. Justice is blind; she is the same to all rich or poor. In our country, I am ashamed to admit our jails are full of people awaiting trail, we have murderers and bandits in parliament. Blue collar crime is rampant. A mere slap on the wrist for the politician, the banker, the accountant who stole a core, a life of misery for the pickpocket who stole five hundred.

In conclusion, the system is not perfect, it is slow and inefficient, and often fails us. Murderers sit in parliament, and petty criminals are turned into hardened criminals in jail. The answer is complicated, first the government must make the courts more efficient, they are duty bound to do so. Checks and balances regulating the police are a must, allowing the CBI to be autonomous would be a step in the right direction, more independence for them would allow them to work better. The Indian Penal Code should be re-examined least we face it, it is a British relic, and should be adapted to our modern state. Education, every citizen of this country should be aware of the law, and their rights within the limits of the law, how to get relief from the court and so on. And finally reformation, this is probably the toughest part, society must try to re-integrate convicts, it is not easy, and it means giving them a second chance, a chance to lead a life with dignity. This is our right, the right to live with dignity, the law didn't take it from them we did, so who's the criminal now?

Vet- Pet MAGIC!!

2007-09-07T19:35:00.001+05:30

As you go down to the basement, the scent of dogs and cats is unmistakable and you can hear them whining, yelping and barking. Dr. Arun’s vet clinic and shelter for pets, is one of its kind in the city. His dedication to his work is surpassed only by his love for dogs. Watching him handle the dogs with ease and gentleness reminds you of a mother with her baby. He is starting a physiotherapy clinic, first of its kind in Chennai, for dogs with chronic problems. He has adopted homeless and abandoned dogs, the recent one being Suriya, who is ‘bow-legged’ and has been with Dr. Arun for a year now.

He is based in a small sized apartment, with a reception area where Suriya will be founding ‘kissing’ people, three shelter rooms with temperamental dogs, a surgery room and a bathroom where the dogs are bathed. One wall of the reception area has racks of pet food lined up, most of it is imported. He also has a cold storage stocked up with ‘Pet Beef’ and ‘Sausage rolls’, this is sheer bliss for dogs. Pet owners can spurge their money on ‘Royal Beds’, toothbrushes, ‘Studded’ collars, for their ‘Beloved Poochs’.

Dr. Arun has treated dogs that are poles apart. One of his patients is a mentally challenged Golden Retriever; he says, “There is nothing we can do. They are like humans, they need love and attention.” His kennel once had a pair of Labradors who wouldn’t stop howling if the radio wasn’t played for them, as they were used to constant noise.

It is heartening to know that we have vets who treat their canine patients like they are family.

HANEEF - The witch-hunt story

2007-09-07T19:33:00.000+05:30

The Australian government is in a fix. With the Dr. Haneef case falling flat without any substantial evidence to convict him, its time for the Australian government to realise its folly and make amends.

Right from the start, Haneef has been denying his involvement in the Glasgow terror attack. But the Australian Federal Police (AFP), never heeded to any of it. They accused him of ‘reckless’ behaviour only because he gave his SIM card to his cousin, Sabeel Ahmed, which they initially stated was found near the vicinity of attack. It was later found that the SIM was found at Sabeel’s house and Haneef had been stating that all along. Since when was giving away your SIM card to family or friends considered as a terror plot? And even if it was, shouldn’t they have confirmed the details of where and why he passed on the SIM? Indians believe in the concept of not wasting a penny, and if there is credit on the SIM then its perfectly normal to let some one else use it. Would the same treatment be meted out if Haneef had been an Australian and not a Muslim or South Asian?

Kevin Andrews, minister for immigration, has used his discriminatory power in an abusive manner by revoking Haneef’s visa on the grounds of ‘character flaws’. This is a very lose term which is not clearly defined by any law and based on mere suspicion. And we know that in humane judicial system, suspicion is not the basis for conviction. Hence the federal court absolved Haneef of all charges. The minister acted in a racist manner when he cancelled Haneef’s visa, which denied him the right to live and work. This was futile because the main aim was to detain Haneef even after he was granted bail. Andrews did not stop at this; he went on record stating that Haneef’s departure had aroused his suspicions and proceeded to humiliate him further by having immigration officers escort him to the airport.

