A Problem

Give you a problem for your midnight toil,--
One you can study till your hair is white
And never solve and never guess aright,
Although you burn to dregs your midnight oil?
O Sage, I give one that will make you moil.
Just take one weakling little woman's heart.
Prepare your patience, furbish up your art.
How now? Did I not see you then recoil?

Tell me how many times it has known pain;
Tell me what thing will make it feel delight;
Tell me when it is modest, when 'tis vain;
Tell me when it is wrong and when 'tis right:
But tell me this, all other things above,--
Can it feel, Sage, the thing that man calls “Love”?

- Thomas Winthrop Hall, 'When Hearts are Trumps'

Tumult

Well, talk about tumult in the mind or in the country. I’ll prefer to talk about the one in the country on this space. I have other spaces to talk about the one in my mind.
It is not only shameful but an insult to woman or religious minority empowerment by colouring the Presidential or Vice-Presidential elections with such taints. It’s not just about merit, but about the preservation of the dignity of the high offices of this country. Our minority-conscious nation has elected atleast four Presidents from religious minority communities, but none of those have in the least benefited from such antics. I call them antics because when you elect a person as the Head of the State on the ground that he belongs to so-and-so community, you undermine the person’s competence as a leader, as a future Head of the State. Why not just have Presidents and Vice-Presidents without such labelling contamination? It is heartbreaking to hear politicians say women are empowered when we have a Lady President - that we are more progressive than the United States in that respect. Now, we have three candidates for the Vice-Presidential election – all three Muslims. But does it even matter? They are all distinguished personalities and that should be the outstanding criterion for candidature.
Talking of tumult, the memorable dates of the decade which I’m going to present below was one of exceptional tumult. Just like in the present, we have high offices being demeaned, in that decade too, all institutions, barring none suffered considerable damage. Be it the legislature whose life was extended by 21-months (a state of Prime Ministerial coup, may we say?). Or the judiciary which suffered two supersessions and the infamous Habeas Corpus case. Or the executive, which probably suffered the most defilement under the leadership of Mrs. Gandhi, and even her incapable successor in the Janata Government.
This was all about the Centre. The situation in the States would be worse in the decade of 1980s, with the rise of a series of sub-regionalist movements. Before embarking upon this decade’s listing, I would confess that this is the most difficult decade to have a date a year, because of such eventfulness.

August 15, 1969-August 15, 1970: August 24, 1969: V.V. Giri becomes the President, as Indira Gandhi led members of the Congress support him over Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Indian National Congress splits into two, with Congress (R) being the real Congress faction led by Indira Gandhi, and Congress (O), the orthodox faction led by K. Kamaraj, eventually merging into the Janata Party. Aam aadmi ka haath comes into being as Congress (R), later Congress (I)’s election symbol.

I will continue this list later.
Meanwhile, the distance seems to be increasing.
Everyday. Every hour. Each second.

Heavier Things

"I know a girl,
She puts the colour inside of my world,
She's just like a maze,
Where all of the walls all continually change,
And I've done all I can,
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands,
Now I'm starting to see,
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me."

- John Mayer, 'Daughters'.

Justice Chaudhary et al - II

Howsoever much I might love The Code and the course I don’t feel like typing my project. I would rather write about the situation in Pakistan, which I last described as ‘on the whole… deprecable and disheartening’. The situation seems to have much improved since then. Yesterday, Justice Khalil ul-Rehman Ramday of the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced the historic verdict setting aside (by a majority of 10-3) the Presidential reference of March 9, 2007. The order stated:

“As a further consequence thereof, the petitioner Chief Justice of Pakistan shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same”.

July 20, 2007 can be categorized a great day in Pakistani history. I think it is a great day for atleast three reasons.
One, it is important that the public has faith in the judiciary and such faith has, in some sense, been restored, if there ever was in the first place. As I noted in the earlier post, Pakistan’s judiciary has been meek and subservient to the Government, especially when it is the often seem form of military rule. This is a bold and resilient response to all the bullying the judiciary in Pakistan has suffered. It is in a way a response to all the public demonstration that took place in the last four months in protest of the dismissal of the CJP.

Two is not wholly unconnected from one. The verdict contains in it the seeds of judicial activism in Pakistan, which could have seemed a joke otherwise. In a country like Pakistan, judicial activism can be of immense value. It can be reasonable accepted that the democracy has virtually failed in Pakistan. Although I am not a proponent of judicial activism, because of the excessive usurpation of functions it results in (as it has in India), yet a single institution rule is much better than a single man rule. Being optimistic, almost romantic, it can see Pakistan being set on the path of economic growth under the mentorship and direction of the judiciary.

