Monday, March 17, 2014
Shameful anniversary!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Febulous indeed
How could February go without a blog being written by me, I wondered on March 1 after tiring out myself to the hilt on the busy bee day of Feb. 28 when the Union Budget was unveiled and whole editorial teams crisscrossed each other physically as well as on the PCs.
"You celebrate from the dawn of New Year; Pongal follows eating some days, February is a short month and will fly fast, and March will march on and you will stare at the annual exams," I recollect -- even as I skip the TT time after the first edition is over to write a short blog before work on the city edition of the newspaper begins --- my class teacher warning of the annual exams at the close of a year. Yes, February is shorter and eases you into March smoothly. I love Feb for its brevity, beauty in calendars, cool weather, and the occasional leap year month.I can never forget Feb as my mom was born on the last day of the month when she must have given their parents and relatives as much tension and excitement as the budget. I had a couple of hours to think of her and pay respects to her in the house she built and where she passed away two decades ago. After garlanding her portrait and praying to her, I gave cakes to my dad who had already put a small jasmine garland to her photo in the portion where he lives. After getting his blessing, I rushed to the office for the budget day coverage. Like Feb she had a shorter life but a led a sweet,triumphant,fabulous and responsible life dedicated to the family.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Road rage
The poster was of a youth, a motorbike racer, pasted on his first death anniversary. The boy had died in an accident.
My relative told me that racing on the roads had killed many young lives. Racing and rage on the roads take lives not necessarily because of the speed alone, but due to bad road conditions and speedbreakers laid at unexpected places without any norms and reflectors installed. He told me that just at a nearby road a schoolgirl had lost balance after hitting a speedbreaker two days ago and lost her life.The blame for loss of young lives should mainly be laid on the doors of parents and the traffic police. Parents yield to the dangerous desire of their sons to buy and drive high-speed bikes at an age in which they do not have much control over vehicles nor the patience and maturity to drive in heavy traffic conditions. Their only drive is speed and the thrill they get out of it.
The youngsters often are a victim of peer pressure. Driving on roads at top speed alongwith their friends has caught up; this leads to accidents, minor and major. If the poster that was put up by his friends showed their remebrance, there was this online tribute to the boy by a person who tried to befriend him 20 days after his death.
**********
A NOTE ON RAHUL K
1
I gave a friend request to rahul k twenty days after he died... his password must have burnt inside the electric crematorium.. his profile would look like this always, to the unfriended.. just like he has become, alien,and distant after his death
2.
i first met rahul k in the obituary banner outside his school by friends who think they know him well because they were with him all the time they are the ones that believe they know themselves well because they are with their own selves all the time.
3
i have never met rahul k i can never be friends with him.. noone knew him better than the median of the road his superbike hit... it met him without prejudice without the batter of his friends, without the hullabaloo of adolescence without the money of his dad and with that mercilessness , crushed the flowers of his innocence all of us had ignored when he lived..
4
then in the darkness , he remains as a profile in the facebook and a few photographs that wouldnt yellow with time.. and that is just about the only thing the internet saved for ' us' from the sands of time...
DEDICATED TO RAHUL KOSAKI AND EVERYONE ELSE HE EPITOMIZES
*******
The police do not book, as much as they should, the youngsters for over speeding, not wearing helmets and endangering the lives of other users on the road. This menace can be curbed if the following measures are taken. Police must implement strictly rules relating to licence for driving, helmet wearing, and speeding on roads. Heavy fines must be imposed on all offences in this regard. There is a need to save the youths from overspeeding, aggression, and abnormal behaviour in public that poses risks to others' lives.
A study note on road rage cited by a neuro psychiatrist notes there are external factors such as noise, overcrowding, and temperature that rule the emotions of an aggressive driver. So the solution lies in parental control, counselling in schools and colleges, strict imposing of traffic norms by the police and educating and creating awareness in youth about the need for valuing one's life and that of others in society.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Evil of rape: What media and society can do
There are two points here to be noted as far as media is concerned: one, while it is good that the media raises the issue in detail so that action could be taken, what one cannot accept is its lack of interest once the focus on the issue fades. There is no follow-up except in cases where court battles are waged or there are political fallouts. Whatever happened to the victims? And, what of community action and recommendations made by society and government?
The second aspect is an ethical one. Will the media raise a hue and cry if the incidents of violence, rape and murder relate to ordinary people in towns and rural areas? Nearly 90 per cent of sexual assaults take place in the rural areas, we are told. Every hour two women are raped in India.
Of the 21,397 cases of rape reported in 2009 (figures for which are available in the National Crime Records Bureau website www.ncrb.nic.in), as many as 12,812 victims (59.8%) were women in the age group of 18-30 years.
A shocking detail revealed is that most offenders were known to the victims -- as many as 20,311 (94.9%.) which calls for the making of a society that is tolerant of emancipation of girls and women and protective of girls and women.
Awareness campaigns from the school level and safeguard mechanisms in villages or towns (like local committees), public places and workplaces will help tackle such cases and eventually reduce the number of cases. Film-makers, television authorities and the government must ensure that rape scenes are not portrayed and women are not shown as sex objects.