The Australian Prime Minister has come out in the open with his support to Kevin Andrews. He said there is nothing to apologise about, it is better to be safe than sorry. And also that Australia international reputation hasn’t been harmed. So is he telling us that all the human right protests, media protests people agitating, major part of this happening in Australia, against the entire episode was done for fun? Obviously we are embarrassed by what happened and hence went through the trouble, but that seems to be obnoxiously ignored by the Australian government.

Haneef, despite all the humiliation and trauma that he has been put through, is willing to go back and work in Australia. This leaves him open to any investigation and therefore interrogation techniques that are allowed by the Australian anti-terror law. His willingness to cooperate is a definite sign that he is above suspicion.

If nothing else, the Australian government has stigmatised Haneef and ruined his chances of living a normal life. They can undo this partly by re-instating his visa.

WILL WOMEN STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS??

2007-09-02T21:42:00.000+05:30

The Domestic Violence Act passed in 2005 but implemented only in 2006 has not had the desired affect in curbing the perpetrator of the violence and helping the victims. Even after a year of the act being implemented, only an insignificant number of cases have been filed.

This Act is for violence - verbal, physical, economic and/or emotional - against women in a domestic household. It also allows the woman to stay in her matrimonial house or shared household even if her family members want to get rid of her. Dowry harassment can also be filed under this Act. Cases filed under this Act are to be handled by protection officers, service providers and counsellors. Due to lack of these, the Act hasn’t been executed to its full potential.

Also the lack of awareness of the Act amongst people hasn’t helped.
Victims of domestic violence do not speak out for a variety of reasons such as fear, lack of financial independence, child support, society and family hostility amongst many others. The terror of being abused more harshly if they take any legal action is ingrained in their mind.
The Act makes provision for the abuser to be taken into custody and an injunction order can be passed to protect the women from further harm. This will help her to proceed with the legal action without any trepidation. The law also provides monetary compensation to the victim.

A UN report shows that 70% of married women in India are victims of domestic violence. For many years it has been a practice to physically and emotionally abuse a woman if she is not submissive to the man or his family. If she protests, she is beaten up and sent to her house; her in-laws ‘wash’ their hands off her. In her parent’s house she is ill-treated and shunned from society as she has brought great shame to her family for being ‘kicked-out’ of her husband’s house. This is common in poor income households due to poverty and lack of education.

Although we have heard of domestic violence in middle and elite classes in hushed tones, it is no longer a secret because of the media exposure. Dowry harassment cases against Rahul Mahajan and former HRD minister Arjun Singh’s grandson have been registered; this confirms the fact that domestic violence hasn’t escaped the upper strata of the society either. Shweta Mahajan, Rahul Mahajan’s wife, who was beaten for dowry, later withdrew her complaint saying it was just an accident.

Not all women approach the police, as they are afraid of tarnishing their reputation. There is also the problem of women refusing to accept that they are victims of domestic violence; they pretend everything is all right. Women must first come to terms with what is happening with them only then can any form of action be taken.

Women are often emotionally broken down and do not approach the police for help as the treatment meted out to them borders on abhorrence. The police tend to take cases of domestic violence lightly, they dismiss the women saying it’s a ‘family’ matter and should not be publicised. The police do not file a Domestic Incident Report (DIR). There is also a lack of awareness of this Act amongst the police reported L.Srikrishna; workshops should be conducted around the country where they are taught the nuances of the Act and how to handle the cases.

A government survey in 2007 showed that 53% of children in India are subjected to abuse of various types but these assault cases have not been reported. It is difficult to help children under this Act. The lack of knowledge about what is right and allowed – wrong and forbidden is not comprehended completely by children. Even if they do know, they do not speak up for fear of being reprimanded for ‘lying’. Moreover, it is infeasible for a child to go to the police station and file a complaint unless an elder accompanies the child. The survey shows that the abusers are people who live in the same house as the child. Here comes the question of whom to trust?

