Gomorrah of India?

I notice a steady pattern in crime rate of Delhi. It is going up and up. For the past month or two, I was disturbed by the daily news on one crime or the another in the capital.And all types of crime, by people with various proclivities,.....Delhi's crimes are turning more gruesome and hideous. I culled recent news articles..........
Man throws kids from balcony, kills wifeNew Delhi, July 18, 2005
A south Delhi businessman on Monday turned heinous murderer when he threw his two children down from the balcony of his seventh floor home and then shot his wife from close range.Navin Ahuja, 32, who was under heavy debt and had been depressed for some time, flung his nine-year-old son Manav and seven-year-old daughter Manavi from his seventh floor apartment in Sector 22 of Dwarka (southwest Delhi) and then shot his wife Minu
Crime Branch to probe Ring Road robbery case Businessman shot dead by motorcycle-borne men, booty looted
NEW DELHI: The sensational case of robbery in which an Uttar Pradesh-based businessman was shot dead and robbed of Rs. 20 lakhs by two motorcycle-borne assailants on Ring Road near Red Fort in North Delhi this Saturday, has been handed over to the Crime Branch for further investigations. While the driver of the deceased is being interrogated, the police suspect it to be a case of personal enmity.
Auto-lifters arrested NEW DELHI:
Four persons who allegedly stole commercial vehicles have been arrested at Rohini in North-West Delhi by the Crime Branch of the police. Six stolen trucks, a Tata-407 and a motorcycle have been recovered at their instance. Acting on a tip-off that some criminals would come to Rohini in a stolen truck, a team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kumar Gyanesh, laid a trap and arrested four of them. They were identified as Charanjit Singh, Karan Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Khalid. The police said Charanjit was the gang leader, while Khalid was a scrap dealer who purchased stolen vehicles from the accused.
Held with drugs
NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old man was arrested at Dilshad Garden in North-East Delhi on Saturday on charges of drug peddling. The police claim to have recovered 2.5 kg of "charas" from his possession. The accused, Ranjit Kumar, is a resident of Vaishali in Bihar. Around 12-15 a.m. on Saturday, a patrol team intercepted him near a petrol pump.
Labourer shot at
NEW DELHI: A 30-year-old man was shot at by three persons at Timarpur in North Delhi on Friday. The accused have been arrested. According to the police, Mohammad Samirul Hasan, who worked as a labourer, was shot at by the accused -- later identified as Mohammad Noor Islam, Noor Alam and Mohammad Hafiz -- at Gandhi Nagar in Timarpur around 11-45 p.m. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him out of danger. The police have arrested the accused and booked them for attempt to murder. The police said the victim and the accused, all of whom hail from Supaul district in Bihar, had old enmity which led to the incident.
Criminal arrested
NEW DELHI: An alleged bad character involved in more than 20 cases, including attempt to murder, robbery and dacoity, has been arrested at Sultanpuri in North-West Delhi. According to the police, a loaded country-made pistol was recovered from his possession. Acting on a tip-off that the accused, Daya Shankar, was likely to commit a crime, a team dressed in plain-clothes apprehended him near a park at Saraswati Vihar.
Rickshaw pullers stop child rape
New Delhi, September 7According to the police, a couple of rickshaw pullers who were waiting for passengers outside the Shastri Nagar metro railway station, spotted Azad, 25, going into the bushes accompanied by a five-year-old girl. Azad also pulls a rickshaw for his livelihood.
The duo became suspicious and leaving behind their rickshaws unattended, followed Azad. On coming closer, their worst fears were confirmed as they saw the alleged culprit in a semi-nude state. He had also reportedly removed the child's undergarments and was about to molest her.
Suspect confesses crime, say police
Press Trust of IndiaNew Delhi, May 13, 2005After an intense search spanning three states over five days, Delhi Police on Friday managed to arrest one of the four men who had allegedly abducted and gangraped a Delhi University student in a moving car in the early hours of Sunday.
Ajit Kumar Katiyar (28), a driver with a private company whose features had been described by the 22-year-old victim, was picked up this morning from a colony near the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border.
Why our capital's lifestyle is such a mess? With its people turning into animals! There is a serious problem with Delhi's DNA. Maybe it is the excessive politics that permeates its environ. Maybe its entire police force is too busy protecting the VIPs to tackle crime. I don't know the cause. But it's citizens ought to get rid of the sickos and weirdos from their midst. Maybe their collective consciousness accepts amoral, anti-social, corrupt and criminal behaviour! "Man se ravan jo nikale; Ram uske man mein hai"

Driving mad!

