Jesus heals the Leper.

The Bible reading from the Old Testament,  last Sunday (31st January, 2010) was the portion from Leviticus where Moses gives various instructions about how a leper is to be treated in the Jewish community and how upon him being cured the erstwhile leper should show himself to the priest and make an offering as commanded by Moses. The New Testament reading was from the Gospel of  St.Mark which i reproduce herebelow:-

Mark 1:40-45 (King James Version)

⁴⁰And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

⁴¹And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

⁴²And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.

⁴³And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent him away;

⁴⁴And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

⁴⁵But he went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

This passage is seldom understood the way i have always understood. My father who is an ardent supporter of the Paulian interpretation of the Bible,  with Pisa tower like leanings towards “charismatic” movement and speaking in tongues, was asked by me to expound the passage. More as a challenge, than as a student eager to understand the “true” meaning of the Biblical passage. he went on  the traditional route and said that this was an instance where Jesus in flesh as God finds a LEPROUS MAN who is unable to “will” his own weal and requests Jesus to WILL for him. The new versions use the word “CHOOSE” instead of the KJV “WILL”. Effectively, the Leper was unable to believe, and therefore wanted Jesus to CHOOSE for him the health which he desired for himself, but could never believe that he could ever be cured of his LEPROSY. So the relevant part of the passage is ,”And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean!” So here Jesus fills up the void in the WILL of the leper and makes him whole.

Although, my dad’s interpretation had a new flavour to it, i felt that the kernel was left untouched. So i embarked on my explanation thus:

“God’s commandments succinctly put by Jesus in the flesh, was twofold:

Love God and Love your neighbour.

So the commandment is lucid on two aspects, one is the SPIRITUAL the next is the SOCIAL.

First is Man’s relationship with God, and the next is MAN’s relationship with MAN.

Jesus not only “willed the cure” for the leper on his behalf, but advises the cured leper to show himself to the priest as commanded by Moses and obtain the CERTIFICATE OF CLEANLINESS. This was the Social aspect. Jesus in Flesh knew the ostracism that had been faced by the cured Leper and wanted him not only to enjoy a life without Leprosy, but wanted the cured Leper to enjoy his life MORE ABUNDANTLY. The former leper is to be recognized by the society as “CLEAN”, thereby gaining access to the temple, to public places etc.

JESUS saw the second aspect and told the cured leper, “See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”

It is not that Jesus told him a secret, but advised him to go and get the stamp of approval from the appointed authority, for declaring cleanliness of a cured leper, and thereby enjoy a good social life. But in the miracle of the cure, the man goes declaring that he had been healed. Jesus was also aware that if the priests knew that the healing came of Jesus, they might not declare the leper to have been cured and thereby jeopardize the social life of the cured leper (pl. recall the sufferings that the healed blind man from birth had to go thru, because he confessed that Jesus opened his eyes).

This is what Jesus wanted- that MAN should not merely have LIFE, but that he should have LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY.

No sooner had i finished my little sermon, on our way back from St.Mary’s church, Fort St.George, Chennai, than my father looked at me in a strange but a lil respectful way ( which i had never experience before!) and said, ” You can be a good preacher! and fool the masses with all yr social aspects of the Bible, but i am too much of a Christian to fall for your theories!!

And wryly added, ” Christianity is in the EXPERIENCE and not in the EXPLANATION.”

His one liner was truly withering. Experience has its certainties, which sounds ADAMANT to the youth’s ears. AMEN.

FACT & HYPE!

FACT, as i understand, is to represent things as they are, and HYPE is to add one’s own masala to the implication of certain FACTS and either GLORIFY the FACT beyond reality, or interpret the FACT to ALARM beyond possibility.

