The Right to Bodily Autonomy

Saw the movie "My Sister's Keeper" yesterday. Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen it yet. The movie is based on a novel by the same name. Though I haven't read the novel, I would like to believe that this is one of the rare cases where the movie deals with the subject better than the novel does. What follows is not a review of the film, but a moral debate pertaining the right to bodily autonomy.

"I wouldn't be alive if Kate wasn't sick I'm a designer baby. I was made in a dish to be spare parts for Kate".

Redemption

The latest judgement on Kasab - a pawn in the whole 26/11 massacre and the recent stories in the news got me thinking:

Whether life-term really was a better option? Whether the 150-300 seconds of pain on the rope enough for the brutality leashed out by him on innocent people and too with an unforgettable satisfied idiosyncrasy. Or the lead up to execution is what makes it a more fitting punishment. Have we forgotten his sick sense of humour in courtrooms and the calm with which he was reading Tipu Sultan in his prison before Judgement Day? Come on, they have seen it coming already.

Jana Gana Mana Rann!

If you are wondering that I messed up with the title of this post, then you have definitely missed the controversy surrounding RGV's latest multi-starrer Rann.

The title track of the movie, also the promo for the movie,- "Jana Gana Mana Rann, Is Rann mein Zakhmi hua hai Bharat ka Bhagya Vidhata" has been banned by the Censor Board in accordance with the Prevention of insult to National Honour Act 1971 because "the tune of the national anthem has been played around with and distorted".

Ramu has decided to challenge the Censor Board's decision in the apex court because there isnt any rule against using of the Anthem and because the song doesn't portray the Anthem in a bad light. This is what the lyricist Sarim Momin had to say:

"if we had used lines like "Jaag jao... Bharat ko bachaao' or 'Humari jaan Hindustan', the maximum reaction would have been a yawn or a raise of an eyebrow. Or both, if somebody really liked it and were generous.

It would NOT have made people sit up and think about the current state.

Diverting from the song for a moment, the Election Commission started many campaigns this year to urge Indians to come out and vote yet the turnout was only around 50 per cent.

It's not like we don't care. It's just that we don't care enough to make an effort to even elect the best men to decide the future and fate of our country.

We are comfortably numb and almost sleepy to what is happening to us."

Will the song cause spread of unpatriotic, anti-national feelings? Will this result in the youth believing in and reciting this instead of Jana Gana Mana Adhinayak?

Or is the integrity of the Anthem too solid to be breached by trifles?

What's your say? Comments are, as always, welcome.

P.S: Watch the video here.

India Untouched: Stories of People Apart

I dunno how many of you have seen the award winning docu India Untouched: Stories of People Apart by Stalin K. but I strongly suggest you to do so..that is if you believe that modern India has come far in eradicating untouchability.

The film introduces leading Banaras scholars who interpret Hindu scriptures to mean that Dalits "have no right'' to education, and Rajput farmers who proudly proclaim that the police must seek their permission before pursuing cases of atrocities against Dalits.

Unfortunately, thats not the end of the story. Stalin and team travelled across the country and has captured few hard hitting facts from across 8 states. I mention a few of these which I call most shameful for lack of a better word.

1)In Madurai, TN: The dalits have to descend from their bicycles and remove their shoes in the upper caste parts of the village

2)Mehboobnagar, AP: The masons that build the house are not allwed to step inside them once the buildings are painted

2) Jamui, Bihar: The mid wives of the village are paid only Rs 100 for a child birth and a week's oil massage. And they can't eat food within the house they work in

3) Patiala, Punjab: Street cleaners from the corporation say that the corporation doesnt have any non Dalit member

4) Jhajha, Bihar: The Dalits clean the railway tracks off of mutilated dead bodies of humans and animals and all the shit. Will an upper caste member ever do this, asks one of them

A Brahmin when confronted of the ill that will befall the human society if we touch the Dalits says the Godhara massacre was a result of this!!!

The situation is same in other religions as well.

This is the real scene guyz! People dont even know why they follow untouchability...its always been like this, they say...Paradigm!

A common Dalit song translates roughly into:

We clear up the garbage while you roam about ungroomed
For the crime of cleaning you call me scavenger
When you step into rain water, does that change your caste?
We are stabbed at street corners, our lives end in hard labour

We want the rights written by Baba (Ambedkar)
You treat us as your slaves for your will and pleasure
We will not tolerate this nonsense now
We want the rights that Baba gave us!

Just give this a thought..

P.S.: The video is available on IITB Lan for those who can access it.
P.P.S.: The documentary was released sumtime in early 2007. So I guess it isnt exactly ancient

The Boy Who Lived or You Know Who

This was something I wrote around an year back..

Rowling did her best to portray Tom Riddle as the Ravana of her Ramayana and quite succeeded in it. But I beg to differ. Even Ravana was a pundit. Good or evil is only a matter of perception. We believe something
is good if its convenient.

