The rape and murder of young medico in Hyderabad

It is winter of discontentment in India. Close to the heels of bad economic report comes another bad news of the ghastly rape and murder of a young lady doctor in the South Indian city of Hyderabad. The news is as shocking as the Nirbhaya rape case which incidentally happened a few winters ago in the nation's capital Delhi. Drawing a parallel, a la the Nirbhaya rape case was fast tracked and perpetrators were swiftly punished, the culprits in this case should be quickly apprehended and rewarded with nothing less than a death penalty.

The debate over Capital Punishment and the state taking law into own hands in a civilized society is probably as old as the civilization itself. I have seen many squabble over the efficacy of death sentence as a deterrent to crime. In this respect the contrast of opinion between males and females is conspicuous. 

Men are certainly anguished by this heinous act, but the outpouring outrage from the women is quite understandable as the fairer sex can relate more to the agony. It probably explains why more number of males than females question the righteousness of the death penalty, especially in case of rape. Personally I would love to see the rapists hung by their neck till they shiver, quiver and lay still, cold as revenge is best served cold.

Reminds me of this monologue delivered by actor Anupam Kher playing a bad cop in 1991 movie HUM - "YEH KHOON BHI BADI AJEEB SI CHEEZ HAI. APNO KA NIKALTA HAI TO DARD HOTA HAI. LEKIN DOOSRON KE NIKLE TOH MAZAA AATA HAI (Blood is a weird thing. It hurts a lot if it is your own. If it comes from others, watching it is fun).

Hence, before passing some armchair judgment let's take a pause, contemplate by stepping into the shoes of the victim's family, be it Nirbhaya's (the woman raped in Delhi) or the medico girl in this case. 

It would be easy for me to preach eye for an eye is wrong, the state has no right to kill an individual, blah blah. But would I be talking at the same breath if I can relate the victim to one of my near and dear one ? Hell no.

In America death penalty is a state subject, most conservative states have it, most liberal states don't. The nation is evenly divided on the issue. Here the family of the victim is allowed to watch the execution of the perpetrator. They perhaps do it for a reason. 

Dastardly act often provokes dastardly response. It may not be humane, but it is human. I have no illusions of being a superhuman. Normally I won't hurt a fly, let alone watch someone die. But God forbid, if one day I am invited to such an event, I will unabashedly take the front row, taking the sadistic pleasure of watching the turbulent last moments of the convict.

No wonder in movies nobody sheds a tear when the bad guy falls. Hope one fine morning (not sure why hangings are done in the morning), these rapists will be hung until death from the hangman's noose.

Hang in there. Before I go, I can't but mention this sonnet from the Hollywood Western Classic - "3.10 TO YUMA ", based in 19th Century US. Electric Chair wasn't invented yet. Hanging in Public was the preferred mode of execution in America's Wild Wild West. A hangman taunts the convict before taking him to the gallows :

"They will hang me in the morning,

They will hang me before the dawn.

They will hang me in the morning,

I will never see the Sun".

I can attribute the same sonnet to these convicts. Don't RIP girl, until those who harmed you never see the sun as they walk to be garlanded by the hangman's noose. Hope that day is not too long away.

The Maharashtra soap opera

I remember this movie showed on Doordarshan in the year 1987, the only TV Channel available in India. Its name -  YEH WOH MANZIL TO NAGIN, loosely translated "This is not the goal we envisioned". 

In that movie, a group of friends who have gracefully aged try to help a college rebel for the right cause played by the actor Pankaj Kapoor. Nasiruddin Shah was playing the negative role of a small time politician fiddling in student politics. At the end of the movie Pankaj Kapoor is killed betrayed by his own. It was a deja vu moment for the old men who planned a mutiny against the British but ended up by betraying their close friend who gets killed by the English ruler.

Moral of the movie - nothing much had changed in those 40 years between 1947 and 1987. Friends betrayed friends then, the next generation replicated the act years down the road. The movie aptly depicted this, contrasting the milieu of games of deception played in two different era but resulting in the same end game.

Betraying our own for cheap, myopic gains is in our blood. Otherwise everyone from Turks, Persians, Afghans, Mughals and British couldn't have defeated, looted and occupied us with impunity. The title of the movie perfectly captured the ethos and pathos of - our basic nature didn't change down the road.

Now fast forward to 2019. We can see the fortune of the aspirants for Maratha throne swings like pendulum every passing day. (I call this quest for power as a battle for throne in the guise of the hypocrisy called democracy). Current political drama is played in the state of Maharashtra when fortune favors one faction in the evening, but next morning the other faction is sworn at the Mantralay (Assembly).