COCK ROBIN - help!!!

2007-09-01T19:07:00.000+05:30

"Who killed Cock Robin?" "I," said the Sparrow,"With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.""Who saw him die?" "I," said the Fly,"With my little eye, I saw him die.""Who caught his blood?" "I," said the Fish,"With my little dish, I caught his blood.""Who'll make the shroud?" "I," said the Beetle,"With my thread and needle, I'll make the shroud.""Who'll dig his grave?" "I," said the Owl,"With my pick and shovel, I'll dig his grave.""Who'll be the parson?" "I," said the Rook,"With my little book, I'll be the parson.""Who'll be the clerk?" "I," said the Lark,"If it's not in the dark, I'll be the clerk.""Who'll carry the link?" "I," said the Linnet,"I'll fetch it in a minute, I'll carry the link.""Who'll be chief mourner?" "I," said the Dove,"I mourn for my love, I'll be chief mourner.""Who'll carry the coffin?" "I," said the Kite,"If it's not through the night, I'll carry the coffin.""Who'll bear the pall? "We," said the Wren,"Both the cock and the hen, we'll bear the pall.""Who'll sing a psalm?" "I," said the Thrush,"As she sat on a bush, I'll sing a psalm.""Who'll toll the bell?" "I," said the bull,"Because I can pull, I'll toll the bell."All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,When they heard the bell toll for poor Cock Robin.

INDIAN SHADOWS OF HARRY POTTER

2007-07-29T19:46:00.000+05:30

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – The Musical, is the latest production of Landing Stage, the youth theatre group of Masquerade. Its been played by a group of kids all in the age group of 13-19, which is quite impressive. Marking the first time it has ever been adapted for theatre, it’s a matter of pride that a Chennai based theatre group has been given the rights to use the trade mark. Scripted by Manasi Subramanian and directed by Aruna Ganesh Ram, the production had immense potential and it would have been a phenomenonal success if not for a few things that were overlooked.

The exploits of Mr Potter are already widely known, and shouldn't need much in the way of explanation, but for those who remain unaware, this story plots the beginning of Harry's life into the world of magic, wizards and witches, from his orphaned childhood at Privet Drive- the house where the words ‘magic' and 'Potter’ are forbidden, to his first journey to Hogwarts, where he finally discovers himself and his place in the incredible world around him. He meets his various teachers, such as his mentor Professor Dumbledore, an adversary in Professor Snape who never misses an opportunity to snap at Harry, and Professor Quirrel, a timid man with a dark secret. With friends like Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and enemies like Draco Malfoy as well as the the Dark Lord himself, Voldemort, Harry is never short of adventures, which unravel in a series of twists and turns with a few song and dance sequences to adapt the story to a musical.

Firstly, there must be a mention of the impressive sets prepared by Mithran Devanesan, which brought to life all that one imagines when reading the book. The costumes, prepared by Deepthi Karnad were also good. The first few scenes had Dudley and Uncle Vernon who stole the show with their lively performances but the audio quality could have been better. Unfortunately, Harry’s expressions weren’t visible for the most part, as he faced away from the audience with his chin down (although the sorting hat sequence was performed well). There were also a few technical snags with the ‘sea sounds’ doing the disappearing act on Hagrid’s entry onto the island cabin and Hagrid needs to work on his vocation. The background direction of the song and dance sequence at Diagon Alley was well conceptualised but could have been executed better, as the dancers in centre stage obscured the action taking place behind. The performances of Ron and Hermione were quite impressive. Hermione got her indignant act so well that she would have passed off as English. Draco was one actor who not only got into the skin of his character but also got his diction right. However, Dumbledore's feeble voice left a lot to be desired, and the lighting during the forest scenes could have been better manipulated to prevent the shadows that were cast on the actors’ faces.

