We've all heard of loo writings, haven't we? It can be pretty amusing at times, and sometimes plain offensive stuff written on the walls and doors of public toilets.
My dad once told me about a public toilet he went to when he was in Canada. While in the loo, he saw the following limerick on the wall: "Here I sit, broken hearted; Paid a dime, but only farted!"
Stuff like this in hostels can be amusing too. The loo on my floor in my college hostel had a few such poems written in chalk on the doors and walls, though I don't really remember what they said.
The cake, however goes to a loo in the MNREC hostel in Allahabad; that was the college my elder brother went to. The moment you closed the door of the toilet and sat down, you'd see - "You are about to witness a tennis match. Look Left." You'd look at the left wall and see - "Look Right."
You'd then look at the right wall and see the words: "Look Left. "
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
What are we thinking?
What unimaginable crimes people commit. Really. Earlier, I had written a post in my blog wondering about mob fury. Mob violence doesn't always happen as a reaction to a crime. It sometimes happens of its own accord.
A news channel reported an incident of a youth being beaten up mercilessly because he fell in love and wanted to marry a girl of a different class or caste! There have been incidents where such young people have been murdered in the melee. In most of these incidents, the policemen turn out to be mere onlookers, possibly helpless when faced with a mob like that, or maybe out of sheer apathy. (Being a policeman is just another silly job, then?).
Another type of unspeakable crime, acid attacks. Why do we say that human beings are civilized? A bunch of young men or boys in the teens or early twenties throw acid on the faces of some girls, ruining them for life, sometimes even killing. What is the difference between such 'civilized' people from apparently good families and plain savages? Why do some people think that this is an acceptable thing to do, this throwing acid business. It makes the blood boil to even think that such youth have support in the society. Support from their families, from the politicians, from 'influential contacts', who would make sure that these criminals are not detained in jails.
I read about an incident in the papers where two such criminals, youths who had thrown acid on two young ladies (the condition of one of whom was said to be critical) were killed in a police encounter. Perhaps, just perhaps the police knew that these criminals had contacts in high places and would walk free again if they were alive. Maybe the shootout was justified.
The response of the people to this was mixed. Many lauded the fact that these criminals were removed from society; the father of the prime accused even refused to collect the body of his son because of the crimes he had committed.
On the other hand, another bunch of people are accusing the police of showing off their 'muscle power'. Well, I wonder if they did say at least something when these boys had thrown acid on the young victims! I wonder what their opinion was with respect to the fact that they had maimed two girls (perhaps many more in the past) for life. Why all this outrage, why all this public support for two mindless criminals? Well, too bad that they couldn't be tried and punished, or maybe put on death row by a court, but that's all the sympathy they should get. But that's just me.
A news channel reported an incident of a youth being beaten up mercilessly because he fell in love and wanted to marry a girl of a different class or caste! There have been incidents where such young people have been murdered in the melee. In most of these incidents, the policemen turn out to be mere onlookers, possibly helpless when faced with a mob like that, or maybe out of sheer apathy. (Being a policeman is just another silly job, then?).
Another type of unspeakable crime, acid attacks. Why do we say that human beings are civilized? A bunch of young men or boys in the teens or early twenties throw acid on the faces of some girls, ruining them for life, sometimes even killing. What is the difference between such 'civilized' people from apparently good families and plain savages? Why do some people think that this is an acceptable thing to do, this throwing acid business. It makes the blood boil to even think that such youth have support in the society. Support from their families, from the politicians, from 'influential contacts', who would make sure that these criminals are not detained in jails.
I read about an incident in the papers where two such criminals, youths who had thrown acid on two young ladies (the condition of one of whom was said to be critical) were killed in a police encounter. Perhaps, just perhaps the police knew that these criminals had contacts in high places and would walk free again if they were alive. Maybe the shootout was justified.
The response of the people to this was mixed. Many lauded the fact that these criminals were removed from society; the father of the prime accused even refused to collect the body of his son because of the crimes he had committed.
On the other hand, another bunch of people are accusing the police of showing off their 'muscle power'. Well, I wonder if they did say at least something when these boys had thrown acid on the young victims! I wonder what their opinion was with respect to the fact that they had maimed two girls (perhaps many more in the past) for life. Why all this outrage, why all this public support for two mindless criminals? Well, too bad that they couldn't be tried and punished, or maybe put on death row by a court, but that's all the sympathy they should get. But that's just me.
