Bhubaneswar, July 14 (IANS) Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Thursday said that 99 percent of the terror attacks had been stopped in the country, thanks to various measures, including improved intelligence.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Aamir Khan goes back to the board
Aamir Khan’s golden age in Hindi films was when he collaborated with cousin, writer-director, Mansoor Khan to light up the screen with cinematic gems like ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ and ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’. But for the last 18 years, Aamir had ignored this successful filmy association with his director cousi
Is there a solution to eve-teasing?
The Faceless Hand In The Crowd
By Ramya Pandyan
I live in Mumbai, famed for the crowds, the fast pace of life...and how safe it is for women. I am thankful for it. The city I call home, gives me the safest possible space to live with some degree of freedom. I have stayed in Delhi and in Chennai and I know the horrors of eve-teasing in both these places. Mumbai is too crowded and too busy for these. I can and do travel alone, at most times of the day (and night). I use public transport and don't require to be dropped home most of the time. In a lot of ways, I wonder if what I have to say is significant considering the much worse experiences that women face in other cities.
What I have to say is this: There is nothing called an absolutely safe place for a woman.
I'm not being paranoid or overly feminist. I have grown up in safe Mumbai and I can testify to the harassment that this ‘safe city' metes out to its female population. I am not going to talk about the rising rape statistics or the recent surge in horror cases, each more gruesome than the last.. I am going to talk about small ways that a woman is made to feel cheap and small, every day...every single, damned day. Harassment happens in Mumbai, just like in every other part of the world. And it has no face. Like everything else, it is swallowed up in the teeming masses of this city.
Mumbai's train travellers have a code of conduct of their own. There are rules to get in, to positioning your bags (and yourself) and getting down. When the train arrives at the station, the crowds draw close to the track, getting ready for the run. And as the train nears, the tension is palpable. One section of the crowd moves back a good two feet from the train. Those waiting to enter the ladies' compartment. It just is not safe to stand within arm's length of the train. Of the crowds hanging out of the train, hands reach out to grab, to slap, to grope...to just touch any woman. And there's no way of knowing who did it. There is a reason the women are willing to forsake the coveted spot close to the entrance of the train.
When I walk down the road, virtually unconsciously I assume a certain posture. My bag is held in front of me to cushion those blows. There are times I wish I could wear some kind of armour with daggers lined down the front to stab those big, hard bodies that deliberately collide into mine when I'm walking. My elbows point out to keep those shoulders from brushing mine and I know I look menacing and angry. It could be coincidence but there is the fact that my softer, gentler looking friends frequently get prodded and groped up in these same situations.
Auto-rickshaw drivers amuse themselves at signals by staring into passanger seats of the autos next to them, cruising alongside never taking their eyes off and on occasion singing along. I particularly detest auto-rickshaws that have a mirror above the driver's head and pointed to the passenger. I've taken to glaring into that mirror to ensure the driver keeps his eyes to himself (and on the road, hopefully) because it is almost a given that the mirror was put there for a reason. It doesn't always work.
Incidently the ‘safety' of this city does not take into consideration the starers, the whistlers and the singers. Harassment happens with hands, elbows AND with the eyes. I can't begin to explain how it feels to be stripped by a total stranger. Does it matter whether he actually tears my clothes off in public, or does it in his mind and makes it very clear what he's thinking? The fact is that he does it with utmost DISRESPECT, with no fear of being pulled up. He is willing to demean me mentally and he would, physically too, if he had a chance. Staring is rude, we are all taught as kids. Why? Because it makes people uncomfortable. T
his is someone who doesn't give a damn about making me uncomfortable and what's more....he wants to watch me squirm.
Do I deserve to feel bad?
To be embarassed about my gender?
To downplay my appearance?
To move furtively and quickly when I am alone?
I used to get my salwar-kameezes tailored by a popular darzi close to my colony. At one fitting, his young assistant groped me all over, on the pretext of getting my measurements. I had been seeing this guy at the shop for a couple of years and he had measured me before. I didn't say anything. I tried to forget the episode and hoped it wouldn't happen again. It did. And I stopped going to him.
I wouldn't call it street harassment. Because it doesn't stop at the street. It follows me into train compartments, where the men in the bogey adjoining mine leer through the grill and whistle. There is a reason I don't stand next to the grill...too many fingers and eyes, too close for comfort. It follows me out onto the roads, where truck drivers speed up their vehicles and brush by me, making me jump, when I try to cross the road. It shadows me in the guise of the bus conductor who hands out tickets to the people behind me, each time ‘inadvertently' brushing my breasts. It sneaks up to me when the security guard who lets me into the office leans over my shoulder to flash the card at the door and tries to look down my neckline. It is all around me all day with people whose eyes stay fixed to a spot about 3 inches below my chin....they are canteen boys, watchmen, courier boys and yes...even friends and colleagues.