Some of the musical aspects were inspired as the sorting hat and chess game dance sequences were true classics. The directors voice and music by Ashwath made the song so potent, it had the audience applauding whole heartedly. These were the best instances of Denver Antony's choreography, while the other dances left room for improvement. There was also the occasional trivial scene such as the explanation of Quidditch, which could have been skipped, making the play considerable shorter. However, the graphics used for the Quidditch match were a brilliant piece of innovation. The climactic scenes with Quirrel and Harry were exceptionally directed and well executed, and Quirrel’s split personality was powerful enough to give you goose bumps.
With the release of the last book in the Harry potter series and the fifth movie sequel out in the last two weeks, the Harry Potter fever is running high amongst the general public and the production house have used that platform to promote the play. Although there were areas in which the production fell short, Landing Stage's spirited attempt at a musical has definitely put a new spin on the Harry Potter phenomenon.

INDIA & U.S FOLLOW SIMILAR FAMILY TRADITIONS

2007-07-12T20:31:00.001+05:30

You pick up any random Indian newspaper over the last two weeks, the first thing that hits you is the ‘MUD SLINGING’ campaign by the opposition party against the leading party’s presidential candidate.

To sum it up in brief, everyone thinks Pratibha Patil Shekhawat is going to be a ‘rubber stamp’ president. WHY?? Cause of her alleged link to the (note) Gandhi-Nehru family. After all she cooked food in Indira Gandhi’s kitchen, when her son Rajiv Gandhi was killed. Now you may ask, what is it to any of us if she cooks, sweeps or swops (read sob too!)? No business, just that the whole scenario shows a very domestic scene. The Rashtrapati that we all strive for is not to be painted in such a picture, even though majority of the Indian women are portrayed to be home-makers!

But then again Sonia Gandhi being an Italian but now an Indian by choice (15yrs late!), has finally understood the “loyalty” that we Indians upho0ld ourselves for. Blood is thicker than water, but FAMILY LOYALISTS are rarer than that.

The first family of United States follows or I think it did be more appropriate to say “shares” (after all we wouldn’t want to offend Bush Jr by calling him our follower, he did feel more empowered if it was the other way round. Tssk tssk, I wouldn’t want to be the cause for Indo-US nuke deal fall-out! ), the same family traditions as India’s first family (the GANDHI’S). First it was BUSH SR who showed that a party loyalist comes before any other. He pardoned Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully withholding information from the Congress in the Iran-contra affair. Bush Jr follows his fathers principles by pardoning Lewis “scooter” Libby Jr who was found guilty of committing perjury. After all, Bush Jr had promised “to take care of anyone who violated the law in his administration”. Must say he has set a fantastic example of how to take care of such “law-abiding” people. To top it all, he employed Elliott Abrams as a deputy national security adviser. Not only does the President follow his dads tradition but also upholds them in every way possible.

Its no wonder that India’s first family and the U.S first family find a common ground that upholds all principles, similar and unethical. A lot of people crying foul play, these leaders think they can play GOD and get away with it until the next election, which is just around the corner for both countries(weird coincidence again!!).

Like Paul Krugman rightly said “Obstruction of justice when it gets too close to home is a family tradition. And being a loyal Bushie means never having to say you are sorry.” It goes the same for the Gandhi’s.

So sit up and get your act together before the curtain falls onto you, strangling you in its layers of (scaf)folds.

MIXED DRIVE

2007-07-11T21:03:00.000+05:30

I wouldnt have ever thought that a drive to a wedding reception would get so entertaining! And the fact that a 45 min trip would in totality take 2 hours 15 min (my friend who was driving the car would beg to differ!) for reasons you'll know only if read the entire blog!! :D