This debate on FACT versus FICTION has been a topic of the erudite, but seldom discussed when the implementation of certain policies are stabilized. In the 50’s and the 60’s, in India, there was a general feeling that OWNERSHIP OF LAND in the hands of the few resulted in large scale poverty. So the government had brought in stringent measures thru land ceiling acts, labour laws and crippling wealth tax. These measures were used to ensure that the RICH DID NOT GET RICHER. At least, the RICH would not be able to add any accounted WEALTH. If they did they had to pay exorbitant taxes. These measures DID NOT  accentuate the poor to DO, whatever they could, instead set up a good excuse for them to crib about the RICH having large land holdings and thereby depriving them of the opportunities. This story was further fueled by the politicians who, in the process of DEMOCRACY smelt the benefits accruing more from the poor and kept the poor at loggerheads with the RICH and continued their orchestra. Till the time came, where the LABOUR LAWS and LAND LAWS were made defunct because of the evolution of the IT and ITES industry. They did not need SPACE ( read as land in the Indian context) and needed only the LABOUR of the educated, who were not dependent on any one company for their livelihood and weal. In fact, the engineers did not want to work for the same company for more than 2 years as they saw that as “stagnation”. Thus the story of BANGALORE was born and the FALLACIES propagated by the Nehrus, Lohias, Indiras, Jai Prakash Narains and the Communists, came to be falsified. This theory that LAND could be  the only source of INCOME, was a thoroughbred HYPE. It is the HUMAN INNOVATION that helped man to get out of the morass of poverty.

Likewise now the International community on climate change, had been in an alarmist mode, stating that the glaciers of the Himalayas would be all down the drain by 2035. All that based on a “fact” said to have been uttered by an eminent scientist. There have been no scientific study on that. Is it because  we do not have time to understand, or is it because there is a group of carpetbaggers who do not want to give us  time to clarify FACTS from HYPE? I think, it is the latter.

The unholy nexus between the Medical practitioner and the Pharmaceutical companies is not news anymore. When the swine-flu broke out, even the World Health Organization went on an ALARMIST mode and that benefited the pharma companies. It is also no news that many trial drugs are used in the cities and villages of India and the results, if any, are communicated to the pharma companies for their “reasearch”. These practices are truly beneficial to the medical practitioner and the pharma companies immediately, but the patients who take these drugs are not told the possible side effects and their ignorance in many areas are taken advantage of.  The pharma companies  use them as guinea pigs and instead of paying the patients for using them as specimens, the doctors peddle it as special medicines and charge them too. INNOVATION has to have some sacrifices you see, therefore, they sacrifice the gullible patients before they take a patent on the drug!!

HYPE helps the economy to boom in many ways. For example, in NOIDA, GURGAON and DELHI showing the Common Wealth Games of 2010, the prices were pushed up ti dizzying heights half a decade before the year of the COMMONWEALTH games.

HYPE is nothing but an extension of RUMOUR -MONGERING, with the difference that for the sake of CREDIBILITY, references are cited. It creates volume to the TOPIC. If we see the HIMALAYAN glacier episode where Pachauri and others are in a damage control mode, they were CAUGHT hyping and therefore confessed the TRUTH, otherwise the HYPE would be allowed to continue so that persons with commercial interests would be allowed to exploit and the HYPERS themselves would be benefited in some way unrecognizable by the masses!

Hype is essential in galvanizing opinions, but they should be used sparingly and only for SOVEREIGN purposes. When Joseph Goebbels went on airing the NAZI victory it served the morale of the German forces. Hype should be used sparingly and only for truly national and human purposes and the hype should not be allowed to  be taken advantage of by persons having COMMERCIAL INTERESTS, otherwise we may end up having a situation like DEATH OF A SALESMAN, by Arthur Miller.

Individual & Institutions!

It is always the INDIVIDUALS who make up an institution, but the INSTITUTION is always BIGGER than the Individual. It is not because the INSTITUTION has an impersonal character, but because with an institution many individuals make their LIVING, EARNING, fulfill their ASPIRATIONS and therefore the aspirations of many get reflected through these INSTITUTIONS . Further the INSTITUTIONS are not TIME-BOUND and carry something called the INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY. It is still the individuals, who make all the decisions on behalf of these INSTITUTIONS. These INDIVIDUALS could be guided by written principles or by the “SPIRIT”. But it has been noticed that the guiding of the spirit is not always desirable or reliable, as the personal preferences, prejudices creep in and corrupt the “weak and willful” spirit. Therefore there are written constiutions, religious books, binding precedential judgments which are referred in guiding the INSTITUTIONS.