I don't often tell my family about these things. They would tell me to come back earlier from work, not go out at night, not wear certain clothes, not talk and laugh too loudly, not attract attention.....for all purposes be demure, unobstrusive and as hidden away as possible. I know they worry. Which is why I keep my silence with them and find ways to deal with it myself. Its like trying to fight a school of piranha fish that are hidden underneath the depths. I don't know where the next blow will come from. I don't know whether it will be a blow or yet another tiny bit of my dignity being shredded away. I haven't the energy to slap every hand that gropes, silence every lewd comment and out-stare every humiliating look. I try and avoid getting too close to the source. There is a reason I look angry most of the time.
The Water Cooler Mumbai’s Bloody Spirit
Terror struck Mumbai again last night, and as is its wont, its much-touted 'spirit' is refusing to cower.
Yes, even before 24 hours are up after another dastardly act on India's financial, cultural and entertainment capital, blanket banalities of 'spirit' and 'resilience' are pouring in. What chokes me is this need to resort to such platitudes, when the souls of the bloodied corpses haven't yet moved on from their earthly bodies, when those bereaved haven't even had the time to deal with the loss of a loved one, when the pain of those injured isn't even close to being abated with pills and care and when many survivors of the carnage are caught inside a claustrophobic, agonising reality of being alive in their own private hell.
Mumbai, in all its preparedness and the oft-hailed never-say-die spirit, wasn't ready for another bloodbath. Who is? But it must serve its ignominious honour of being terror's favourite city, given the number of such attacks it has had to face since 1993. So, what does Mumbai do? That part of Mumbai that isn't dead pulls up its pants, takes stock of the situation and tries to do what it can do the best in such situations - lend a helping hand, and well, live for what it's worth.
But isn't that true of humanity everywhere? I'm not trying to downplay Mumbai's spirit, far from it. To me, if there's another city I feel like I can fit in, it's Mumbai. I'll be the first to admit there is a certain joie de vivre to the city, with all its piles of muck and debris, that is heartwarming and is identical in those living on the fringes of society as well as those ensconced in the gilded cage of riches and grandeur. But isn't it time Mumbai and the evangelists of its spirit took a step back and considered that maybe, just maybe, it's tiresome and trivialising to those dead and bereaved to play up the spirit card every single time terror strikes its shores?
Where was Mumbai's spirit when a journalist who reported rotting firearms that was supposed to better arm the police force post the 26/11 attacks was jailed for, wait for it, spying? Why didn't the city take on the powers-that-be and question this criminally wrong decision? Isn't such a cause equally worthy of Mumbai's spirit? Or does the spirit raise its head only when its terrain is bloodied? In situations like yesterday, Mumbai seems to ignore the first four stages of grief and makes a beeline straight for acceptance. But does it make up for the injustice that's meted out to Mumbai over and over again?
Yes, Mumbai's spirit is tall. Yes, Mumbai's spirit has every right to be proud of itself. Yes, Mumbai is the very face of grace under pressure. But what of the corollary of this theory of its indefatigable spirit? Maybe Mumbai is being attacked with such alarming regularity because of its very spirit - because it will wake up the next morning, and come rain or sunshine, make its way to earn its livelihood and keep its wheels moving. Maybe Mumbai has had to bear the brunt of the entire nation's terror attacks because trains will trundle in spite of broken tracks and taxis will ply in spite of its draconian police force and Mumbaikars will try to live while they're alive in spite of death and destruction looming in their faces.
I'm tired of these hypocritical reiterations, though. Any entity, be it a politico, a spokesperson, a citizen or a media representative, who's quick to mouth such preachy platitudes, is equally reprehensible of the crime of trying to cover up its weakness in an over-glorified veil of supercilious praise.
Wake me up when this seemingly endless November ends. Wake me up when candlelight vigils and citizen marches become Mumbai's secret shame and not celebrations of its undying spirit. Wake me up when this spirit becomes a swift kick in the groin to anyone who so much as says resilient Mumbai. Wake me up when this resilience becomes a steely resolve to not pay taxes to an undeserving, apathetic government. Until then, Mumbai city will be nothing but a battered housewife to me -- beaten, bruised, raped, choking on her own vomit and blood, but coping the only way she knows how -- getting up to each new sunrise to serve a drunken bastard of a husband, thinking that is the fate she must fulfill.