I wasnt really complaining too much about the time that we were stuck on road but yes i'd tend to grumble when my stomach rumbled n protested a wee bit coz i wasnt paying due attention to it. We leave my friends place at 7 in the evening whereas it was was supposed to be 6.15, and mind you it was a guy who was to pick us up. I will smash a pumpkin on a guys head if he ever says, 'Women are late and fashionably so!' My foot! HE was RUDELY LATE( if i was spared the jail term, thats the colour his clothing would have been!) . In the 45min time slot that i'm at my friends place, i have a very interesting conversation with her cousin who also happens to be a famous joints ex-chef! The second i hear the name of the joint where he USED (note the past, he emphasised on it a couple of times!) to be the cheif chef, i started cribbing and bantering about how lousy the service is, balh blah blah. Ironically i'd tell him that the brownies were simply 'mouth-lip-licious'. After listening to me diligently, he tells me that it NEVER was the chef (thats him!) fault but that of the waiters who because they are paid so poorly, arent too thrilled on delivering the order on time and get some weird satisfaction at being repeatedly asked and begged by the customers for their food! Saddists even in the hospitality dept, whatever has the world come to?? Doctors being terrorists, but that s different story altogether.

Our friend finally decides to make an appearance and we get moving to the hotel where the reception is held. These are the people that the car consists of -- CHEF, JOURNALIST, ENGINEER, RECEPTIONIST (this is my own version of what my friend driving the car does, in reality he works at a call centre! ;) ). Now that i've told you the kinda people in one car, i leave you to a moment of thinking as to what the conversation would have been about. 1, 2,3,4...................................60. TIME UP! I'm only going to be giving you a jist of it cause if i'd sit down to tell you the entire 2hrs 15min of the conversation, i'd be charged for taking up soooooooooo much space! :D

Here it goes....................................... We discuss about FOOD ( i invited the chef hoem to COOK!) which i think was the reason we got so hungry, we kept guessing as to what the food would be. We were all craving for FLESH! Tssk tssk, i'm talking meat and chicken! :P Moved onto BLACK MAGIC (neither of us wanna mess with it!), spoke about BLOGGERS(hurray to us!) , anyone ever heard of our very own BRIDAL BEER who was a class act of her own in comparison to UKs BELLE DE JOUR?? If not, please go look her up. Sadly though my friend told me she got all her blogs erased due to reasons known only to her. But you still do have a wealth of information on her from people who scrapped her, if you would just care to google her name! We then moved onto FOOD again (cant blame us, it was past 8 in the night and we all were HUNGRY!!) :) . We passed a lot of lovely restaurants, infact we were really tempted to stop by one and have a snack! But decided against it as we wouldnt do justice to the reception food. Psst psst, we still didnt know the menu. While my friend and i were discussing all of this in the back seat, chef and receptionist were taking directions from different people simultaneously! HA, whoever says women are bad at road sense, needs to get their senses checked!!!
We did happen to loose our way a couple of times, that should tell you that just stick to 1 direction, dont jump, cross and get lost!! One of our friends finally did get there and we were like "hurray, finally!! whats the menu??" no greetings, no nothing.. just straight to the point. ALL OF THIS OVER THE PHONE!! Our friend was highly offended that we were interested only in the menu, but can the rat think about the cat, when he has french cheese in front?? Excuse the poor analogy!

After dragging the car in mad traffic, we did have a few roller coaster- like rides. I think our friend chose the wrong career, instead of a receptionist(!), he should have taken up F1, but alas, all of us are prone to make mistakes, Even gross ones like our profession! :- Thats humans for you, the higher most strata in the ecology, but the most confused of the whole lot! Anyways getting to the point, we reached our destination, went upto the married couple, did the formalities and went to attack the food. only to slow down and eye it disappointingly on discovering it was VEGETARIAN! :( But then hunger trancends all of that and we eat with gusto.

I shall end this by saying, while eating i was introduced to a PILOT, SAILOR (works for the merchant navy, but then this is my choice of his post!). Interesting evening, uh?? ;)

2007-07-10T22:25:00.000+05:30

'Never believe all that the Internet has to tell you' is what parents tell their kids! But when they imparted these words of advice, they didnt think it would be applicable to websites and information posted on any reputed site. Especially not a central goverment site!!!