Till recent past I was never enamoured of cars. Generally I see them as another mode of transport and always assumed that they come attached with drivers. I never bothered to think about driving one, let alone owning one. All those people who go ga-ga over cars, I couldn't understand them. It was a cultivated hobby, I thought. F1 racing too, I felt (and continue to feel) was mildly disinteresting as there is not much scope in change of fortunes for drivers during the race. Too much depends on 2 seconds wasted in a pit-stop and that's it.Actually I used to think that cars are a criminal waste of precious natural resources. Having a bike which itself has one seat vacant, I harboured no desire for a four-seater.To such a person, me, it dawned suddenly last month that learning car driving might be a good venture. It turned out to be an adventure, later on. First I approached a sidey driving school(!). One old man was the master. He spoke chaste Malwi or Hindi, I couldn't fathom. And my distance from that language, I've already blogged about. It was a frustrating experience for both of us, in his Maruti 800 with more than 800 dents. I couldn't get him. He couldn't make me understand neither the language nor the driving skills. He won't take his hand off the steering wheel, and his leg off the brake pedal on his side. Slowly he started reducing the driving time for each session. When it came to be about a very long 10 minutes I stopped going to him. But I, not being one to let go things that easily, found another guy, a young boy to teach me driving. He managed to convey things in mauled English, things that I should do, if I was not to be hauled up for man-slaughter. But disastrous things continued to happen. When riding a bike, I go through traffic like water going through sand. So I found it difficult to keep the car's bulk in mind. Every day, I'd come dangerously close to hitting a person, nearly always a girl. And I'd get verbal abuse in Hindi. I didn't bother such profanities during my initial stint with the old man, as I could not understand. But this young guy strived to teach me Hindi too. Once somebody'd shout at me, he'd start, "Sir, Do you understand what "Bewakoof" means?" I'd with my teeth clenched would grunt out a "No". He won't stop. He'll rub it in, "Sir!, Bewakoof means Idiot". And wanting to catch the import of it, he'd repeat that two more times. I have learnt a few other words too. Every time on my return home, my flat-mate'd enquire, "Today what kind of abuse did you receive?". My driving master, the young guy'd take the car through bylanes and market thorough-fares where idle people, cows and dogs will stare at me and the crazy car (or the crazy me and the car).Then he began to ask me to drive on the highway too. The Agra-Bombay highway goes through our city and the traffic there is insane, to put it mildly. After some ten or twelve sessions I begged a sabbatical off him. I'm due to continue it from tomorrow. God bless young things venturing out for early morning tuitions. :-)
I dedicate this blog (too much MTV does it) to my friend N, who always talks about cars and driving alone on a highway for a long stretch. That is her dream.

I wonder.......

I wonder
whether the means matter
more than the ends

As a kid

Trying to touch the flame,
As hawkish mom screams

Wallowing in the mud,
knowing that'd anger mom

Does curiosity thrills?
than the actual acts?

I wonder
whether the means matter
more than the ends

Growing up

Peeking at the lizards
copulating on the wall
despite dad's diversions

Smuggling things in class
under the teacher's nose

Is breaking the rules
satiates more than actual acts?

I wonder
whether the means matter
more than the ends

Adolescence

Trying out a smoke
that'll raise a storm at home

Fixated on the gender opposite
swept under the carpet at home

Are you proving to the world
the unspoken can be done?

I wonder
whether the means matter
more than the ends

Work

Taking breaks at work
when boss is not around

bloggin' from office
knowing you could be caught

Getting back at people?
Who own your un-slept hours.