Real Estate prices and logic…
Is there any great logic to real estate prices or is it just the land, builders and the bank mafia that is responsible for keeping the prices high?
Well let us look at the irrationality.
The Demon Fast (Indian) Bowler
Richard Hadlee had four keywords to good fast bowling: rhythm, off-stump, desire and Lillee. The first three are self-explanatory.As for the fourth, Hadlee said he would think of Dennis Lillee whenever things got tough.
After Nano, Tata launches millionaire's car in Nepal
Kathmandu, July 14 (IANS) Within three weeks of launching in Nepal 'people's car' Nano, the least expensive car in the world, the Tata Group is now seeking to consolidate business in the Himalayan republic by unveiling its millionaire's car, the Tata Aria.
Beware of Tendulkar, say ex-England captains
Sachin Tendulkar has been in scintillating form for the past few seasons and even after 22 years on the road in international cricket, former England captains Michael Vaughan, Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton and Graham Gooch feel the talismanic batsman will pose the biggest threat to the Englishmen in the much anticipated Test series that begins next week at Lord's.
World sea attacks rise as pirates become bolder
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Sea piracy worldwide surged to 266 attacks in the first half this year, up 36 percent from a year ago, as Somali pirates became bolder and raided more vessels, a global maritime watchdog said Thursday.
Volcano erupts in central Indonesia
Mount Lokon spews hot lava and volcanic ash during an eruption in Tomohon in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province July 14, 2011. Indonesia's Mount Lokon erupted to spew hot lava and volcanic ash as high as 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) in the north of Sulawesi island, prompting panicked residents to flee the agricultural area, a government official said on Friday
Search engines are killing our memory
New York, July 15 (ANI): Researchers have found that the widespread use of search engines and online databases is affecting the way people remember information.
To know whether people were more likely to remember information that could be easily retrieved from a computer, Betsy Sparrow, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia and her collaborators, Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard and Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, staged different memory experiments, reports the New York Times.
Indian- origin girls bag Google science honour
An Indian- origin girl has developed a solution to the resistance of ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy, bagging a grand prize at the first ever Google science fair.
A total of 15 students were selected for the final round and three girls were announced victorious as the search giant said it was ‘all about girl power’.
Dhoni tried to intimidate me at Kingston Test, claims Harper
Melbourne, July 14 (PTI): Controversial Australian umpire Daryl Harper, who was criticised by the Indians for his poor decisions during the first Test against the West Indies, on Thursday hit back at captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, accusing him of trying to intimidate him during the match.
11 CDs of CCTV footage being scanned: home secretary
New Delhi, July 15 (IANS) Investigation agencies are scanning 11 CDs of CCTV footage for clues into the Mumbai serial bombings, Home Secretary R.K. Singh said Friday.
The scooter on which one of the bombs was planted has also been identified, he added.
'There are about 11 CDs (of CCTV footage) which have to be gone through, so it's a voluminous work.
Aishwarya: Nation before French award
Aishwarya Rai
Aishwarya Bachchan made her first public appearance after news of her pregnancy was made public — at the Taj Palace in the Capital on Wednesday evening.
Minister adds fuel to fire as Karachi burns
KARACHI: Fresh political violence gripped Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi, on Thursday, leaving 14 people dead in fighting sparked by a senior ruling party leader's criticism of the city's dominant political group.
Hacking scandal casts light on Murdoch's politics
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rupert Murdoch is a political kingmaker in Britain and his native Australia. In the United States, he's best known for promoting conservative opinion through media properties like the Fox News Channel. And in China, he's primarily a businessman working to give his News Corp. empire a toehold in that country's tightly controlled media market.
Bangladesh and India begin border area census
DHAKA — Bangladesh and India launched on Thursday a census of "enclaves" -- areas where one country's territory is surrounded by the other -- in an effort to end complex border disputes.
Kamal Uddin Ahmed, a government official in Dhaka, said the first-ever census would count people living in 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 55 Bangladeshi enclaves in India.
Hostage rescued, gunfight starts
A woman held hostage by four Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) militants in Jammu and Kashmir was rescued on Friday, police said. A gunfight has now started between the security forces and the militants, they said.
India's unsolved bombings
A series of bombings. No claim of responsibility. No prime suspects. Wednesday's explosions in Mumbai ticked a wearily familiar list of boxes in a country which is no stranger to bombings that go unclaimed and lack any transparent motive. Briefing reporters on Thursday about the investigation, home minister P Chidambaram cast the net of suspicion about as wide as it would go.
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