Justice confused
Justice seems to be a pretty confusing concept to me these days.
I keep hearing raves and rants about how our judicial system is flawed and how money and influence can get a criminal out of jail, and how cruelly manipulative the system is. Perhaps the flip side of this is the mob on the streets. Who is the mob? It is you, me, it is the people of our country, eventually. But what is the mob, is it plain hooliganism, rowdyism, vandalism or is it just swift and decisive justice?
The mob doesn't care what the crime is, an offender could be a pickpocket caught in the act, it could be someone misbehaving with women, it could be an errant driver involved in an accident, anything. The most common incidents of mob fury are road accident related ones. I was witness to two such incidents not too long ago. Avik had offered me a lift home from office in his car, and on the way we saw commotion on the street. Apparently a pedestrian had been knocked down by a lorry and had falled unconcious to the ground. It was pretty hard to guess whether it was the pedestrian's fault for arbitrarily strolling on to the main road or whether it was irresponsible driving from the lorry driver.
Avik seemed to be the only person in the area with any sense, he immediately asked the onlookers to get the injured man in his car and drove him to hospital. I got off the car to make room, and waited for him to come back to pick me up. While I was waiting, the crowd identified the driver who had hung around to see what had happened to the victim and started beating him up without mercy. I guess there were about 50 people beating up that one man. The anger of these men is not measured at all. Each has a varying intensity of beating; one of them may have fought with his family, one may have been fed up of dealing with the bureaucracy of state government officers, one may have a frustrating unsatisfying job, but all of them are angry for some reason or the other. And everything combined is taken out on the offender.
On another day, I was riding to office on my motorbike and noticed a gathering ahead on the way. A man driving a Tata Sumo had ventured on to the wrong side of the road and hit another biker side on. The biker had fallen and hurt himself a little bit, but thankfully not seriously. The sumo driver however, was extremely wary of stepping out of the car, knowing that if he did so, he would definitely be beaten up by an angry mob. In fact, a mob had gathered around the car threateningly, and the man inside had joined his hands and was pleading with the crowd to let him go.
Ideally, persons who cause accidents through negligient driving ought to be arrested and their licenses cancelled. But almost all such offenders run. And in most cases, the reason for running is not fear of the law, it is fear of the mob. I have read numerous reports of road accidents in the newspapers which mention that a truck or lorry had run over a pedestrian, the driver had managed to escape only to surrender later at a police station.
The example is just that of road accident culprits. However, not all criminals can be held in Indian police stations. One phone call from an influential person is all it takes for even a rape convict to walk free. So what is the right thing? It would probably take ages for a court to sentence a criminal for a crime; is it people's way of instant justice then, to thrash the offender at the scene of crime itself? If so, is it not a slap on the face of our country's judicial system, and does it not literally scream of the lack of faith that the people have in the law?
I'm sure it does, in some cases of mob fury I hear of on television, I see instances where maybe even the police are either fed up of the painfully slow procedures of the law and feel that the mob can give better justice, or are way too apathetic to make sure that the law is upheld.
I wonder what is right. Maybe it is another huge paradox we will never be able to solve.
I keep hearing raves and rants about how our judicial system is flawed and how money and influence can get a criminal out of jail, and how cruelly manipulative the system is. Perhaps the flip side of this is the mob on the streets. Who is the mob? It is you, me, it is the people of our country, eventually. But what is the mob, is it plain hooliganism, rowdyism, vandalism or is it just swift and decisive justice?
The mob doesn't care what the crime is, an offender could be a pickpocket caught in the act, it could be someone misbehaving with women, it could be an errant driver involved in an accident, anything. The most common incidents of mob fury are road accident related ones. I was witness to two such incidents not too long ago. Avik had offered me a lift home from office in his car, and on the way we saw commotion on the street. Apparently a pedestrian had been knocked down by a lorry and had falled unconcious to the ground. It was pretty hard to guess whether it was the pedestrian's fault for arbitrarily strolling on to the main road or whether it was irresponsible driving from the lorry driver.