The common man is a BHAKUA (gullible chap) who is enjoying this Soap opera from the sidelines. His mandate has gone to the dogs. My newsfeed is filled  Bhakts (blind supporters of BJP) having gleeful euphoria and multiple orgasms since last night, since as of now its advantage BJP. Those who oppose the party are down but not out, hopeful that the old, wily Fox Sharad Pawar has a surprise or two stored in his sleeves to have the last laugh. It ain't over until it's over. PICTURE ABHI BAAKI HAI (the movie is yet to end). Game on folks.

Whatever may happen, irrespective of the end result let's take a break from the drama and climax, rather relax and introspect. Aren't these folks supposed to respect our mandate ? Did we elect them for displaying these non stop nonsense histrionics which can give Ekta Kapoor's soap operas run for money, as the state administration lies paralyzed for weeks ? I haven't seen a single post highlighting this. All are busy watching the reality show. After all these Netas (leaders) we elect represent us only.

The democracy we envisoned is for namesake only and has a long way to mature. Abraham Lincoln famously said democracy is "Of the people, By the people, For the people". Under current circumstance it is - "OFF the People, BUY the People, FAR the People". YEH WOH MANZIL TO NAHIN. This is not the goal we dreamt off at independence. We got miles to go before we reach our much cherished destination.

The Brouhaha behind the Muslim scholar of Sanskrit

I have nothing against Sanskrit or those who want to learn the language, or any other subject out of their own voluntary will. Excellence in academic pursuits is purely self motivated and interest driven. If imposed, it yields limited dividend.

Like many from my generation I studied Sanskrit in my School. Taking excuse to do some self bragging, I scored 80% in that subject in my CBSE, Class X Board Exam - not so bad those days. Yet I have my share of concerns and complaints about the exotic language. 

Let's cut the hypocrisy here. Everyone wants a good paying job and Sanskrit is not a subject which can guarantee you that. The language, which is well revered has tons of grammar and rules, making it inordinately complex for commoners. I perennially complained to my grandpa, a well known Sanskrit scholar of his time who insisted on me roting its grammar rather than a structural approach to teach the language. When he wanted me to repeat NARA, NARAU, NARAAH (Man, two men, more than two men) after him, the prankster in me responded rhyming PIAZI, PAKUDI, BARAA (popular snacks of Odisha).

It explains why Sanskrit forever remained an Elitist language. In Ancient India folks deviated from Sanskrit to Pali as the former remained confined to Brahmin snobbishness. A language can only grow with its flexibility and adaptability, with a grammar which is less rigid making it acceptable to the masses. The English language grew leaps and bounds from countries to continents for the same - sun never sets over the English language empire.

Credit goes to those who take interest in learning Sanskrit and excel in it, in spite of the hardships associated. In this context, the storm in the teacup generated around the appointment of Feroze Khan, a Muslim Sanskrit scholar to the Benares Hindu University, is pure and unadulterated nonsense. This is outright silly, when especially espoused by those who have little or no knowledge of Sanskrit. And a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Sanskrit as the prerogative of Hindus is akin to viewing English as a patent of the Christians. Though the majority of scholars in Urdu are Muslims, there are Hindus and Sikhs considered erudites of the Urdu language. In fact, the writer Khushwant Singh was a connoisseur of Urdu. Liberal dosage of Urdu Shayaris (couplets) adorned his widely read weekly columns. 

Interestingly, Urdu and Sanskrit are ornamental languages which are not widely spoken in mass. Most Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent speak Bengali, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Hindustani - a much diluted version of Urdu mixed with Hindu. Both Sanskrit and Urdu don't have a script of their own. Sanskrit in Odisha is taught in Odia Script. I read and wrote my school exam in Sanskrit using Devanagari script.

The knowledge in any subject, including Sanskrit has hardly anything to do with religion. Nothing prevents folks from other religions to learn it. Many Westerners who are Christians by belief are excellent scholars of Sanskrit with in depth knowledge of the subject (In my college days textbooks written by Westerners, mostly by American authors addressed my real doubts while Indian Authors conveniently skirted them).

Sanskrit is not a patent of Hindus only. Those who have deep understanding of the language should be recognized irrespective of faith. A nation which doesn't respect or reward meritocracy can never prosper. Period. It explains why we are still struck in our vainglorious days of 5000 BC, hardly done anything notable in modern age to justify our potential. It's because we reward mediocrity bypassing merit.

One of the reason behind these needless protests is the recent rise of extreme right wing fundamentalism fueling intolerance, mostly by BJP and aided by its blind supporters for cheap political gains. Media, social or otherwise has its role in fanning this fire. Most of those who are against this Muslim scholar of Sanskrit don't know the S - of the language. Hope sanity prevails and the BHU authorities go ahead with the appointment of Mr. Feroze Khan. Good luck to him. 