Some of the prominent INSTITUTIONS are the Government, the Church, the Banking system governed by a Central Bank, the Judiciary etc. The Government governs the territory and its people. The Government is the most visible of INSTITUTIONS and it accommodates the maximum number of INDIVIDUALS in its service. Whether one likes it or not, it always impinges on one’s life. So where do we draw the line between the INDIVIDUAL and the INSTITUTION of the GOVERNMENT? That is where the CHURCH, TEMPLES, MOSQUE, PAGODAS, GURDWARAS come in. These religious INSTITUTIONS profess to provide SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS to the individual. Jesus’ famous saying, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (LUKE 20:25) brought in a clear demarcation. The currency/coin that bore the mark of Caesar had to be rendered to Caesar, but the body that bears the SPIRIT of God SHALL be rendered to God. Never was this distinction so beautifully expressed nor exemplified so aptly.

JESUS had to fight the institution of the Jewish Religious hierarchy. Pilate washed his hands off, as he saw that the dispute was with reference to a religious issue and not a TEMPORAL issue relating to the realm of the Caesar. Any INSTITUTION breeds CRONIES, RATS, CARPET-BAGGERS & MEGALOMANIACS and when Jesus fought against the INSTITUTION, he was pitted against not only the visible top hierarchy, but also against the dregs of the institution who derive their pelf and prosperity from that INSTITUTION. They would rise! An ordinary soldier smites JESUS on his face and asks him to predict as to who had smitten him. These rats, megalomaniacs, carpet-baggers and cronies are let loose against the INDIVIDUALS who are seen as a threat to the INSTITUTION. None questioned the high-handedness of the soldier. The INSTITUTION does not rein in the rogues who do cantankerous and nasty things against INDIVIDUALS who are accused/ alleged to have hurt the sacrosanct tenets of the INSTITUTION.

In effect any INSTITUTION grows to its fullness to  hurt the INDIVIDUAL, who is perceived to bring about a change for the better, to the Individual.

COMMUNISM was an Institution that successfully took over the Government/Administration from the Czars of Russia. The monarchy, that existed was also a hierarchification that helped the peasants to do the limited duty of cultivation and the Monarchy with its contacts and resources sold their produce at a place of demand and thereby procured higher rates for their produce thus enriching the peasants, but over a period of time the same Monarchy, out-sourced its primary job of dealing with the peasants, to the Feudal lords and the Priests. This insertion of a new tier between the Monarchy and the Peasants brought the worst  in the INSTITUTION of the Feudal Lords and Priests. They had to facilitate the AMBITION of the MONARCH and squeeze the peasants for higher produce. In effect the INDIVIDUAL’S prosperity, freedom, life and leisure get diminished. So COMMUNISM appeared with a HUMAN face and put an end to the MONARCHY of the Czars, but the same COMMUNISM as an INSTITUTION became RIGID and INSENSITIVE to the INDIVIDUAL. Thus GORBACHEV presided over the dismantling of the INSTITUTION of Communism in Russia.

In effect an Institution is nothing but a group of INDIVIDUALS who take over the “IMMORTAL” aspect of the INSTITUTION and run it based on the PHILOSOPHY those INDIVIDUALS subscribe to. In the process the original priority of HUMANISM gets eroded as the INSTITUTION tends to get IMPERSONAL and projects itself as doing good to the maximum number of people at the cost of the  LIBERTY and WEAL of the FEW! The most are ASSIGNED DUTIES and the INSTITUTIONS are manned by the few- who not only alter the priorities of the INSTITUTION but tinker and meddle with the INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY of the Institution.

The Jews who were in the land of GOSHEN at Egypt, after the death of Joseph, did not become slaves overnight. They were brought into slavery by the Egyptians over a period of time and the unbearable culmination of inflicting excruciating atrocities on the slaves happened 480 years after Joseph’s Premiership. It took a person like MOSES, to see the INSTITUTION of THE SLAVERY OF THE JEWS and do something about it.

We need a clear sense of HISTORY, so that the INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY of any INSTITUTION is not tampered with, as all INSTITUTIONS have had their beginnings in HUMANISM and then thru the manipulation of HISTORY by some INDIVIDUALS, the collective memory of the people are altered to their detriment.

Secondly, more than the RIGHTS, we as INDIVIDUALS have to preserve our LIBERTY. LIBERTY is RIGHTS IN ACTION. I have the Liberty to drive my car on a HIGHWAY, but my RIGHT to drive could be prevented by the police because of necessities and exigencies, but when the police perennially prevents me from driving my roadworthy car and me with a valid licence, my LIBERTY is curtailed for no REASON. It is that constant deprivation of LIBERTY that erodes an INDIVIDUAL’S RIGHTS.