Three, because it is the first time ever in the motley history of Pakistan that the Supreme Court has pronounced a verdict against a military ruler. This can be because the present military ruler is in a way different from his two predecessors. He does not see the world in black and white (Read: Kuldip Nayar’s “Black and white world of Pak dictators”, Asian Age; although the author of that article thinks Musharraf is like his predecessors). Generals Ayub Khan and Haq were not such able PR managers of themselves. Whatsoever President Musharraf’s domestic image may be, he has succeeded in the West in projecting himself well, as an upholder of democracy in a country like Pakistan, by having a puppet Government and Prime Minister. So, the judiciary could have passed such a verdict to sustain that impression considering the amount of worldwide criticism he faced for sacking the CJP by presenting an image of a strong judiciary.

Well, while I write this, India gets its first woman President. Shameful as it is, I would just quote Shobhaa De here:
“From the sublime to the ridiculous, to the downright shabby, the pathetic wheeling and dealing, horse trading and lobbying that have scarred this election, this is nothing short of an insult to the high office.”
Click here to read the full article.
Consider reading this as well.

Meanwhile, I continue my list:

August 15, 1964-August 15, 1965: January 26, 1965: Official Languages Act, 1963 comes into effect. North versus South results. Fierce Anti-Hindi agitations in Madras.
August 15, 1965-August 15, 1966: September 1, 1965: Pakistan launches Operation Grand Slam and a bloody tank battle follows in Sialkot. Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri jingles Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.
August 15, 1966: The goongi gudiya becomes the first lady to address the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort after being chosen the Prime Minister on January 19.
August 15, 1966-August 15, 1967: November 17, 1966: Reita Faria becomes the first Indian to win a major beauty pageant at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
February 27, 1967: A mammoth eleven judge Bench rules that a Constitutional amendment is subject to Fundamental Rights.
August 15, 1967-August 15, 1968: February 20, 1968: India secure their first overseas cricket win by beating New Zealand at Dunedin by five wickets. Mansoor Pataudi, the captain of the Indian team wins the Wisden Cricketer of the Year that year.
August 15, 1968-August 15, 1969: December 10, 1968: Hargobind Khorana becomes the first Indian post-independence to win a Nobel Prize: in Physiology and Medicine for his pioneering research in genetics.

Fetish and fondness

When I was five, I used to love playing Prince of Persia (prince.exe) and Brick (brick.exe) in DOS. I used to fiddle around with comps so much that once I deleted some of my dad's important documents on that 386. I got a good thrashing for it because those documents contained matters listed for the following day. For a long time, dad forbade me to touch that comp and it took long for me to reinstate that eternal truth in him that I was good at comps. At the risk of sounding immodest, I must confess that I was way ahead of most of my classmates in terms of comps (some of them are 'budding engineers' now,
one of them at MIT) because of this fidgety propensity. Our course in ninth standard contained an introduction to Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (VB). For the uninitiated, it is a program to make programs. Actually I much rather prefer the Queen’s English spelling of programme. Anyhow, most of us didn't used to work for the computers course because it was only graded and not marked. But I fell in love with VB. I would bunk classes on the pretext of preparing for ‘extra-curricular activities’, and would sit in the comp lab for hours experimenting with this funky program. At the end of the ninth standard, I made a modest six programs, three of which were, if I may so, quite decent. One of them was a calculator. You just select the city you were in from a dropdown box, which contained a list of around 500 cities from around the globe and you would get the current time of that city. It sounds very simple. But it took six months to be finalized. Immense labour went into it - I had to key in the formula for the time difference for every city. But then, that program got lost with the formatting of my comp. There it was, I lost most interest in comps. I got bored with them. I tried learning Flash, but didn't. Now I know just enough to survive. It has happened with me often in life, that I develop an unhealthy addiction with some things, that they eventually bore me and I almost detest engaging myself in them again. The fetish kills the fondness.
Constitutional law seems to be an exception to this maxim. It never seems to bore me. I know I've already had some of my readers roll eyes and exclaim "Blah!!" and changed the URL in the address bar or clicked on the tiny cross on the *north-east* of the screen or if they are too piqued, maybe just clicked the turn off button on their comps. My sincerest apologies to them for causing such outrage. But honestly, there seems to be no end to it. I do not claim to have read too much, but I do claim to have a love for it. All that aside, I am also very fond of history. The next ten are here (yes, I have lost my seven-mania):