I wonder
whether the means matter
more than the ends

I wonder.........

A peep into Mumbai!

At last I found a net cafe in Mumbai. My first visit here, and I like this place already. Mainly because of humidity (reminds me of Chennai), jostling crowds (reminds me of chennai, though the magnitude is big), suburban trains (Chennai again) and the way people rush about their work. Maybe I see the Chennai in Mumbai to like it. I was surprised at the Sensex LED display at the ChurchGate station! From laidback Indore, it is a welcome change. Had one free day to roam about and I chose Crossword, the popular bookshop touted as the biggest in India. Disappointed me, as I expected something gigantic, used to Landmark at both Spencer's and NH road. Crossword doesn't stock deep like Landmark does. Not all the works of Feynman, No John Gribbin, Not even Ukridge in the Wodehouse shelf! Bah...Mumbaites! Come and see Chennai! Our place truly rocks in the reading scene. Anyway I bought two books, one an academic book on Derivatives and another called "Maverick" by Ricardo Semler. And it's time to go back to Indore. Missing my office. :-)

At the receiving end

Today I attended a function. A colleague of mine had become a father recently and hence gave a dinner at a city hotel. A party, one can say.Or whatever one calls that. When we can say luncheon, can't we say dinnereon?To bachelors like me these occasions are a god-send.
7.30 pm was the starting time and I made it there at 9.00 pm sharp! In a cradle, the child was there (ofcourse, what else to expect, the Father himself? redundancy!). My colleague took me to his wife sitting beside the cradle. Here came the critical moment, that I wanted to blog about. To give the gift. I don't know why, I become jelly-kneed when in attending functions, the time to give gift comes. It always happens that when I handover whatever I brought gift-wrapped, the host is looking somewhere else, and I end up extending the gift limply (limply?? I am not sure, anyway, you get the meaning, right?) in the glare of arc lights to be recorded for posterity. This happens unfailingly everytime. I am more comfortable in private chats where you don't have to do the gifting in so theatric a manner. The smooth art of handing over money or a gift in functions is beyond me. Clumsy, thy middle name. :-( Today it happened the same way.My colleague was fiddling with his digi-cam (in addition to the videography) His wife was looking fondly at the child and I was holding out the gift with the hosts blissfully unaware, and the videographer recording my discomfort. Like every other time, before. Murphy's law: For embarassing situations the law of averages takes a leave. So I am afflicted with GiftkodukkOphobia, it seems. "kodukka" is Tamil meaning "to hand out", why diseases do always have to be greek? Actually in functions it is a little better in that when one goes upto the hosts, they eye the gift in one's hand too even though the timing, I manage up to mess up. If one goes to a house with a gift, the host has to go through an elaborate charade of refusals, "why this formality? why so costly a gift (at a trinket!,sarcastic, i doubt)" and so forth.In ceremonies at least, they expect gifts and even a person is allotted to take care of the gifts.Hmm...after that it's business as usual; take a plate, have a swipe at whatever is in offer, false-smile your way through acquaintances, catch up with friends and drive back home.Thank God for small mercies!!