Delhi is not the only place where the number of rape incidents is increasing. Madhya Pradesh topped the list in 2009, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. Have we ever heard about incidents occurring in these States being highlighted? Maybe, if these fit in the media strategy.
One of my lawyer friends says following retributive law in such crimes will act as a deterrent. Eight States in America have adopted castration as a punishment for rapists. In India, rapists get lesser prison terms. The punishment should be severe and include castration, and organ removal cum life term in cases where kids and minor girls are raped (as many as 2470 such cases were reported in 2009).
Ask anyone you meet in society about the punishment for rape, and pat will come the answer that the rapists must be killed on the spot or shot or hanged. What sections of the media speak is contrary to informed public opinion, which calls for harsh punishment, in the absence of which crimes and criminals are bound to increase by leaps and bounds in our lenient society. And this may lead to the popularisation of the gun culture, which is tormenting developed societies.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Simply Malicious Service
(For my other posts see http://journo1958.blogspot.in/)
Simply Malicious Service, that's how I want to redefine SMS.
The ferocity with which malicious information has spread through SMS in the latest info war against Northeast people and the accuracy with which it hit the targets and extracted the required reaction astounds everyone. It's equivalent to the launching of a successful Agni exercise.
Now, the question arises as to who has injected the deadly virus into the mobiles. While the Intelligence is after the DNA of the virulent messages and their progenitors, we have some points to ponder.
How to track malicious information in the millions of SMSs that are sent out everyday through various operators is the gigantic question before cyber specialists.
I am reminded of how some people got the vicarious pleasure in making bomb hoax calls to even schools. The government has to take severe action against such rumour-mongers by bringing out a legislation.
The new episode has added a chapter to the cyber war that has emerged as another war front. India will do well to tackle this kind of war given its information technology prowess.
Technical issues apart, are we as a nation not tolerant to cultural differences and identities? Those who are intolerant and want to keep their identities only should hang their heads in shame for not rising above 'narrow domestic walls.'
(For my other posts see http://journo1958.blogspot.in/)
Friday, July 27, 2012
Sorry state, indeed!
(For my other posts see http://journo1958.blogspot.in/)
A sorry state of affairs indeed! A 65-year-old Dalit leader recently committed suicide, citing a reason that many would not think so serious as to take one's life. He obviously was fed up with the state of affairs and the way people's reps and leaders functioned. while the details of this incident are yet to emerge - and may never see the light of the day due to media apathy -- there is no doubt that he was upset about the way things are. Are people being served well by their leaders? It may be a moot question but ask anyone on the street, in buses and trains, and at workplaces you will come across the common refrain -- leaders have become selfish and serve well their own own ends, and those of their kin. Such people are seen in small groups, associations, and even in leading organisations. Their ulterior motives are to benefit at the expense of others and to sustain vested interests. Public interest always suffers in this process. People are denied basic services such as potable water and proper roads. And, if they ask for them through the RTI they are putting their lives at risk. A vibrant democracy no doubt, but is it an utilitarian one?
(For my other posts see http://journo1958.blogspot.in/)
Friday, December 2, 2011
Hisssss Act Against Bribe
The campaigns against corruption --- whether by Hazare, political yatris like Advani, or other outfits --- may well have taken a leaf out of the method adopted by a villager to tackle corruption in Haraiyan tehsil in Basti district, an obscure place in Uttar Pradesh this past week (November last week). The man finally let the lethal weapon he had with him – hissing snakes!
Reportedly angered by the bribe sought by the revenue staff to clear his paper for an additional land, for which he had appealed to President Pratibha Patil, the man, named Hakkul, thought this would be the best way to get his message across.
The employees scurried for safety taking refuge on tabletops and some ran away fearing for lives. This made up a hilarious scene for a movie!
We wake up from slumber to reality only if something hurts us or threatens our position or existence. This many would frankly admit.
What the snake charmer did was right. But we do not know the full story like why he wanted more land for conservation of the reptiles, etc. But his action would definitely have had an impact on the government servants.
This only shows that the lower bureaucracy must be included in any scheme of anti-corruption measure envisaged. If this is true, how is it fair not to include Group C staff of the Central government and the judges themselves.
If the aim of all is to eliminate corruption, it has to be at all levels – right from the peon to the minister.
Reportedly angered by the bribe sought by the revenue staff to clear his paper for an additional land, for which he had appealed to President Pratibha Patil, the man, named Hakkul, thought this would be the best way to get his message across.
The employees scurried for safety taking refuge on tabletops and some ran away fearing for lives. This made up a hilarious scene for a movie!
We wake up from slumber to reality only if something hurts us or threatens our position or existence. This many would frankly admit.
What the snake charmer did was right. But we do not know the full story like why he wanted more land for conservation of the reptiles, etc. But his action would definitely have had an impact on the government servants.
This only shows that the lower bureaucracy must be included in any scheme of anti-corruption measure envisaged. If this is true, how is it fair not to include Group C staff of the Central government and the judges themselves.
If the aim of all is to eliminate corruption, it has to be at all levels – right from the peon to the minister.
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