Let us preserve our LIBERTY from oppressive INSTITUTIONS by being conscious of our sense of HISTORY and secondly HUMANISM. As Jesus said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (LUKE 20:25), let us not surrender our LIBERTIES for the so called GREATER GOOD OF THE MANY as propagated by some rats, megalomaniacs, carpet-baggers and cronies who have taken over the INSTITUTIONS and altered their INSITUTIONAL MEMORY to suit their priorities.

SEX DE-ADDICTION CENTRE- TIGER WOODS STYLE.

Tiger Woods has the BALLS. No only that he strikes those till lightnings flash, but also with the thunder that accompany lightning. The latest of his much reported WHAT’S HAPPENING IN TIGER WOODS’ LIFE, is that he has checked into a SEX DE-ADDICTION CENTRE. If he is addicted to sex, he could have had as much as he wanted with his willing wife ELIN Nordegren, but he STRAYED. Straying is not my business, but that he took his marriage vows and resiled from those vows brings disrepute to the institution of MARRIAGE. As i had already mentioned in my earlier blogs, if he had not taken those vows and had been busy sowing desultorily his wild oats, he’d be justified in having gone to a DE-ADDICTION centre.

All this tamasha of him checking into a de-addiction centre seems to be a damage control exercise initiated by his fund managers and agents who seem to have advised him to make use of the vulnerability of the forgiving public, with a view to restore him to those erstwhile heights of a money spinner BRAND.

Was his addiction to SEX so gargantuan? I suppose not. He had been discreet and had indulged in sex with wily, willing and wayward women who upon one skeleton stumbling out decided to demand each’s pound of flesh from BRAND Tiger Woods. Rachel cannot be allowed to walk away with all the glory of having laid the BRAND, so the other ones made public statements so that they also have their fair share of  time in the sun. This is how the cookie crumbled.

But to check into a SEX DE-ADDICTION CENTRE and walk around with an appropriate colour badge to show that Tiger Woods is getting treatment for SEX de-addiction, adds more GLORY to his GORY doings.

Like in the movie PSYCHO of Alfred Hitchcock, here we see Tiger Woods DISOWNING his RESPONSIBILITY and taking protection under a hitherto unknown COMPULSIVE behaviour. I love Tiger’s balls- just like those willing, wily and wayward women.

My prayers go out to Tiger Woods that he comes out of the de-addiction centre REFORMED, so that  brand TIGER WOODS could be further burnished by the carpetbagging agents, sponsors  and purvey TIGER the brand, to the gullible and forgiving masses. I wonder if a TIGER would ever lose its stripes!!

TIGER WOODS NOT ONLY HAD HIS CAKE AND ATE IT TOO, HE’S BAKING ONE TO DO AN ENCORE!! WHAT BALLS!!

The NEW YEAR BUBBLE-GUMMERS!!

Back in the early eighties, when i was a student, i used to attend St.Peter’s Church at Golden Rock, Trichy. The  person who used to collect offertory by passing the offertory bag was a retired Colonel, always dapper, and used to sing in a baritone and move from pew to pew passing the bag. While the Colonel did so, he used to sing the Offertory HYMN out of his memory. These hymns were not merely well known hymns like, ROCK OF AGES, ABIDE WITH ME, LEAD KINDLY LIGHT or O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST, but some obscure hymns too. As he stood at the aisle of each pew, the entire line used to stop singing and listen to the Colonel sing with emphasis on certain words of the hymn. I for one was not merely impressed with his memory, but also his devotion to singing while still engaged in collecting the offertory.

Fast forward, after 2 and a half decades and i find myself in St. Mark’s Cathedral, MG Road, Bangalore for the midnight service of the day intervening between 2009 and 2010. I get ready to make my offering, and a guy balding before his time, with a coat over his tees and a blue denim passes the offertory bag. He has no clue to the words of the offertory hymn. He chews gum, and vigorously at that! What a tension when an unworthy man collects the offering that is made to the Almighty, at the opening of the new year! Not only that he chews gum while the service is on, but nods with a smile at his acquaintances with the gum precariously held between his rows of teeth, showing itself while he stretches his lips for that plastic smile.