Losing my religion

I was in a fine mood, till the day before yesterday. Only worries were (i.e. worries that can be shared here) upcoming project's nature and scope. Additionally I was whiling away time supposedly studying, but definitely not. The morning news paper that day changed all that! "Attack on Temple" screamed the headline. I broke into cold sweat reading that. I realised it's implications and the following day, yesterday, proved them true.
All those right wingers grabbing their chance, the opposition getting worked up trying to prove its credentials, all and sundry issuing their statements and finally nation wide strike announced the next day! Mr.Billy Rubin was in everyone's statements. And the next day was even worse. religious places attacked in vengeance, trains stopped. Yuck!! People (if I can call them that) in my place, Indore, stopped a plane!! Millions of money lost, all over the country.
What gets my goat is the issue itself. First, I don't agree with what happened on Dec, 1992 itself. The aftermath cost the country dearly. And why people who proclaim the omnipotence of God should have to strive to build temples, break them and go forth? If at all the Almighty wants to have a temple at a particular place, can't he have it, being The Almighty? I am a deeply religious person and hence I am very angry, for they ( the arsonists) take up the representative stance of the faithful. I don't have to do anything with persecution and plunder in the name of my God. As vultures swoop on a carcass, these beasts pounce on a chance on take the country to ransom.
Of course the attack on the temple is to be condemned. But it is not the starting point in the recent history. I am a patriot too, and I'll accept any demolition of any religious areas, IF they are going to alleviate my countrymen from poverty, generate jobs and create bounty and happiness ever after! And my God Ram too, then will support such activity, I am sure! Religion is here being used to keep the common people fighting with each other, keep them from trying to arrive at a solution for livelihood. Religion is being used as anaesthetic, while the political leadership steals away the vitals of the people, their wealth, rights and livelihood! I am grieving at that, at my ignorant and kept as such countrymen, who assault property, sensitivities and pride of our nation.
" If this belief from Heaven be sent; If such be Nature's holy plan;
Have I not reason to lament; what Man has made of Man"
:-((

Top 5 excuses when I am too lazy to blog:

1.My flat-mate is using the system and it is not available
2.Too much work in office that I'm tired to sit and blog
3.I have hit a blogger's block
4.When I see other persons' blogs, they shame me into shelving my poor piece of a blog
5.I don't have time to fulfill my personal and official commitments, leave alone blogging.
I am planning to join Procrastinators Anonymous. I'll join it some time later, for sure. :-)
Actually, I intended to blog on one area of concern for me. Was lazy enough to sit down and blog through. Pretty serious matter. And I am quite worked up on that, too. Maybe tomorrow! It's another day! Watch this space! :-)

The Dali in me

Sitting in my cube,
I am fighting with my work.
All at once my body goes still
The monster within takes control
Rather goes mad; out of control
Seeing things that I cannot feel
With blistering pace explodes asunder,
My ribcage, cube and the ceiling.
It travels out in the open sky
Bones broken, to surge and fly
My head is throbbing to no avail
Frantic is the soul, flailing,
thrashing about and trying to flee.
Mighty ship, the anchor weighs in
My monitor stares at the futile cry
Startled, I awake as my whole subsides in
Knowing not what happened, the world passes by.

Inspection

Today our land lady made a visit. She's in Delhi and she hasn't seen us before.A pretty decent lady ( She hesitated on how to inspect our house without being considered an invasion). I understood and then offered her, which she with relief accepted. She saw the hall, kitchen and my room (only mine, not my room-mate's) She said "Badiya" which I understood to be some form of praise and beamed at her.Good for me that she spoke and understood English too. By the way, I should inform here that our servant maid is now adept in sign-language!
When we occupied the house it was bare with no shelves, nothing at all (Indori ishtyle). Our land lady rubbed it in saying that they had "given away" the almirahs and other wooden furnishings when they moved to Delhi. I seethed inside at this, while she, as if reciting a shayari, repeated that!! Any way, I bragged on to my room-mate (after our land lady left) that having seen my room and only due to that, the land lady was satisfied! My room-mate having emerged from his dark room(I forgot krupa , the word for that), snorted at this. Yeah, he has converted his room into a cave by imposing a black-out, while the rest of the home shines in light. Actually I'm lazy to buy curtains, but that's another story. Coming back to the main topic, (I digress a lot) we exchanged cards and then our land lady left having politely refused my gallant offer of "coffee ya complan".
Oh, I'm leaving out an important thing. The land lady was accompanied by her daughter!!!!! The daughter made an early exit, though. :-(

Community of Communities

It's a marvellous place at orkut. For the uninitiated ( I don't believe there are any such bloggers), check out www.orkut.com. I am just a passive member having only 7 friends :-( But the warmth over there truly gets to you. One can window-browse through various profiles and communities.Excellent time-pass! Interesting people, communities, one is certain to meet. I recommend a story in "lollu pasanga" community (yeah! that's the name) by Karthik. Great read! By the way, that guy is a friend of mine. I am not plugging it for him, though! :-) Orkut is the place I go, whenever I am bored (frequently).