Well i must say it is 'SO TRUE!!' w.r.t passport.gov.in .. It psomises you a speedy service to all your needs. I think when they say 'speedy' it refers to the speed of a turtle! You would do an online registration for whatever it is that you've to do with the thought in mind that it would save you a lot of time. You go ahead and fill the form online, you are then asked to go to your nearest (one and only!) passport office at a particular time. You are all happy that "wow that was quick".
The next day when you happen to go and you even more pleased and reassured by the sign that hangs on the wall stating "NO QUEUES, NO WAITING, NO TOKENS, NO RUSH if you register online", when you get to the counter there is a "small" queue. Takes you half an hour to get to the man behind the desk, when you do all he does is ask you to check your name on a list, leafs through your form (the person who was waiting on me, did very patiently answer all my doubts!), and prompltly says "Kindly come back tomorrow to submit your passport. Come in at 8 ain the morn(guess for what??!!) to beat the rush. You can go straight upto the express counter." ARE THEY CRAZY OR WHAT?? :O

Next morning, after a pretty late night and mom screaming "you not going to be able to make it tomorrow if u dont get into bed right now!!) , you manage to drag yourself out from oblivion land to get to the office on time to only realize there already are 30 odd people waiting before you!!! :( Not one to give up, i promptly resign myself to be the 31st person!! : No decent chair to sleep on and a miserly newspaper in hand, you have to pass your time until 9.45 A.M which is when the counter opens! Amazingly at sharp 9.45 you see a well dressed man who looks as fresh as a daisy, compared to tour withered look, walking in and seating himself behind the computer. Before i know it, its my turn. Looks at my passport checks my form (which 5 other ppl already have previously!) and looks at me and says "You need a police check, where is it?" Guess he figures from my blank look that i had no idea about it (why the hell didnt the others tell me?? Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhh grrrrrrrrrrrrr, damn them to hell and back!). He hands over two forms for the same and asks me to fill it along with affixing two photographs of mine. Which i dont have. SO i go home, rush back with the needful and submit the passport with the reassurance that it'll be delieverd at my house within a months time. THANK GOD FOR SMALL MERCIES. To sum it all up, i spent a miserly 4.5 hours at a goverment office only to get what is rightfully mine by birth!!!

Audience?? The right kind???

2007-07-03T23:00:00.000+05:30

Thght i'd write in some more to familiarise myself with writing an online diary. Actually i do have a lot to share with whoever would "accidently" bump into my blog (the ways of reaching annoymous blogs are still mysterious 2 me!) . Wont start off with something personal, coz i'm 1 to feel exposed in front of an audience unknown to me. :) getting back to what i wanted to share.. i happened to attend one of these religion documentary screenings... Went to one that was a feature on the Zoarastrian community( leave you to wonder why), the person who'd de doc was trying to tell us that the community doesnt consist of ONLY the TATAs, GODREJs and WADIAs but also of people lesser known to the world.. Parsis who are poor, who are dependent on the panchayat for their living, of the parsi heritages that are being left to the wilderness. Of people who fade into the background without their plight being highlighted. When asked by the audience as to why he chose to portray a sect of parsis that were gloomy, sucidal and not eminent... he really couldnt defend it much. Said it was a topic that made him feel uncomfortable, his inner-self was screaming at the 20 people sitting in the audience " Contribute to saving this community that also has to it a side that is there but not showed.. Help in any way that you can... Contribute to prevent these old people from feeling lonely". It wa really sad to see the director fighting with himself to speak aloud these words even though it was on top of his head and tongue to say just that! It was even sadder to note that the audience consisted of the higher strata of parsi society and yet only asked the director why he chose such a subject to deal with the community. After all there are many more positive things about Zoarastrians. What the audience failed to understand was that he wanted to show something that all were blind to.

Everyone is doing it, y not me???

2007-07-03T00:51:00.000+05:30

I have decided to become a blogger only because half the world( or atleast the world where computers, laptops and NET exist!!) seems to be doing it. So i decided, y not me? No particular reason or story for this piece, just getting myself introduced to the world of BLOGS and BLOGGERS!!! So hiya, i say WELCOME to the world of virtual "EVERTHING"...