Honour Killings: What a Shame!

‘Chandigarh: A father kills her 17 years old daughter and her 21 years old lover in a fit of rage after seeing them together in a room, talking.’
‘Bhojpur, Bihar: A 16-year-old girl, Imrana, is set on fire inside her house in a case of what the police call ‘moral vigilantism’. The victim screams for help for about 20 minutes before neighbors arrive, only to find her still smoldering. She is admitted to a local hospital, where she later succumbs to her burns.’
‘The Times of India Report: More than 1,000 young people in India have been done to death every year owing to 'Honour Killings' linked to marriages and love affairs that do not get acceptance from the society.’

I read these lines in the newspapers and feel bad. And sad. How can a brother strangulate his sister in Punjab, no matter what the reason is! (And I get reminded that Raksha Bandhan is 3 days from now. Irony.) How can a father shoot at his own daughter, the one whom he had once taught how to walk by holding her little fingers?
How can a human kill his own family member so that he may live ‘with honour’ in his society?
What kind of civilization is this! We talk of progress and development. We talk of 11%+ GDP growth rate. We talk of the great Indian culture and the great Indian villages. What a royal waste!
If such sorts of inhuman barbaric practices are executed in the traditional villages and rural parts of India, one would better walk off to the nearest metropolitan city. And one should.
Human emotions deserve much more than fits of rage and false sense of honour in the society.
And what kind of distorted sense of honour is this!
 “ Look, I killed my daughter, because she had the heart to love someone. Ain’t I the real man?”
“ My sister tried to rot the pure lineage of my family. I showed her that we are a bunch of the pure people. Come, smell my blood, don’t you sense unadulterated genes?”
“ How could I not kill them! What right they had to elope and come back, thinking that I would accept them?”
“ Castes are God’s rules. You just can not play with our family’s honour in this manner. What would my neighbor say? That my daughter fled with that guy who had a decent job, but was low caste none the less? I won’t let that happen.”
“You fuck with the society’s rules, the society fucks with your lives.”

What nonsensical justifications! Any sane man/ woman would never accept any lame excuse like these for a heinous act as brutal as a homicide. I wonder what honor it brings to the ‘so-called-honor-seeking-pure-blood people’. They are nothing but a bunch of Neanderthalean troglodytes, who have no sense of respect for human life at all, leave alone the question of valuing human emotions.
Okay. Your daughter eloped with a guy whom you do not appreciate. Now, its your fault that you didn’t raise your daughter in such a manner that she would apprise you of such an important decision that she is going to make. And you have no right whatsoever to shoot at her lover, in any book of legal, social or moral rules and laws!
A couple of adults (above the legal age of marriage) like each other, they marry each other. In an ‘Independent’ country like India, they have every right to lead a happy and satisfying life together. No crap panchayat (read Khap panchayat) has the legal power to order harming the couple, let alone the question of killing them.
I wonder what the government is doing about it. Yeah yeah, the 64th Independence day celebrations are over now. The parliament sessions have begun already. In June 2010, scrutinizing the increasing number of honour killings, the Supreme Court of India issued notices to the Central Government and six states including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,Haryana and Rajasthan, to take preventive measures, says a news report.

What we need now is a solid constitutional amendment which bans honour killings totally, and arranges for fitting legal consequences to all the people involved, including the total dissolution of the Panchayat, if required.

A zero tolerance approach.

Alok K.
P.S. Google says that no honour killings have taken place in the state of West Bengal since the last 100 years. And being in W.Bengal since the last four years, I want to believe it. Human, I am, after all.

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My tryst with slavery

Date: August 14 2010

“Every independent country is independent in one way however, every independent country is a slave in more than one way.”

Its 64th Indian Independence Day tomorrow, I am sitting in front of my desktop in the office and sulking. I am trying to concentrate and my inbox is getting filled with patriotic forwards. Neither can I ignore the vibration of my mobile nor can I get my bugging boss out of my mind. It is true that tomorrow is an important day but how many of us really think of independence as a gift? Being born as a free Indian with a plenty of fundamental rights in a platter and the fundamental duties on the backburner, we take our independence for granted. We were born in free India, introduced to Maruti 800 and humara bajaj at the age of 3-4, given a treat in Mc Donalds at an age of 15, encouraged to blog our views and vote our favourite politician at the age of 18- why would not we take our independence for granted just like we take the oxygen we inhale, the water we drink for granted?