August 15, 1954-August 15, 1955: A plethora of legislations which would have probably pleased the great draftsman, Dr. Ambedkar, is ushered in as India promises to secure rights for women and the oppressed. Untouchability Offences Act (now Protection of Civil Rights Act), Hindu Marriage Act comes into effect. They are some of the most revolutionary pieces of legislations and mark a watershed in Indian socio-political system.
August 15, 1955-August 15, 1956: November 17, 1955: Nehru, in his inimitable style, while pouring the first bucket of concrete into the foundation (Only quoting verbatim may convey the sentiment accurately): “Probably nowhere else in the world is there a dam as high as this … As I walked round the site I thought that these days the biggest temple and mosque and gurudwara is the place where man works for the good of mankind. Which place can be greater than this, this Bhakra-Nangal?” India had fallen in love with both Nehru and concrete in 1950s – be it Hirakud or Bhakra-Nangal. The love for concrete of that decade is exemplified in the new capital of Punjab, Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh.
August 15, 1956-August 15, 1957: November 1, 1956: The first reorganization of States on linguistic basis. India is a Union of States and Union Territories, not Part A, Part B or Part C States. The date remains the Rajyotsava for most Indian states, because the later major reorganization (in 1966) took place on the same day.
April 5, 1957: The first Communist ministry is sworn in at Trivandrum headed by EMS Namboodripad. Few would have thought that the Communist rule in an Indian State would last forever.
August 15, 1957-August 15, 1958: March 26, 1958: Hollywood: Although it lost to the Italian film Nights of Cabiria, Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (or the Indian Gone With the Wind) becomes the first ever Indian film to be nominated for Oscars (in the foreign language film category).
August 15, 1958-August 15, 1959: September 23, 1958: Mihir Sen, an Indian lawyer, swims the English Channel, the first Asian to do so.
March 31, 1959: His Holiness the Dalai Lama crosses the border into India after a 15-day foot journey from Lhasa. Thousands of followers follow suit. India grants them asylum, the seeds of Sino-Indian antagonism are planted.
August 15, 1959-August 15, 1960: May 1, 1960: Bombay Presidency State is split into the new linguistic states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
August 15, 1960-August 15, 1961: September 6, 1960: Rome: The barefoot Flying Sikh broke the 400 m Olympic record, but misses the bronze by a deci-second. India face another disappointment as Pakistan beat India 1-0 to end India’s Olympic streak of 28 straight wins to win the gold.
August 15, 1961-August 15, 1962: December 12-19, 1961: Operation Vijay succeeds and the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu are liberated from the Portuguese.
August 15, 1962-August 15, 1963: September 20-November 21, 1962: India faces a humiliating defeat which disintegrated national morale. Its neighbour-sugary-brother-of-Panchsheel-fame attacks at the Sela Pass (Arunachal Pradesh). Militarily, India has learnt and seen only ascent since. Nehru’s decline is kicked off. In his good friend, Mountbatten’s words: “Menon killed him (Nehru) with the disastrous Chinese war.”
August 15, 1963-August 15, 1964: May 27, 1964: I know this is the third death in this list, but I assure you it will be the last. For, although I am not a Nehru lover, his death probably marked the end of statesmanship in Indian politics, mostly to the blame of his progeny.

And yes, I am quite fond of death. (Click on this) it is dreadful as well. In the words of Rammohan Roy (quoted in The Argumentative Indian),
“Just consider how terrible the day of your death will be.
Others will go on speaking, and you will not be able to argue back.”

Nineteen Forty-(Seven)

I have always regarded calendar dates highly. As it so happens, today is 7/7/7, which is supposedly the most auspicious day in a century. Why is seven so lucky – it is a lucky number in most cultures: the seven virtues (Christianity), seven blessings (Jewish marriage: Sheva Berachot), Seven Gods of fortune (Japanese), seven chakras or wheels of energy (Hindu).
Maybe because according to the Bible, seven represents the union of man and woman (since the number for woman is 4 and for man is 3) or because according to many ancient faiths, there are believed to be seven heavens and seven planets in the solar system – those celestial objects they could see with their own eyes (the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn), from where the names of the days of the week are derived in most languages, in the same order (Sunday through Saturday). Or is it because seven is the optimum number of hours of sleep for humans, according to some study?
Whatever the reason be, seven has always received great attention from the antiquitarian, the historian, the chemist, the playwright and the author alike: Seven wonders of the world, the line of seven emperors in classical Rome, seven is the pH of pure water as also the atomic number of the harmless nitrogen, according to Shakespeare, there are seven ages of man [As You Like It, Act II Scene 7, Jacques, “All the world’s a stage…”], and the legendary fictional character created by Ian Fleming is Agent 007.
July 7, 2007 is dubbed to be the biggest wedding day ever across the globe.
Be that as it may, my obsession with calendar dates will continue over the next few weeks when I compile a list of some of the most eventful dates in post-Independence history, as a preparation to recalling that 'moment (which) comes but rarely in history…when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance'.
Here are the first seven years:
August 15, 1947- August 15, 1948:
January 30, 1948: For it wasn’t that easy to assassinate the Mahatma (read about the lesser known Gopal Godse) and as George Bernard Shaw put it – ‘It shows you how dangerous it is to be good’.
August 15, 1948- August 15, 1949:
September 23, 1948: Colonel J.N. Chaudhari eclipses the portraits of the Nizam in Hyderabad, for as Coupland once wondered, ‘India could live if its Moslem limbs in the north-west and north-east were amputated, but could it live without its midriff?’
August 15, 1949- August 15, 1950:
January 26, 1950: The greatest political venture since that originated in Philadelphia in 1787. India announces herself as a ‘SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC’. The Supreme Court with the widest known powers in the world comes into existence.
August 15, 1950- August 15, 1951:
December 15, 1950: Death of the Iron Man of India, and the end of two power centres in India’s ruling party—virtual monopoly of Jawaharlal Nehru.
August 15, 1951- August 15, 1952:
October 25, 1951 and January-February, 1952: As the world’s largest democracy exercises its franchise, was it ‘the biggest experiment in democracy in human history’ or ‘the biggest gamble in history’?
August 15, 1952- August 15, 1953: December 15, 1952:
Death of Potti Srimamulu, after fasting for fifty-eight days paves the way for the cartographic revision of India on the basis of language. As Ramachandra Guha puts it, he was the Mercator of India.