Avik seemed to be the only person in the area with any sense, he immediately asked the onlookers to get the injured man in his car and drove him to hospital. I got off the car to make room, and waited for him to come back to pick me up. While I was waiting, the crowd identified the driver who had hung around to see what had happened to the victim and started beating him up without mercy. I guess there were about 50 people beating up that one man. The anger of these men is not measured at all. Each has a varying intensity of beating; one of them may have fought with his family, one may have been fed up of dealing with the bureaucracy of state government officers, one may have a frustrating unsatisfying job, but all of them are angry for some reason or the other. And everything combined is taken out on the offender.
On another day, I was riding to office on my motorbike and noticed a gathering ahead on the way. A man driving a Tata Sumo had ventured on to the wrong side of the road and hit another biker side on. The biker had fallen and hurt himself a little bit, but thankfully not seriously. The sumo driver however, was extremely wary of stepping out of the car, knowing that if he did so, he would definitely be beaten up by an angry mob. In fact, a mob had gathered around the car threateningly, and the man inside had joined his hands and was pleading with the crowd to let him go.
Ideally, persons who cause accidents through negligient driving ought to be arrested and their licenses cancelled. But almost all such offenders run. And in most cases, the reason for running is not fear of the law, it is fear of the mob. I have read numerous reports of road accidents in the newspapers which mention that a truck or lorry had run over a pedestrian, the driver had managed to escape only to surrender later at a police station.
The example is just that of road accident culprits. However, not all criminals can be held in Indian police stations. One phone call from an influential person is all it takes for even a rape convict to walk free. So what is the right thing? It would probably take ages for a court to sentence a criminal for a crime; is it people's way of instant justice then, to thrash the offender at the scene of crime itself? If so, is it not a slap on the face of our country's judicial system, and does it not literally scream of the lack of faith that the people have in the law?
I'm sure it does, in some cases of mob fury I hear of on television, I see instances where maybe even the police are either fed up of the painfully slow procedures of the law and feel that the mob can give better justice, or are way too apathetic to make sure that the law is upheld.
I wonder what is right. Maybe it is another huge paradox we will never be able to solve.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
A leader's ego
Yet another disgusting crapshow by our politicians:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kerala-cm-insults-nsg-commandos-family--comment/79504-3.html
These are the words of one of our leaders.
The country is in turmoil. The people are furious at the apathy and reactions (or lack of ) of our politicians to the repeated strikes on our lives. It would have been pretty big of VS Achuthanandan had he accepted or even tried to understand the reaction of Major Unnikrishnan's father when he tried to visit.
Politicians visiting the families of the heroes seems like a farce, even every child in the country has a negative opinion of them; what else could they be trying to gain from these visits, but political mileage?
But these are the words of a leader, perhaps there is absolutely nothing that sets him apart from a small and cheap minded man; insulting the family of a martyr just to satisfy his bruised ego. Is this the best that we have?
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kerala-cm-insults-nsg-commandos-family--comment/79504-3.html
These are the words of one of our leaders.
The country is in turmoil. The people are furious at the apathy and reactions (or lack of ) of our politicians to the repeated strikes on our lives. It would have been pretty big of VS Achuthanandan had he accepted or even tried to understand the reaction of Major Unnikrishnan's father when he tried to visit.
Politicians visiting the families of the heroes seems like a farce, even every child in the country has a negative opinion of them; what else could they be trying to gain from these visits, but political mileage?
But these are the words of a leader, perhaps there is absolutely nothing that sets him apart from a small and cheap minded man; insulting the family of a martyr just to satisfy his bruised ego. Is this the best that we have?
Monday, December 01, 2008
Moo point
LK Advani decided to bunk the all party meeting and go ahead with his election campaigning. Clearly power is more important than unity in troubled times like this. I sometimes wonder whether they are really interested in the job. Or whether they even comprehend the higher principle which they're supposed to serve.
Having said that, let me just write down here how the all party meeting which went on for 5 hours has been summarised, as said by Pranab Mukherjee. He stated that all the parties collectively condemn the attacks, and they they are deeply saddened by the loss of lives, and the loss of our heroes in the police, and the commando forces.
Well, that's an improvement. We didn't know that the other parties condemned the attacks too. We thought that they were of the opinion that the attacks were a good idea! Thanks for clearing that point, Mr Mukherjee. Amazing that it took you only 5 hours to decide that. Maybe you were merely voicing RR Patil's views during those 5 hours : "Chalta hai".