But, are we really free? Free in which sense- that we have the freedom to live, eat, drink, preach, pray and speak at our will? Of course, our bodies are free to perform all these actions but what about the brain and conscious? Is our mind is free from fear, selfishness and prejudices? Perhaps no, let me find it out in my surroundings- just by being a little more observant today.

Observation 1:

Place: My boss’s room

Time: 2:00 pm

Scene: I am standing near boss’s desk and he’s instructing my colleague on some work which in our opinion should not be handed over to us. She objects and tries to put her view before him. But he is not ready to listen.

Conversation:
Boss: I asked you to do something.
Colleague: I was just going to do that but I have already been assigned some important work which I think I must complete before the second task.
Boss: You have to keep one thing in your mind. Whenever you are working with me, you have to work mindlessly. You have to blindly follow my orders. This is how work should be.

Inference: What is the utility of all the hard work that one has put in his/her education. Being educated is not equal to being literate or being trained. Education in itself is freedom of thought and ideas. If one is hired to use his/her education for the development of an organization, how can he/she be curbed of his freedom of speech and thoughts?

Observation 2:

Place: DTC bus

Time: 5:15 pm

Scene: Two men are sitting on the seat reserved for ladies. A lady with a child of around two, asks them to give her a seat because it is really not possible to balance one without a support in a moving bus.

Conversation:
Lady: “Bhaiya, seat de do. Mujhe khade hone me problem hogi. waise bhi ye ladies seat hai.”
The men: “Hum kyun uthe, kisi aur ko bolo, koi ladies seat nahi hain, hum nahi uthenge.”

Inference: In a country where a woman is worshipped and harassed too, this kind of behavior is not unexpected. Of course, many people think that there must not be seats reserved for ladies. But doesn’t such rude and immature behavior from people justify the ladies seat reservation? In less than next 50 days, our country is going to organize an International event. If our men are not able to behave with etiquettes with our own women, how do we expect them to be chivalrous with the foreigners?

Observation 3:

Place: INA Bus Stop

Time: 6:30 pm

Scene: I am going to board a bus to Yusuf Sarai. I meet a blind man trying to infer what is going around. I ask him if I can help. He asks me to help him find an auto to South Ext I. I wave to an autowala and he stops. I ask him the fare, he says its Rs 30. I ask him to charge by meter. After much negotiation, he agrees. I help the blind man to the auto.

Conversation:
Autowala: “Madam, aise nahi hoga, tees rupaye de dena, meter se nahi jaunga.”
Me: “lekin bhaiya, abhi to aapne kaha tha. sarkaar ne meter kyun lagaya hai. kisi bhi halat me 2 km se zyada nahi banenge”
Autowala: “Nahi, main 30 me hi jaunga, warna utar jao.”
Me: “Mazboor insaan ko dekh ke fayda uthate ho, police ko number doon tumhare auto ka?”
Autowala: “Karr raha hoon meter on.” (But he doesn’t do that since he know the man is blind)

Inference: Just to earn a little extra money, how insensitive can one become? We are either prejudiced or too selfish to extend a helping hand. Why- In fear of being cheated or to save our time? We always see us growing but not others. If we ask for our fundamental rights, we have some duties too. Why are not we free from corruption, from prejudices and selfishness?

These are the questions we ask our government, our politicians, our public servants daily. Do we ever care to ask such questions to ourselves? Is not answering this question individually much easier than to find answer from others? If I can question so many people around me after spending few minutes with them, how many questions can I ask me? We often comment- police is irresponsible, government does not improve. What change do we bring in ourselves?

Are we all not slaves of an Independent country? Anyway guys, Happy Independence day…

(May be I am a little late to post this but better late than never)

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Freedom from Regionalism.

““Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -how passionately I hate them!” ~ Albert Einstein
( I wonder what Einstein must have to say about regional patriotism: the worst putrefaction a pure feeling can ever suffer from.) 

Hello my Indian friends. Within an hour, our country, India will have completed its 63 year of being Independent. This must have been a long journey (given, I joined only 21 years ago.) We, the children of free India, are often accused of having taken the independence for granted.
We have been accused of having the privilege of being born in a free India.
Wait, have we the privilege?
Some of us have. Some lesser fortunate? I doubt. I am talking about regional patriotism here. I talk about an average north Indian laborer (from states like UP and Bihar), who is treated like an immigrant dog in the developed states of the country. I talk about a taxi driver of Mumbai who is forcefully made to learn the local language of the area else he would be kicked off to the so called ‘darkness’. I talk about an average aspiring student getting beaten by goons in bright daylight, while only seconds ago, he was busy answering objective questions about the history of India in a railway exam. The history of ‘free’ India, I mean.
And we, proud Indians, listen to one regional chauvinist talking shit about other regional chauvinist, while trying to cook his own political porridge. And we switch away the channel to an MTV.
I wonder why the Indian home minister almost always issues a neutral statement and is done with it. I wonder why the government doesn’t treat this as inter-state terrorism. I wonder why it’s none of our business.
I wonder.
What right one Indian has to say openly that not only his culture is great, but also, the other guy’s culture is rotting his culture. Worse, what right the Indian administration doesn’t have to teach that fundamentalist that cultures are meant to intermingle with each other.
If a culture is able to maintain its integrity and individualism even after having tolerated ‘n’ different cultures, only then it deserves to be called a culture. Else, be happy calling it a gated community.
That’s why, Indian culture is a culture. History witnesses. Leave alone India, the world has been evolving only because its culture has been evolving. Had this not been the case, we would have remained a food gatherer from some part of Africa. Forever.
And yes, neutrally speaking, the north Indian people, who leave their lands barren and their families lonely, just to work in some ‘developed’ states, should think twice. Working in a distant land is a definite yes, but neither by compromising your culture, nor by disrespecting the other’s.
Nature is always sufficient for our needs. It’s our wants that leads us away from nature and being natural. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are predominantly agricultural states. That does not mean that they have no professional future. As long as humans will continue to live in the world, grains would remain as important as they had been, and as important as they are, right now.
People with entrepreneur spirits and adequate capitals can invest money in the rural infrastructure, introduce new technology in the agricultural sector, help the new small scale industries by playing venture capitalists for them, nurturing new ideas in the mass, opening schools and hospitals to improve the general quality of life.
But yes, India has never taught its children to disrespect any guest that comes in our home. Be he/ she from one’s own state, or from another.
Hell, our ancestors talked about ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the earth is our family. And we, the ‘Independent Indians’ talk about turning states into gated communities.
Happy 64th Independence day, folks.

Alok K.
11:06pm, August 14, 2010

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Shantaram:A review

A "Classic" among novels perhaps is a book that everyone talks about,but nobody bothers to read.

So this one day when I was wandering around in hostel,I found the book with one of my friends.Already fed with too much of hue and cry about this classic called “Shantaram” from the VA faculty at my CAT prep insti,involuntarily I went through the epilogue of the book and this is what I read.

"In the early 80’s Gregory David Roberts,an armed robber and heroin addict,escaped from an Australian prison to India,where he lived in a Bombay slum.There he establishes a free health clinic and also joined the mafia,working as a money launderer and street soldier.He found time to learn Hindi and Marathi,fall in love,and spend time being worked over in an Indian jail.Then,in any case he thought he was slacking,he acted in Bollywood and fought with the Mujahedeen in Afganistan…Amazingly Roberts wrote Shantaram three times after prison guards trashed the first two versions.It’s a profound tribute to his willpower..A high kicking,eye gouging adventure,a love saga and a savage yet tenderly lyrical fugitive’s vision."

Ahh ..That made the wait impossible.