August 15, 1953-August 15, 1954:
April 29, 1954: India and China decide to ‘mutually coexist’ on five principles: Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai?

Sad, Sad World Cup

Everything went wrong with the script this World Cup. From the abnormal length and boredom to the empty stands to Bob Woolmer’s murder to a 74-over final game, partially played in pitch dark.
I’ve seen atleast four editions of the competition (that is after discounting the ’92 edition, because I was five then and the matches were usually at wee hours of the morning). Here's why this World Cup will go down as my saddest Cup:
1. March 17, 2007: The brisk anticlimax to the hoo-ha (or Ooh-ah!) being that India getting knocked out in the preliminary stage precipitately primarily because of losing to Bangladesh, and their close friends losing to Ireland on the same day.

Virender Sehwag's feelings in this image pretty much sum up the disappointment of seeing India losing to Bangladesh.

2. March 18, 2007: As if the previous day wasn’t saddening enough, the depressing demise of Bob Woolmer in mysterious circumstances.
3. Australia’s brash, obtrusive, monotonous, unadulterated, uninterrupted, unblinking and unblushing victory. Add to that so many one-sided and unexciting games.
4. But most of all, for the mass exit of so many great players, that it almost seems there’s no one left to admire in world cricket. Both my personal favourite batsman (Brian Lara, who incidentally turns 38 tomorrow) and bowler (Glenn McGrath) retiring, apart from so many others (Anil Kumble, Inzamam-ul-Haq and starlets like Russel Arnold and Ian Bradshaw) leaves this World Cup fit for cursing. It might also have been the last World Cup in all probability for Hayden, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Muralitharan, Vaas, Mohd. Yousuf, Fleming, Shaun Pollock, Craig McMillan and the list seems to be endless.
5. I wasn’t at home, didn’t have the luxury of a TV set to follow every game, which I would have, in spite of the terribly boring matches as well.

Goodbye, Prince!

Judging Movies?

I’ll carry on from the previous post and say that I’m not a person who can claim to be a good judge of movies, partly because I haven’t seen too many of them. For me a good movie is simply one after watching which I keep getting reminded and haunted of scenes from it, and when I’m not able to recall dialogues, go back to it and watch it again and again. But more than that, a good movie almost must have good music, great acting, and of course brilliant direction, dialogue-writing and story.
Actually simply, a good movie is one which I wouldn’t mind watching anytime, a movie which I would never get tired of watching.
A recent conversation made me wonder which my five favourite Hindi movies are. Determined, I set out to work almost immediately, deciding to shortlist ten favourite, and then choosing five out of those. I could eliminate three at most, after pondering on the list for three hours (I could’ve watched any of these movies in that time). Be that as it may, here are the remaining seven favourite movies, each of them which I would watch regardless of my mood or the time.

1. Aandhi – For Sampooran Singh’s genius.
2. Anand – For Babu Moshai.
3. Golmaal – For its stunning English translation ‘Hanky Panky’ and for its sequel.
4. Mili – For being the only movie I’ve cried while watching.
5. Masoom – For involving a nice but pompous Mr. Suri and this.
6. Parineeta – For <in Amitabh Bachchan's voice:> "Shekhar and Lolita".
7. Dil Se... – For being the only movie in this list with a multi-word title and for AIR.

I was supposed to rank them in an order as well, but couldn’t have possibly expended any more time. It’s supposed to be exam-time.
And I want my own TV and I hate football. It is absolutely foolish to argue that a random football match is either more important or more entertaining than a World Cup semi-final between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Nonsense!