I was left wondering if the Church administration has declined or that i have become old and still caught up in the time warp? In any case, neither my friends nor the members of my family noticed the bubble-gummer, chewing his way to glory, while he was collecting offertory.

Maybe the younger generation was more sympathetic, upon the dawn of 2010, maybe the prematurely balding man had to deliver a salivating kiss to his girl-friend/wife that he had to get readied for that opening kiss of the decade. Personal compulsions override propriety at times. For an outsider like me. it seems sacrilegious though.

Rathore’s Smile/smirk!

Rathore, the  President’s medalist retired Director General of Police of Haryana and convicted molester of  Ruchika, was shown getting out of the trial courts, after the delivery of sentence of 6 months of imprisonment, in most of the TV channels.

As a DGP he must have been aware of section 375 of the Indian Penal Code  which defines rape and mentions: “sixthly- with or without her consent, when she is under sixteen years of age”. Ruchika was 14 years old when she was “MOLESTED”.

The crux of the issue is that for any offence in the IPC, unless ATTEMPT is made punishable in a charging section, there is no provision to charge a person for “ATTEMPT”. For example s. 307 is the charging section for Attempt to murder, s.309 is the charging section for Attempt to suicide, whereas there is no section “ATTEMPT TO RAPE”, therefore the police and the courts go with section 354, which is titled,”Assault or criminal force to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty”. The maximum punishment prescribed upon conviction is 2 years. Andhra Pradesh by an amendment to this section 354 of IPC, prescribed a minimum punishment of 5 years and a maximum of 7 years. No other state had recognized this lacuna and therefore that SMILE  on the face of Rathore.

If Mr.Rathore had been convicted under section 354 IPC within the state of Andhra Pradesh, he would have received a higher sentence.

One might wonder if Mr.Rathore would have had a smirk on his face if he had been sentenced for 7 years instead of the 6 months awarded to him.

I remember a Thamizh poem written after the assassination of Mrs.Indira Gandhi thus, “IMAI IDHITHTHU KANN KURUDAAGIYADHU”, which when translated into English would mean, “The eyelids struck like lightning and blinded the eyes!” The very eyelids which were to protect the eyes from lightning, struck like lightning and blinded the eyes. How apt, in the context that the very same guards who were to protect the person of Mrs.G, assassinated her! Mr.Rathore’s ATTEMPT TO RAPE, is nothing short of what the assassins did. He being a police officer, should have protected Ruchika, instead he had molested her. Like the prescription of higher sentence to Prison Superintendents and Medical staff in  hospitals for the offence of RAPE, any police officer when convicted of RAPE, should be inflicted with higher /exemplary punishment.

Hope Ruchika’s family gets Justice, despite the lacuna in our IPC.

FEUDALISM Vs. ERUDITION!

The fight between Feudalism and Erudition is an ongoing process. Feudalism  as a political tool serves the Lords, but demeans and retards the growth of the governed. So, in a DEMOCRACY, even if one is without the means to have access to good food, good clothing and good shelter, one could still go to a public library read and out of that education he/she could teach/preach and earn his livelihood. More than anything else EDUCATION dispels certain FEUDAL BELIEFS that are foisted in a person’s mind and gives the person an opportunity to look BEYOND THE PRESENT and LOOK FORWARD TO OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH. This ability that EDUCATION provides – 1. to look beyond the present and 2. to look for opportunities of growth. These are what the FEUDAL LORDS DETEST about the effect of education. These two perceptional alterations undermine the stories, perpetuated for the benefit of the FEUDAL LORDS.

SHASHI THAROOR in his tweet on security has tweeted thus:-

“Thx for gr8 feedback on visas.Issue is not security vs tourism,but whether visa restrictions protect our security.26/11 killers had no visas”

Look at the tweet, it nowhere says that visa restrictions should not be imposed. In the next tweet he says thus:-

“Making it more difficult 2 visit India, return here frequently or stay long hurts large nbrs of innocents, costs us millions of$ & alienates”

One should appreciate that Shashi Tharoor hails from(rather represents!) the state  of Kerala, which has a vibrant Tourism industry and it seems a legitimate concern aimed at the electorate he represents. But people like Rudi Pratap who hail from a state, which has no tourism worth mentioning, should not make statements which give a political tinge to it.