JNU and its addiction to Freebies

JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) is back in news yet again. From what I get from our media back home about the JNU issue, the students are protesting against the subsidies they had been getting for long is now cut off. They are just addicted to freebies like opium. Being educated ones, they should realize that nothing is free and some one else pays for them. The famous or infamous University, depending the way you see it, often resembles a war zone. 

I have visited the JNU Campus in the 1990s and had eaten couple of times in their hostel mess (no relation to the mess happening there, the food court of college hostels are called mess in the local parlance). The food quality was substandard by hostel standard, hardly close to my Engineering college food. But what I heard from my host, the food was subsidized, quality be damned.

I could see signs of leftist ideology, with some hardcore socialist leaders, who during the day preached communism to core, as the solution to all global evils. Come evening, they would hanker for Scotch or Bacardi (much sought after those days, so as I, as a visitor with access to those fascinating phoren stuff from the land of Bourgeois). Later they would go out eating Ice Cream with girl friends in posh eateries of South Delhi. The juxtaposition of Communism with Scotch, followed by Ice Cream, reeked of hypocrisy, as nauseating as an alcoholic's Piarrhoea effusing mouth.

Since then, much has changed, but not the commie sentiments in the Campus. Liberal thoughts flow inside the institute as the river Yamuna in spate during the  monsoon. Liberalism is not a dirty word, though I diagree with the JNU brand of liberalism. But a note to the ultra liberals of JNU breed - Being Liberal or anti-BJP is one thing, being a succor to freebies is another.

We can agree to disagree with American liberals, but they don't compromise when it comes to their national security. Best example is Obama. A classic Chicago liberal, he had no qualms about taking out Osama bin Laden or ordering drone strikes on terrorists. (Our Diggy Singh was the soul prominent politician in South Asia to shed a few crocodile tears for his Osama Jee). Scores of liberal Democrat Senate and House members broke with Obama and voted with Republicans in preventing him from vetoing the bill to admit in 10,000 Syrian refusees to America. 

On the other hand our liberals back home sound like blatant Paki Premis (lovers) and everything that doesn't make sense. The current drama in JNU is just a piece of political puzzle, an effort to grab a piece of political pie in the guise of protest. Dear JNU students, study hard, pay your dues and get out of the campus once you earn your degree. Staying in news for wrong reasons is not the right thing to do.

RIP T N Seshan

In the middle of the current Election imgroglio in the electorally important state of Maharashtra, passed away the person who was synonymous with the conduct of Elections in India the 1990s. The man, T N Seshan who carved his niche as the martinet but controversial Chief Election Commissioner, passed away today at the age of 87.

He was and still is one of the rarest of the rare Indian Bureaucrats I admire. For T N Seshan single handedly took the entire establishment by horn while he was in the system, a very rare thing for a government official to do. Because barring a few exceptions, the Indian Bureaucracy is famous for being self serving, champion at maintaining the status quo where the process, not the end result is important. 

Yet T N Seshan was the odd man out in a system where the Babus (a not so flattering term used to denote the all powerful Indian bureaucrats often in a deregatory way) are known for their obsequiousness and servility - towing the lines of political masters. An IAS officer from South India he crashed into limelight in North, in the national capital Delhi when he was made the Chief Election Commissioner. Self describing himself as an Umpire whose role is to see the election is conducted fair and square, he firmly clamped down on electoral violators fast and furious. 

As a first step he came up with the idea of Voter Identity Cards. It was anathema to many politicians, upsetting the likes of Laloo Yadav in Bihar and Communists in Bengal who mastered the art of booth capturing and didn't want to lose their upper hand.

The maverick T N Seshan proclaimed "No voter Id Card, no Election" prompting many states in the mid 1990s to hastily issue id cards. Sensing him getting too powerful for his shoes, the government tried to clip his wings by appointing couple of more Election Commissioners. But the extrovert Brahmin from the state of Tamil Nadu retorted back - "Let the Government appointment 100 Election Commissioners. But I am the one and only one CHIEF Election Commissioner" - reminding all about his position in the highly hierarchical structure of Indian bureaucracy.

He yet vindicated that the Babus from their fraternity need not have to lick the boots of their political masters in order to survive. After retirement in late 1990s he visited many places across India giving speeches and attracting thousands who thronged to watch him speaking. In one of those lectures he famously said - "Not a square inch of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari is free from corruption". 

I saw him once when he came to Odisha and gave a speech in the middle of BJP College Old Science block. The cramped venue was jam packed, so much so that you throw a handful of mustard seeds inside  the audience it can't reach the ground (Transliteration of a common Odia proverb SORISHA PAKEI BAKU JAGA NATHILA). People saw him as an agent of change inside the miasma of dirty Indian politics.

He wasn't far from truth. Two decades 

down the road corruption has got from bad to worse. Those who used to take hundreds now demand thousands, thousands demand lakhs, lakhs have graduated to crores, crores to multi crores keeping with the inflation. In China they say Corruption is rampant, in India the Corruption is epidemic.