Of Rahul and Guru Bhai

I generally don’t find movies worth writing reviews about, because I don’t have the capability to judge a movie as being either splendid or ordinary.

But Masoom has to be one of the most splendidly-made movies I’ve ever seen. Although it does not credit Eric Segal for the story, it is based on his novel Man, Woman and Child. Be that as it may, the movie has some very chilling scenes – scenes that haunt you for a long time – the cricket scene, the photo-cube scene, the song Tujhse Naraaz Nahin Zindagi (male version).

Beginning on a sombre note, it picks up with Saeed Jaffrey’s party which includes an all-time romantic favourite song Huzur is Kadar. Jaffrey plays a typical pompous-Delhi-Punjabi Mr. Suri showing off his London-bought cutlery, although a loyal friend.
Everybody’s acting is brilliant and simple. Shekhar Kapur is a genius for a directorial debut like this, and Gulzar (screenplay, dialogue and lyrics) and RD are as usual immaculate.
Deserves 9.5 out of 10.

I also watched Guru day before, which has been generally dubbed as ‘just okay’. Both Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai leave impressions with very good acting. This is the best I’ve seen of Madhavan and Mithun Chakraborty.
However, the movie doesn’t leave you with scenes which keep recurring in your mind, like other Mani Ratnam movies, say Dil Se. By Mani Ratnam standards, it is possibly ‘just okay’. Both dialogues and the music are nothing to ride home about. The crucial oration by Abhishek Bachchan to the tribunal at the end of the movie is very ordinary in terms of dialogue writing.
6 out of 10, mostly for good acting.

Eastern Music and Dance (EMD) yesterday was more than enjoyable and with a couple of incidents (which will be retained in my memory and treasured for life) I felt overjoyed and elated. No, actually euphoric.

April and Google

April is supposed to be a fun month. Partly because it brings with it most of vernal happiness and joy, maybe which is why the first day of the month is supposed to be a day to have fun, to fool people with stupid hoaxes. Google.com is probably the most notable when one talks of April 1.

Google!

Associating itself regularly with All Fools' Day for over seven years now, Page and Brin's successful corporate venture shows how being light-hearted and creative helps. All the google April Fool's day hoaxes, Google MentalPlex (2000), PigeonRank (2002), Lunar Jobs (2004), Gulp (2005), Romance (2006), Paper (2007) and TISP (2007) are hilarious. My personal favourite has to be Google Pigeon Rank.
Hoping Google keeps coming with better ones every year.
I don't feel like staying in Law School anymore!

Cricket and Optimism

Cricketers received a largely cold welcome, and had to be provided a thick security cover to avoid any mishap.

I have great respect for the journalist in Kuldip Nayar. He has always been one of my favourite political commentators. However, as he rightly says, he rarely strays from politics, one such occasion is this article on the Indian cricket team's dismal performance. In the first paragraph itself, he has criticized the failure of the team at the World Cup in harsh, impassioned and almost violent terms. Like most other ordinary people, the great Kuldip Nayar does not seem to realize that in sport, especially with cricket in India, it is not fair to come down so harshly upon the team. For one, as this editorial in the Hindu points out, it is not entirely surprising or shocking to see a dismal performance by a team ranked no. 6 in the world, and considering them favourites in the first place is utter folly and unrealistic expectations. I myself saw anger raging in the common room, where I watched the India-Bangladesh and India-Sri Lanka matches, spectators calling players names, slamming chairs, and getting violent and depressed about the team's failure. A broader issue is whether such an obsession and passion associated with cricket in India is justified at all when it is not the world leader in the game, or for that matter, probably never has been. Even the '83 World Cup win was a huge upset, almost minnows going on to win the Cup.
The need of the hour is to diversify public sport attention to other sports, which does not seem to happening despite various efforts (like PHL in Hockey).
Undue hype and overoptimism always results in unrealistic expectations, which is always a great gamble, because the odds simply aren't favourable. Hence, living in the reality and having reasonable expectations is optimism and not driving at 200 mph hoping that nothing will happen.

Of Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and World Cup '07

It is extremely sad to see the turmoil in Zimbabwe, or more proximately in Sri Lanka. The situation in Zimbabwe is quite disturbing, with a 'galloping inflation' rate of 1700% and consequent political disorders. It is surprising to see how little is talked about the situation in Zimbabwe, considering it is a show of a failure of 'democratic' setups. Opposition is, according to me, the most important player in a democracy. Without an (active) opposition, democratic government ought to fail, which it has in Zimbabwe.
The situation in Sri Lanka is quite shocking and serious. Demand for separatism is as much a problem in India as well, possibly more widespread, but more dangerous in Sri Lanka because of its smaller size and it being a nation with greater unity and lesser diversity. With a prayer that order is restored in both Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in the nearest possible future.
I can think of one thing in common between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Cricket teams from both countries have been minnows for a long time, the former being still considered one, while the latter proved itself by winning the Wills World Cup in the subcontinent in 1996. That World Cup, being a decent one for India, saw the peak of Sachin Tendulkar as also of Anil Kumble in One-Day cricket, who announced his retirement from limited overs cricket yesterday. Talking of World Cups, this world cup will be remembered mostly for wrong reasons, although it is a little too early to draw the highlights from the Cup. Bob Woolmer's death (possibly murder), India and Pakistan's first round exits, small grounds-high scores, bad weather and rain resulting in short games or one-day games becoming two-day ones.