Rudi Pratap the BJP spokesperson says, ” THE MINISTER’S STATEMENT IS CONTRADICTORY TO THE STATEMENT OF THE HOME MINISTER OF INDIA. THEREFORE THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD CLARIFY ITS POSITION.”

SHASHI THAROOR is an INDIVIDUAL FIRST and it is only afterwards that he is a minister. He, as an INDIVIDUAL, has an opinion and has ARTICULATED it in a forum, which by the self-inflicted language barrier, is not naturally accessible to those who do not know ENGLISH. Yet Rudi Pratap, who hails from a state, where the citadels of feudalism have not crumbled, despite Rajendra Prasads and Jai Prakash Narain, is emboldened to impute that a Minister of State (mind- he is not a Cabinet Minister and he has S.M.Krishna who wud represent the External Affairs portfolio in the Cabinet meetings) should not only voice it in a forum, that is denied to more than 99% of the population of India, but also should not  hold an opinion at variance with the government.

Mr.Rudi Pratap, even the cabinet decisions need not be UNANIMOUS. The decision of the Cabinet is a requirement of the Constitution for the validity of its decisions. To ask the Government for an explanation is nothing but FEUDALISM to brow-beat a decent Indian, a Minister of State who is attempting to galvanize, the educated English knowing masses, into democratic action.

People who criticize Shashi Tharoor should read his tweets and be humbled. He brings exclusive insights and poignant perceptions to light in a lucid language.

LET A LIBERAL DEMOCRACY THRIVE IN INDIA. NOT A FEUDAL INDIA, IN THE GARB OF DEMOCRACY.

Oh! Barkha……when will u change?

Another Sunday (20/12/2009), and in WE THE PEOPLE  slot at 8 PM in NDTV was the discussion WHETHER THE PRIVATE LIVES OF CELEBRITIES SHOULD BE KEPT PRIVATE OR ALLOWED TO BE OPEN FOR PUBLIC SCRUTINY?

A topic that mostly revolved around Tiger Woods and his escapades. Barkha Dutt, as usual, butted in incessantly and drove the discussion in the lines that she had pre-decided to go! This is nothing new, and looking for Barkha to realize and reform seems a vain expectation.

It was a great opportunity for DISTINGUISHING the differences between a celebrity who was leveraging his skills off his domain and a celebrity who was creating an AURA beyond the domain. Let me give an illustration: NIKE is a sports equipment manufacturer and is in the same domain as Tiger Woods is, as a golfer. NIKE could still contend that despite his unseemly escapades, nothing takes away the fact that he is the greatest golfer mankind has seen so far (14 majors!). But when GILLETTE, which is known for its shaving products, takes him as a brand ambassador, Tiger Woods has left his domain of specialty and has veered into a territory where he is leveraging his popularity to promote and sell shaving products.

Much worse is when Tiger Woods start endorsing a Management Company like ACCENTURE. When William T.Green, Chairman & CEO of ACCENTURE speaks of the “accessibility, affordability and accountability of  Education in India, and his prescription of making India a Global Education Hub,” there is a jarring note. What did Tiger Woods have to do with a global consulting firm, that could not manage the “affairs” of  it best known face (by hindsight)!! Therefore the point i want to make is that TIGER WOODS chose to use his visibility to promote brands beyond his COMPETENCE and thereby made himself vulnerable to PUBLIC SCRUTINY.

When one of the participating members, Dhabolkar was about to bring in the distinction, OUTLOOK Mehta butted in and the point was never again touched upon. Once i make a statement as an ANONYMOUS person, i am not deemed to be an EXPERT and the viewer is going to count my OPINION as another one in the ocean of OPINIONS. But when a highly visible celebrity makes a statement, he becomes a PUBLIC figure opening himself to scrutiny, by having stated an OPINION on an unrelated area and pledging his credibility.

In the case of Tiger Woods, he had made a statement that his “family” comes first. Which had subliminally added to his “image” substantially. Now that the whole world knows that he had an “EXTENDED FAMILY” consisting of bar-maids and whores, the CONTAMINATION of that FAMILY statement is merely boomeranging. It is that the viewer is HOLDING TIGER WOODS  at his WORD.