My thousand Salute to the braveheart who unlike his tribe went against the tide to challenge the authorities and tried his best to be a harbinger of change. Hope he inspires the new generation for a better India. RIP,  T N Seshan Sir.

Panipat - the movie

There are rumblings on media - social or otherwise about the latest Bollywood movie PANIPAT based upon the 3rd Battle of Panipat in January, 1761 between the Marathas and the Afghans led by Ahmed Shah Abdali. In that war the Maratha juggernaut led by their Commander-in-Chief Sadashivrao Bhau on a winning spree capturing the North India was checkmated by Ahmed Shah Abdali in the historic battle at the historic Panipat, located in the modern day Indian state of Haryana.

Many who have seen the trailer of the movie feel that the Maratha Chief Shadasivrao Bhau is depicted as soft by the expressionless actor Arjun Kapoor vis a vis the ferocity and ruthlessness displayed by Sanjay Dutt playing Ahmed Sah Abdali.

Deliberate or not, cruelty and savagery is part and parcel of any war, especially in the ancient and medieval time which involved more men than machine. Ruthlessness, not charity was the sine qua non of the victor over vanquished - a clear fear mongering tactics to create fear and panic amongst the opposition.

The Mughals and Afghans were battle hardened, physically stronger, fighters, had fast moving cavalry and were motivated soldiers. More importantly they had a strategy in place. Historically since Mohammed Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan as the last Hindu King to rule Delhi, we were no match to them. (Technically Raja Himu ruled Delhi for a month in 1556 when incidentally in the battle at the same location of Panipat he was defeated. The Mughals displayed their usual savagery by chopping off Hemu's head and displaying it on top of a pole).

Wish the Marathas going into the battlefield of Panipat learned something from their hero Chattrapati Shivaji - the founder of Maratha Kingdom. Being a pragmatic warrior, he knew the strength of Marathas lied in their familiar zone of hilly territories. So he never ventured out to fight the Mughals in plains - knowing fully that fighting in the plains was Mughals forte.

Shivaji hated war Elephants. The slow moving pachyderms were useless in the treacherous mountain ravines of the Western Ghats where Shivaji and his Maratha warriors ruled the roost. Perfectly adept with the milieu, the marauding Marathas would lure their enemies into the densely forested,

treacherous ravines of the Western Ghats. 

After surrounding them, they would roll large boulders from the top of the mountains, killing and trapping the Mughals. Then the valiant Marathas would smarm over their helpless enemies riding their fast moving horses. The Mughals good at fighting in the plains of North India would suffer irreparable losses.

If outmaneuvered, Shivaji would make tactical retreat and hide in one of his forts. When surrounded, often he made spectacular escapes, right under the nose of enemy forces. This duly earned him the sobriquet of MOUNTAIN RAT by no other than Alamgir (Emperor) Aurangzeb whom Shivaji frustrated to no end till the latter's death. He wasn't shy of making strategic pacts with Nizams and Mughals to buy time and replenish his resources to fight his war another day. 

Sadashivrao Bhau failed to make any such strategic alliance, whereas the Muslims Kings of India joined the Afghan Abdali in the name of Islam, fearful of a Hindu power in Delhi in form of the Marathas. He could have made a pact with the Sikhs to his advantage, who hated Muslims to the core of killing their Gurus.

But the Marathas after him just did the opposite. They went too far north to Panipat, very much part of the vast plains of North India. The January weather in North India was too cold for the Marathas who were accustomed to the comfort of mild winter, whereas it was perfect for Abdali. I am sure, if the Marathas would have the advantage if they fought the war in June in 40 plus heat to the discomfort of the Afghans.

Shivaji also realized the potential of the English who were just starting to poke their nose inside Indian politics. The Chattrapati knew the advantage of Europeans Artillery which were of better quality and bought quite a few from the British. But in 1761 when the 3rd Battle of Panipat was fought, British were already a player in India - having served their foothold in Bengal and the South. They helped Ahmed Sah Abdali with their artillery and other logistics.

The end result - in spite of their valiance and fighting, the Marathas narrowly lost the Battle of Panipat. War is not a sporting event. Winning at any cost is the leitmotif behind a war, unless the war is fought between Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy. Abdali Shah Abdali won because of better strategy and a unified,  motivated army, though we like it or not. History can't be rewritten by making actors look more lethal and ferocious. Arjun Kapoor acting rough and tough won't propel Peshwa win over Abdali.

Unfortunately, history favors the winners. Since 1192 when Ghori defeated Pritviraj Chauhan, our history is mostly full of defeats not due to lack of bravery (as shown by Rajputs and Marathas) but due to treachery, infighting and lack of unity and strategy. Let's learn to live with that, rather than focusing on actors and their depictions of historical characters wish it changes the history.