Yukatec Mayan and Kalamane Koffees

Jaguar Paw, or "Almost" played by Rudy Youngblood.

I have to put this on record. March 27th was possibly the best day for me after coming to Law School.
Things back home seem to get back to normal, with Ma perfectly all right and back home now.
But in Law School, my first outing in the exclusive company of both of my favourite people in Law School. I won't even bother being adjectival about it, it is indescribable; just that feeling of utter joy and perfect comfort in elite company, which I haven't experienced in Law School so far. Things didn't quite start too auspiciously though. Couldn't get the show for Little Miss Sunshine, so took a while to decide whether to watch Nishabd or Apocalypto. Chose the latter as it had longer running time. Had a cheap lunch buffet at 'Zaika', just before which Batashi's slippers gave in. Then returning to Forum, we commenced watching Apocalypto, despite the intensity of which, it turned out to be comedy for us in the first half. The two ladies even tried shifting to another movie. Anyways, post-intermission, we decided to accept things as they were - the movie as it was. And it turned out to be quite an experience. A movie which I shall remember for a long long time, not only for being exquisite, but for the enviable company I was in. A yoyo got me a free dinner at Grameen.
Very precisely, the day was infinite bliss per second.

On Internet Curbs

Might sound really cliche. Yet, like everything else in this world, internet and technology also has various problems and demerits while being an immense resource of information, of entertainment, of communication.

My roommate and I were condemning in harsh and helpless terms the blocking/'denying access' of certain websites (chiefly ones containing audio and video), and how we are kept devoid of accessing such websites on useless pretexts.

Further, we are not given access to internet in hostels because it might act as a possible distraction to us. There was a short duration when access to this site itself was restricted. On a closer examination, I found that such a practice of regulating internet timings or access is prevalent even in institutions which might require internet access the most - the IITs (the most recent curb being in IIT Bombay). In those institutions, the primary reason seems to prevent students from spending too much time online, rather than the technological reason of slowing the internet speed. The administration is concerned about students wasting their time on wasteful internet surfing, and ignore academics. However, one fails to understand how far this justification is tenable. Takes us to the larger normative issue of whether the university administration should 'morally police' students in such a liberal atmosphere. Even if it should, the extent is quite debatable. Students have often found themselves in disagreement with the administration, not only with regard to this issue. Specific examples from Law School include restricted timings of hanging out of hostels in groups (the limit being 12.30 a.m.), restricting administrative block (which includes the comp lab) timings, restricted posting on the 19(1)(a) board, which is supposed to be a symbol of 'free and fearless' expression and many such other instances. Why should there be such moral policing if it does not cause other people nuisance and is harmless? It's just strange. Will continue on this later, preferably after some comments.
Trying hard to play tennis, somehow plans not materializing..

On Friendship, Elite Company and 'Best Friends'

It is unbearably depressing. There seems to be nothing to be happy or cheerful about. Nearly lost the entire lacrimal gland reserve day before yesterday. Thankfully atleast the eyes seem a lot cleaner now. :-)

Is it me who is at wrong – do I have unfair or great expectations?

This reminds me of Ganga rooftop, with the cheap nice Bong, to whom I told about how I have a very one-sided friendship with her, and how friendships aren’t quid pro quo. I told him how I empty myself before her, and it is I, me and my life who is almost always talked about in our late night walks. How I don’t expect her to consider me as her confidant if she is not comfortable. The stoned (as he then was) cheap nice Bong commended me on my ‘maturity’ of handling relationships in general and friendship in particular. Now I realize how he actually was out of his senses, and how wrong both he and I were. It is such a shallow and self-centered approach to friendship. It’s almost using a person for your own purposes. It is foolish to treat social relationships like that. I am beginning to realize that good and strong friendships have to essentially and always be symbiotic and both-way. How I always strive to have a perfectly graceful platonic relationship with both members of the elite company.