Lets not hate Tom from the outset just because Rowling showed him that way. Come to think of it, Tom had a very disturbing childhood, much more than Harry had. His Muggle father abandoned him and his mother. His grandfather Marvollo cursed his mother for the ill-fate. Young Tom must have been deeply affected by all this. His loathing for the Muggles was natural given the state of affairs.

Tom's stay at the orphanage wasn't good too. He knew he was different and that's why he felt alone. This made him restless and reinforced his hatred for Muggles. What he did during those days is known to all.
Now 'the boy who lived' never had a hapy childhood too. But he never had a chance to rise against the wrongs unlike Tom. Harry stayed as a mere puppet of the Dursleys. I m sure if Harry had the freedom, he
would have turned into some Frankenstien himself, given his lack of self-control that was made evident in book 5 when he shouted at Ron, Hermione and even Dumbledore.

Hogwarts was a welcome change for both our protagonists. Tom was a better student but Harry was counselled at every step by Dumbledore. On countless occasions Harry was saved by his dead mother or his friends. On the contrary Tom was on his own. For a lonely adolescent, power tales of the Dark Arts were fascinating and awe-inspiring. Hence such a recourse wasn't unexpected.

Tom's hatred for Muggles, his hunger to be the all-powerful immortal God made him a murderer. Maybe the path he chose was extreme. But think about it, he was a man who was never loved by anyone, one who never realised the power of love.

P.S: I do not think Harry Potter books should be thrown away. In fact, I am a great fan of the series. Neither do I wish to justify Voldemort's character. It's just something that had crossed my mind.

Comments are welcome.

A Tribute to the Mahatma!

"...suddenly a man, who was later identified as Nathu Ram Godse took steps out of the crowd and fired three shots at Mahatma. Bullets hit him on the stomach and chest. Mahatma fell down saying Ram-Ram... "
– Nand Lal Mehta, in the First Information Report recorded on January 30, 1948, at 9.45 p.m.

I am not a Gandhian. But I do respect him.
You need guts to stand up to your enemy, as unarmed and vulnerable as he was. Agreed he made a few controversial decisions.He called off the Non Coop Movt when it turned violent.But how can one advocate something one dissapproves of. Again, Gandhi could have commutated the death sentences of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. But probably Irwin was a better bargainer than he was. He explains, "It could not be done so. And to threaten withdrawal now would be a breach of faith."

He once said, "Would our women known as the meekest on earth have done the unique service they did, if we had violence in us? And our children - our Vanar Sena; how could you have had these innocent ones who renounced their toys, their kites, their crackers and joined as soldiers of Swaraj - how could you have enlisted them in a violent struggle?"

It is worth pondering over these words. It is the mass support that decides the success or failure of a method of struggle. The people of India chose non-violent means over violent ones so clearly that even after these controversies, whenever Gandhiji gave a call he had millions responding to it.

To say the very least he was way better than you and I !!!

Namesake!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet"

If the Bard was alive today, he would be more than willing to eat his words...

His was a time when people were recognized by their potential. Whatever was their background or stature in the society.
But times have fast changed...

Glamour is all we talk about. BRAND NAME matters, no matter what..right from time you open your eyes..the urge for fancy Names gets bigger day by day.

We have turned into brand conscious beings. Name is all we care about these days...Associate yourself to a brand however remotely, and there you go..half the battle is won!

I myself went through lot of names for my blog, searching for fancy ones before I decided on Zeitschrift (German for journal).

To quote Richard Strauss(German composer):

"Building brand name is key. That's what America is all about"

We are sorry Will but Rose by any other name aint sweet anymore.

New Year!??

hey all..m back..
i hope this Christmas, our very own Santa showered his generosity upon all of us.. :)
so..all geared up to embrace the next year,eh?..the time to reminisce over the past year..to make some resolutions..

Deja vu!?

yes we do it every year..it is our perfect way to pay a tribute to the year almost bygone, to welcome the upcoming days that promise novelty..

OR is it??

how many resolutions have u managed to keep beyond the first month..or the first week for that matter..how long does this newfound(excuse me..did i say new..i meant the same old refound) charm last..2 days into the year and we are back to ground zero! busy in our lives..doing little different from wat we used to do a week earlier..wen we had so firmly promised ourselves and all who would care to listen that this is it..from d next yr i m gonna do this..i m gonna do that..blah blah blah!!!

if u r guilty of this...then my friend its time we realize that every year comes and goes..there is nothing special..the new year wont bring any magic along with it...not unless we want it to...and if we want it to..thn y wait for the new year...why the 1st of Jan..y not any other day!!any day is new.. if we want an excuse to start..thn better not start...coz thn we wont ever finish wat we started..

i am not against partying..after all..all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!

if u r confused or offended..then excusez moi, s'il vous plait ...forget wat i had to say..i didnt mean to baffle or offend anyone..

Cya...have fun