Having said that, let me just write down here how the all party meeting which went on for 5 hours has been summarised, as said by Pranab Mukherjee. He stated that all the parties collectively condemn the attacks, and they they are deeply saddened by the loss of lives, and the loss of our heroes in the police, and the commando forces.
Well, that's an improvement. We didn't know that the other parties condemned the attacks too. We thought that they were of the opinion that the attacks were a good idea! Thanks for clearing that point, Mr Mukherjee. Amazing that it took you only 5 hours to decide that. Maybe you were merely voicing RR Patil's views during those 5 hours : "Chalta hai".
Truth and violence
New, but somewhat expected turn of events then. Shivraj Patil finally decides the throw in the towel, and the rest of the party apparently realizes only now that "we can no longer sit back". I wonder what they're planning on doing to that effect.
The first strong message they could and should be sending out to the world is to not postpone the hanging of the terrorist Afzal Guru. Let's see, he masterminded the attack on India's very symbol of sovereignity, which is to say the parliament. He is undoubtedly the mastermind behind scores of other attacks as well. He planned the killing of hundreds and hundreds of people in the name of religion, but apparently doesn't care which religion his victims belong to (enhancing the fact that terrorists have no religion). All these charges against him are supported by overwhelming evidence as well. He was arrested in 2001, and was supposed to be hanged in 2003 I think, a judgement passed by the Supreme Court. But he still lives. All this while it ought to be India spearheading the war against terror.
It's about time that the strong statements started going out. Carry out the hanging, let it be known that India means business and that we're not just speech making benign old codgers.
Pakistan is repeatedly stating that they stand with India in the war against millitant groups. Lashkar e-Taiba, although banned on paper still thrives under a new name, their leaders come out and make anti-India threats at will, which are broadcast on TV. So if Pak is indeed with India, we ought to be asking them to arrest these millitant leaders and hand them over to India so they can be tried here. If India has to spearhead the war on terror, let us make this demand of Pakistan and set a deadline for this. Otherwise, they'd leave us with no choice but to go and arrest them ourselves, as illogical as that may sound.
Qureshi, the Pak foreign minister may say what he wants, he can grimmance and scowl and speak as forcefully as he likes, but the people of India are not likely to believe his words. How can we, after all our attempts at peace have resulted in the 1965 war, the Bangladesh war, the 1993 blasts, the Kargil war, the attack on India's parliament, the attacks in Mumbai and all over India and now, the full fledged carnage at the Taj and Oberoi hotels.
61 years ago we won our freedom from the British with the Mahatma's principles as our weapons. Sadly, now we are dealing with lies and violence.
The first strong message they could and should be sending out to the world is to not postpone the hanging of the terrorist Afzal Guru. Let's see, he masterminded the attack on India's very symbol of sovereignity, which is to say the parliament. He is undoubtedly the mastermind behind scores of other attacks as well. He planned the killing of hundreds and hundreds of people in the name of religion, but apparently doesn't care which religion his victims belong to (enhancing the fact that terrorists have no religion). All these charges against him are supported by overwhelming evidence as well. He was arrested in 2001, and was supposed to be hanged in 2003 I think, a judgement passed by the Supreme Court. But he still lives. All this while it ought to be India spearheading the war against terror.
It's about time that the strong statements started going out. Carry out the hanging, let it be known that India means business and that we're not just speech making benign old codgers.
Pakistan is repeatedly stating that they stand with India in the war against millitant groups. Lashkar e-Taiba, although banned on paper still thrives under a new name, their leaders come out and make anti-India threats at will, which are broadcast on TV. So if Pak is indeed with India, we ought to be asking them to arrest these millitant leaders and hand them over to India so they can be tried here. If India has to spearhead the war on terror, let us make this demand of Pakistan and set a deadline for this. Otherwise, they'd leave us with no choice but to go and arrest them ourselves, as illogical as that may sound.
Qureshi, the Pak foreign minister may say what he wants, he can grimmance and scowl and speak as forcefully as he likes, but the people of India are not likely to believe his words. How can we, after all our attempts at peace have resulted in the 1965 war, the Bangladesh war, the 1993 blasts, the Kargil war, the attack on India's parliament, the attacks in Mumbai and all over India and now, the full fledged carnage at the Taj and Oberoi hotels.
61 years ago we won our freedom from the British with the Mahatma's principles as our weapons. Sadly, now we are dealing with lies and violence.
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