Having ‘best friend(s)’ is another question of great debatable qualities, usually argued on an idealistic and spiritual plane. Shouldn’t the approach to life in general be staying reasonably detached, that is to say, neither too happy nor too sad about people and material world. In other words, as far as possible, staying constant and consistent by remaining aloof. If that is the case, it is best to consider your own self as the solver of your own problems and the only person who you can talk your heart out, which you would ordinarily do with a ‘best friend’. That is not to say that you become unsociable or misanthropic, or you don’t have close friends. It is theoretically possible to be close to lots of people, still not be so close to anyone that have great expectations from that person.

The erstwhile policy of not having any of best friends, having been involuntarily discarded, causes pain as a bye-product. Like most things in life, even this is irreversible and irrevocable. It is but obvious that there are no regrets on having such fantastic friends.

So much horsefeathers about people who do and don't quite matter much in life.

Felt very homesick yesterday. Wished my sister on her last exam. Hope she does well. Planning to fly back home two weeks hence.

Manufactured Public Opinion

Following is a piece written on November 10, 2006, in response to an article which appeared in The Hindu which appeared the previous day:

There are two major issues involved, viz., firstly the role of ‘manufactured public opinion’ [cf. The Hindu dated November 9, 2006 “Tyranny of manufactured public opinion” by Harish Khare] and secondly, the role of a lawyer in a legal system.

Legally, accused is very different from guilty and the latter is supposed to be condemned for the crime and not the former because if the accused is condemned the total legal process that converts the status of the former to the latter after close examination and appreciation of evidence and other incriminatory material is rendered redundant. However, as public opinion seems to be increasingly becoming manufactured by the over-involvement and over-enthusiasm of the media, the fear as to the accused being publicly humiliated before his offence is even proved looms large. There is a danger of the media taking over the role of the judiciary. Several accused people have been maligned by the media to such an extent that their public image is beyond repair. It is difficult for such accused to be ensured a fair process of law because even the honourable Bench member is an audience of the media and somewhere, (s/)he is affected by this manufactured public opinion. Apart from the risk of an innocent accused being unnecessarily and unfairly charged for offences (s/)he has not committed due to unconscious reliance upon the manufactured public opinion, even people like Dawood Ibrahim, who have been pinpointed by the media and also by investigating agencies, tend to avoid trial and extradition on the excuse that due to the manufactured public opinion, it is difficult to ascertain a fair trial in such a jurisdiction.

This is not to say that the media should be manacled or even that restrictions should be imposed through suitable legislation (e.g. a Bill banning ‘sting operations’ which is to be tabled in the forthcoming session of the Parliament). It is the responsibility of the media itself to exercise the divine freedom more meaningfully instead of obstructing the process of law.

Coming to the second issue of what is the moral duty of a lawyer in a legal system. In an adversarial legal system like ours, where a lawyer is the key player in the court, it is important that for a fair trial, a lawyer be ensured to the accused. It is a fundamental ethic of legal practise that a lawyer cannot be afforded to be given the freedom to reject a weak case simply because of that defect in the case. Under any circumstance, the innocent cannot be allowed to be prosecuted, even at the cost of the failure of locating finally who the criminal in a particular case was.

Justice Chaudhary et al

It seems important to think about the present condition of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, considering relations with any other country in this era seem to depend on the working of the Constitutional institutions in that State. Very briefly, the Chief Justice of Pakistan was suspended for alleged charges of misconduct, which he could not explain despite being given a hearing by the honourable Pakistan General. The action of the General of suspending the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Choudhary has received almost unequivocal condemnation worldwide, and made the judge a hero.

This picture with the sacked Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary highlights the sorry state of institutions in the neighbourhood.

The present issue has been consuming a piece of my mind for quite some time. And I write an opinion on this partially because of this consumption having reached a saturation point; and also because of the recent interaction of the Justice (Retd.) Khalil-ur-Rehman Khan and his views on the same issue.

Let me first present a case for the General. Possibly he was ill-advised and did not foresee that his order of suspension of the country's top judicial figure will result in such an adverse reaction both from the Bar and the Bench in the country and also from other democracy-respecting nations. That is all can be put forward in the General's favour.

Making all possible efforts to avoid passionate argumentation, it is important now to analyse three things. Firstly, why did such an event occur in Pakistan and is only the General guilty? Secondly, can any parallel of such an attack on the judiciary be found in India and what were the reactions to it? And thirdly, on a broader plane, will this prove to be fatal for the General? It might be possible that some of the comments might be borrowed from Justice Rehman Khan. Be that as it may, it will still be useful to jot his views down and supplement them with my own.