So to suggest that a public figure’s life should be beyond the pale of  public scrutiny, is LIKE demanding an unfair bargain: BUY THE PRODUCTS I ENDORSE. BUT IF I AM CAUGHT TO BE OTHER THAN WHAT I HELD OUT TO BE, THEN I SHALL USE MY PRIVILEGE OF PRIVACY AND YOU IDIOTS SHALL HAVE NO RIGHT TO SCRUTINIZE MY PRIVATE LIFE!!

But our desi angrezi steam roller Barkha would have none of the point that was about to be said. She as a moderator of the discussion was pathetic. Her questions were either leading or stifling!!

RAPE OF GOA-SHANTARAM NAIK!

The last few days have been trying times for Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt and their ilk, as they have been battling tooth and nail against the distinctions that the Member of Parliament had introduced, in his now expunged speech in the parliament, on RAPE in Goa.

In all fairness, Shantaram’s sincerity in his presentation of his ideas appear genuine. Maybe he lacks the language skills to present a really complex IDEA.

The Idea sought to be expressed doesn’t seem to be mischievous upon careful analysis.

This is what Shantaram Naik appears to have attempted to bring out:-

One of the most important and the last ingredient in the offence of RAPE is the element of FREE CONSENT. If this element of FREE CONSENT by the woman is missing, then the man is open to the allegation of RAPE if he had had intercourse with the woman who alleges RAPE.

There is a PREVENTIVE part to the offence of RAPE and a PENALTY part to the alleged offence of RAPE.

The police is in charge of both the parts and they are entrusted with the function of PREVENTING RAPE as much as PROSECUTING  the perpetrator of the RAPE. For  prosecution, credible evidences will have to be adduced before the courts to establish the offence. This is easier for the police when there are circumstantial evidences  which show that the WOMAN resisted and sustained visible marks besides other items that leave a tell-tale mark in the place of rape or on the rape victim.

The problem arises when the issue is of the PREVENTIVE KIND. If a couple is seen going together, there is a presumption that they are at peace with each other and the police has no role to intervene and question them- even if it be late in the night. Supposing a man and a woman are seen late in the night a car, parked peacefully and if the man had commits a “DATE RAPE”, then the element of circumstantial evidence would be tremendously narrowed down and the EVIDENCE, if any, is reduced to one person’s word against the other. The police cannot butt into all private space when he/she has visible reasons to believe that there is no offence being committed. Hence the PREVENTIVE ROLE of the police becomes suspect- if the police gets nosy, then they are susceptible to all sorts of allegations of  trampling of LIBERTIES.

The issue is that when a woman gets RAPED, the media attaches the name of the city/town/village, as the name of the victim, on humanitarian grounds, is kept concealed. Hence the name of the city/town/village gets sullied. It therefore appears as if the police in that area had failed in its preventive duties. That may not be the case, if the couple had moved into a building or to a thinly populated place peacefully, and later if the woman alleges rape, the police would be in a quandary, as the circumstantial evidence would not be useful for the prosecution’s case.

It is because of this aspect that Shantaram Naik had desired that the police should investigate the case thoroughly if the victim had known the alleged rapist etc..

Let us also not forget that perjurious charges of rape have been brought up by women, merely to settle scores or extract money. Please recall the South African Judge, Sirajuddin Desai, who was alleged by a woman (Salome Isaacs- Salome! what a name- reminds me of Herod!!) as her rapist in his hotel room in Mumbai, when she visited his room late evening. She presented the condom used by THEM as evidence of RAPE to the police and the Magistrate sent the Judge to police custody!! The case, to the best of my knowledge, was withdrawn.

Why should the police allow withdrawal of a RAPE case, when it is NOT a COMPOUNDABLE OFFENCE? If the woman had alleged falsely, she should have been proceeded against for making false complaint. The claim of the South African judge was that they had consensual sex.

Therefore Shantaram’s request for thorough investigations is a salubrious suggestion, in the interest of TRUTH.

Nonetheless, the apprehensions of people like Ms.Poornima Advani, Ms.FlaviaAgnes are also not without substance. Knowing the legal system, the prosecution would not be able to use the evidences collected for their objectives as much as the defense would. But that cannot become the reason for not ascertaining the TRUTH in all its NAKEDNESS.

Mr.Shantaram has made the statement more to wash away the guilt that is being smeared on the fair name of the state of Goa, let us get to the pith of his statement and not bash the MP in the media, especially  pseudo-zealously like Brakha Dutt or Arnab Goswami!