“Shantaram“or as a word by word translation 'll say as “God's Man of Peace” is a semi-autobiographic novel penned by an ex-junkie and an ex-con. For a man who dealt from Alpha to Omega of the illegal,the writing of Shantaram leads to skeptical thoughts in the mind of the reader but as it goes,Shataram is a journey;a voyage to Peace of a violent man.

The whole of story has been plotted in Bombay, and it begins when the narrator is already a fugitive from Australian prison.The escape to Bombay makes him meet new people and in the constant efforts of losing from the law,Roberts/Lin/Shantaram lives a quite wide range of times.Amongst the people whom he crosses roads with at this new place includes Prabhakar ,the boy who is his guide in Bombay takes him to his paternal village where he tastes the core Marathi lifestyle and later when he returns to the city, living in the slum casts him as the "slum doctor" where helping his neighbours helps him learn Hindi,make friends and live a community life.Other characters include Abdullah the Iranian fugitive or say the alter ego of Lin,his proxy father Abdul Kader Khan and lots of other people who had something to do with the "illegal ".

Perhaps every character of the novel was living his/her negative shade,but from Robert's pen each and every one of them qualifies to be a lovable human being.

Though its very hard to find a negative aspect of the novel ,if Robert's writings were to be believed,though it is always clear to the reader that the narrator was running with the wrong crowd,the picture of Bombay comes out as a place full of gangsters,cons and fugitives from anywhere to everywhere on earth.Some may not like to believe that.

Also,some may find the writing filled with uncontrolled and ceaseless details,which for some may find unappealing.

The opportunites that one gets while having Shantaram as a read,is of going through a life story filled with typical filmy up's and down's,while knowing all of that really happened.Luckily Amitabh Bachhan ,Johnny Depp and Mira Nair are taking care of the task of making it a film and that is a fact that cheers me up.:D

Also when it comes to the core motive of the writing of the novel which is talking the essence of Love,in all its forms and degrees.The nature of it's being almost never pure,and how not even for a single time its just simple to either give it or recieve,perhaps Roberts has done hell of a good job in conveying the feeling.

Talking of Love that Roberts talks about,perhaps any review of Shantaram just can not end without the mention of "Karla Saaramen".Aaah and the way in which a women with whom one is hopelessly in love with drives him to do things or perhaps turns the life lived in the harshest of conditions into the most cherished times of one simply connects to the core.

For now Roberts is clean and sober and lives in the city of his dreams Mumbai and can be reached through here.

Perhaps all the people we meet,all the instances we live ,all the emotions we feel and all the feelings we bestow on others define us as a person and if a lesson that one can take from the life story of Roberts is to NEVER BREAK.We are never as broken as we think we are.

P.S.:- -I was lucky enough to have some time at Bombay while I was still with the book.Leopolds is a place which seems different altogeter when one has read Shantaram. Beering there with Alok remains one of the most cherished times of my life.

Regarding the quotes from the book,there are so many that there is no point noting them down.This wikiquote link perhaps 'll be a help.

-Pranav

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Donate Blood this Red-Lettered August Day.

Our freedom fighters knew the vitality of blood. That’s what made leaders like Bose to demand blood in return of freedom and the Indian youth to reciprocate to the call in thousands.
Time comes to full circle, with an N.G.O. named  GO INDIA FOUNDATION taking the initiative to set nationwide blood donation camps, on the very red letter day of India: 15th August.

The target: 63,000 units of safe blood from all over the country, to meet the ever increasing blood needs in case of medical emergencies and other medical cases.
The Donors will get a Free medical examination including medical history, hemoglobin estimation and blood group determination. The donated blood will be tested for hepatitis B, C, HIV viruses, syphilis microbe, together with liver function tests too. The test reports will be mailed to you secretly, if you wish so.
We urge our readers and followers to get registered in the noble campaign and help the Indians in need. The link to the registration page is: http://www.goindiafoundation.com/laal/BloodDonationfrm.html

Team arbitSpecs.
P.S. Arbit Speculations is not associated to the NGO GIF through any means. But yes, we support them intellectually, and hope that our readers would second us. For more info about the campaign, please visit: http://www.goindiafoundation.com/laal/aboutlaal.html

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