An answer to the first question is prima facie quite simple that the General removed the judge in a shabby manner, though on a deeper thought one seems to realise that the judiciary is equally culpable to have brought about such a situation in which the executive can bully the judiciary. (See, Deccan Herald, March 13, 2007)

Pakistan has faced three coup-de-etats by Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf (in chronological order). The first Constitution of Pakistan came into force in 1956, but was suspended in 1958 by Ayub Khan. Then in 1973, another attempt was made, but the Constitution was put in abeyance by General Haq in 1977. In 1991, Constitutional rule was restored again but in 1999, the present General took over. In other words, all attempts to have a democratic constitutional rule in Pakistan have been nipped in the bud by these coups. The judiciary could have raised its voice against such a military takeover by annulling it and declaring it unconstitutional, which it failed to do. Even in 1999, the Musharraf coup received judicial sanction. So, blaming the judiciary for past inaction will not be wholly unjustified. Weak institutions owing to a possible lack of democratic and liberal culture may be reasons for a dismal constitutional working in Pakistan.

The second question is of simulating the Pakistan situation in India. An example of an attack on the Indian judiciary which comes immediately to one's mind are the two supersessions (one of three majority Judges of Fundamental Rights case to appoint Justice Ray in their stead in 1973 and the other of Justice Khanna, the sole dissenting judge in Habeas Corpus case to appoint Justice Beg in 1977), in which the executive displayed its muscle by breaking a convention of appointing the seniormost judge as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, and Mrs. Gandhi received great personal ridicule for having acted too despotically to satisfy her own ends. On both the occasions, the superseded judges resigned in protest immediately. In Pakistan, attack on the judiciary are not uncommon and Supreme Court judges have been removed in the past. In Indian constitutional history, there is not a single member of the higher judiciary who has been removed. A possible exception is that of Justice Jaffer Imam who was convinced to resign in the early 1960s due to an illness which affected his mind. Pakistan judges (not only Supreme Court but also High Courts) should have stood up against such a brassy attack on their esteem and honour. It is a matter of principles and most of the judiciary relinquishing their posts would have ensured the General to learn a lesson. The judiciary which is the only organ upon some faith still remains could have become the symbol of people's dignity, which has long been tampered with by military tyrants in Pakistan.

As regards the third question of whether this will prove to be fatal for the General, it appears that a comment on this would be too early, although if the issue aggravates and does not wash out of the public memory (which is quite likely,), and international pressures are put on the General, he might have to go. After a cursory look at the political system prevailing in Pakistan, it seems really queer how anything like this could exist. The real executive (the Prime Minister and his Council) is an astonishing burlesque because it has absolutely no powers in the real sense except to act on the directions of the General. Pakistan displays a new form of the parliamentary system of democracy.

On the whole, the situation is deprecable and disheartening.

Domestic Bulletin

Sadly, I will have to postpone the discussion on competitiveness and aggressiveness, mostly because of some other issues that occupy my mind right now. Things back home don't seem promising, chief concern among them being the health of my Ma. She's feared to have been suffering from pneumonia. I just hope that this fear is just as baseless as the scare of me suffering from typhoid last year. I just cannot seem to relieve my mind from the tension of her bad health. Honestly, God must fix this; and charge anything from me, if he so desires. Dad's professional ambitions don't seem to be supported by good fortune, atleast so far. I just pray that this bad phase for both of them does an exeunt as early as possible.
My sister's exams are nearing a close, finally. I just hope that she does absolutely spectacularly and stuns us all with her performance in the boards.
Had a sudden craving to go to town today.

Murder?

It feels terrible. I have to confess that I just murdered two of my blogs, supposedly in a fit of anger, and now repenting it.

Though I am happy that I confessed that to K. I propose to redeem the crime by regularly posting on this blog. She's probably right in saying that I shouldn't have erased my precious pieces of writing just because I didn't like a part of my past. It seems so awful that there existed a huge iceberg three or four days ago and all credit to her, it was broken. I'm committing too many crimes these days. Lying, troubling people, murdering creations, and the list is endless. On crime, came across this wonderful quote in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger:

"Prohibition is the trigger of crime".

The cerebrum in my brain is so screwed up that thinking and writing seems to be the only answer. Circumstances in the present don't seem too conducive for retaining faith in God. But there doesn't seem to be an alternative. Reminds me of John Milton and his unflinching faith in God. So where do I begin with?

Let me introduce the blog picture for the moment. It's a daffodil which I presented to K. I have always had a liking for daffodils because of several reasons. One because they remind me of my uncle singing the poem by Wordsworth of the same name when I was very young. And two because of the inward eye that that poem reminds of. Most of this beautiful world's treasures are captured by that inward eye.

Then I would now reason out why I am called Bjorn Borg for the moment. I think he's one of the greatest people this world has ever seen. Spectacular player apart, he was one of the few successful players of that era who were more gentlemanly and less aggressive. Most others - James Connors, John McEnroe -- over-competitive, over-aggressive.

On competitiveness and aggressiveness in the next post. Hope this blog survives the wrath of my temper.