Would anyone care to tell me the name of the FIVE STAR HOTEL where the Judge Mr.Sirajuddin Desai and the female delegate  Salome stayed? NO. No one can. I remember that the media was very careful to avoid giving BAD PUBLICITY to the five star hotel. Why can not they extend the same to Goa also? No. Since No palpable gains would be available to media persons, nobody is gonna give the media guys coupons for a free lunch, u see!!

At least did the media protest when the case was withdrawn/closed and did it so zealously pursue if it was RAPE or PERJURY? NO. So much for their zeal.

LET  US LOVE TRUTH  & NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT SWEET TALK.

Telangana Issue

Telangana issue has not really created a spate of requests by political parties, as we are being made to believe. K.Chandrashekara Rao went on a fast and the only way that was seen feasible to break his fast was to make a declaration about grant of a separate state. Now that the fast is broken and the only way to break the benefits of Telengana to be taken lock stock and barrel by KCR, is to create a cacophony of demand by Gorkhas, Bundelkhandis, United Andhra, Mithilanchal, Poorvanchal!

The political parties in India are creating a situation where the Conductor of the Orchestra seldom comes out with the wand, till the crown is out for presentation. The Conductor like a Zubin Mehta doesn’t have the guts to be recognized as the Conductor, as the negative fall out cannot be taken. It is easy to sway the illiterate masses and therefore if any other party highlights the negative impact of the decision of a leader, then the masses who do not have THE sophisticated language skills to distinguish between REALITY and IMAGINATION would end up buying the stories. Therefore the conductor is doubly wary and remains in the background. Maybe the conductor is WISE!

When the din is done and a “CONSENSUS” had evolved, then the conductor of the Orchestra would come out waving the wand as a sign of victory. A true FEUDAL TECHNIQUE. In the Bible, if one refers to the later day victories of King David, one could find that the Commander Joab would defeat the cities and towns in battles, but  KING DAVID would be invited to TAKE the towns and cities! This kind of pseudo- democracy survives in a predominantly illiterate and un-understanding electorate filled space.

The very idea that our founding fathers did not make it imperative for the Parliament to go by the opinion of the state legislature concerned (Article 3 of the Constitution), in bifurcation of states, is on the sound principle, that NO MAN CAN BE A JUDGE OF HIS OWN CAUSE. When the people of Telangana have come out in the open and have demanded a separate state, it has become a NATIONAL ISSUE and a subject matter of the Parliament of India. Only an opinion of the state legislature is required for factoring the opinion in the debates of the parliament. The demand cannot be left in the hands of the MLAs who are divided based on their region.

Telangana was a area that had been recognized by the CONSTITUTION of India. One has to merely refer to the IX Schedule of the Constitution where, entry nos. 22 & 23 relate to 2 Acts passed by the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. Further in the Report of the Reorganization Committee, there was a clear opinion expressed by towering personalities like  Sh.K.M.Panniker that Telangana had a distinct culture and therefore should NOT be amalgamated with the state of Andhra Pradesh merely on LINGUISTIC grounds! Yet political expediency, our own resource crunch and the fear that the Nizam might exert his influence on political matters, the then Telangana was merged with the state of AP.

By hindsight, based on the claims of the pro-Telangana protesters, it seems that the Money power of the Coastal Andhra and the Muscle power of Rayalseema have stunted the growth of the Dhakni speaking Telangana. When the people of Telangana are represented by 17 Members of Parliament it cannot be argued that as a state Telangana would not be sustainable. 3 more MPs and it would be as big as the state of Kerala and would definitely be bigger than Jharkhand which is represented by 14 MPs, three less!

IN ALL THIS DIN, MR.NITISH KUMAR, THE CHIEF MINISTER OF BIHAR HAS ONE AGENDA OF ONE-UP-MANSHIP WITH LALU PRASAD YADAV AND PROPOSES reorganization of states and “MERGE JHARKHAND WITH BIHAR”!(NITISH PROBABLY DOESN’T WANT KODA TO DO IT ALONE AND WANTS TO BE A PART OF ALL THE PLUNDERING ,THAT THE NEWSPAPERS HAVE REPORTED!)

GIVE OR TAKE THREE! DO NOT MAKE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT STAY TOGETHER, TO STICK TOGETHER.