While the cry for protection of our rich cultural heritage getting louder and louder,
here is a historical monument remains un noticed in the heart of Chennai city. And, of the 85 protected monuments under the State Archaeological Department, this is the only monument located in Chennai city.
Adrian Bridge was built in 1786 over ‘Long Tank’, a canal which once existed on the edge of Mount Road between Nandanam and Saidapet. It was built by Adrian Four Beck, a British merchant, for the benefit of the general public and a pillar was erected to commemorate the construction of the bridge. Apart from the inscription on the pillar, very little information is available in the official records about the bridge. The website of the state archaeological department mentions it as ‘Memorial pillar’.
Over the years, Long Tank has been reduced to a sewerage carrying city’s waste and the
bridge, with no proper maintenance, is hardly noticeable. Though the government has declared it as a protected monument, the pillar is lying unnoticed under a tree inside the mechanical section office of the rural highways department at Saidapet, a few metres away from the Bridge.
“Most of the important historical monuments in the city are under the direct control of the ASI. State archaeological department maintains 85 protected monuments spread across the state. Memorial pillar is the only monument protected by the department within city limits,” said V Ramamurthy, nodal officer, archaeological department.
A brief history of the bridge has been inscribed on the pillar in Latin, English, Persian and Tamil. The inscription reads, “The bridge erected as public benefit from a legacy bestowed by Adrian Four Beck, a merchant of Madras, is a monument useful as lasting of the good citizen’s munificent liberality. It was erected by his executives T Peling de Fries and P Bodkin under the direction of Lt Col Pat Ross.”
“Since the pillar contains valuable information about the bridge, a few years ago, it was shifted from near the bridge to a safer place and put inside the highways department complex,” said
an official at the state archaeological department.
Even though, the Archaeological Survey of India restricts construction near the historical monuments, commercial buildings have come up close to the pillar. "There are laws restricting constructions near monuments, but many times implementation is a difficult task. However, following the ASI notification of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010, we are drafting a proposal on protection of each
monument, to be sent to the government. But it may take some time to get it implemented in letter and spirit," said an official at the State archaeological department who does not want to be named.
Experts say public has to play an important role in the protection of monuments. “We have to admit that many of our monuments are under threat of encroachments. Even though the authorities taking steps to protect them, the level of public awareness is very low in the state,” said Dr PD Balaji, head of the department of ancient history and archaeology, University of Madras.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Mohammad Ali Jinnah as ‘The Hindu’ saw him
In the light of the controversy generated by Jaswant Singh’s book, 'Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence' (Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 669 pages), we reproduce The Hindu ’s editorial of September 13, 1948 titled ‘Mr. Jinnah .’ It was published two days after the death of the founder of Pakistan.
The news of the sudden death of Mr. Jinnah will be received with widespread regret in this country. Till barely a twelvemonth ago he was, next to Gandhiji, the most powerful leader in undivided India. And not only among his fellow-Muslims but among members of all communities there was great admiration for his sterling personal qualities even while the goal which he pursued with increasing fanaticism was deplored. For more than half the period of nearly forty years in which he was a towering figure in our public life he identified himself so completely with the struggle that the Indian National Congress carried on for freedom that he came to be as nearly a popular idol as it was possible for a man so aristocratic and aloof by temperament to be. During the last years of his life, as the architect of Pakistan, he achieved a unique authority in his own community by virtue of the blind allegiance which the mass, dazzled by his political triumphs, gave him though the sane and sober elements of the community became more and more doubtful of the wisdom of his policies. In an age which saw centuries-old empires crumble this Bombay lawyer began late in life to dream of founding a new Empire; in an era of rampant secularism this Muslim, who had never been known to be very austere in his religion, began to dally with the notion that that Empire should be an Islamic State. And the dream became a reality overnight, and perhaps no man was more surprised at his success than Mr. Jinnah himself.
Mr. Jinnah was an astute lawyer. And his success was largely due to the fact that he was quick to seize the tactical implications of any development. His strength lay not in any firm body of general principle, any deeply cogitated philosophy of life, but in throwing all his tremendous powers of tenacity, strategy and dialectical skill into a cause which had been nursed by others and shaped in many of its most important phases by external factors. In this he offers a marked contrast to the Mahatma with whom rested the initiative during the thirty years he dominated Indian political life and who, however much he might adapt himself to the thrusts of circumstance, was able to maintain on a long range a remarkable consistency. Pakistan began with Iqbal as a poetic fancy. Rahmat Ali and his English allies at Cambridge provided it with ideology and dogma. Britain’s Divide and Rule diplomacy over a period of half a century was driving blindly towards this goal. What Mr. Jinnah did was to build up a political organisation, out of the moribund Muslim League, which gave coherence to the inchoate longings of the mass by yoking it to the realisation of the doctrinaires’ dream. Two world wars within a generation, bringing in their train a vast proliferation of nation-States as well as the decay of established Imperialisms and the rise of the Totalitarian Idea, were as much responsible for the emergence of Pakistan as the aggressive communalism to which Mr. Jinnah gave point and direction.
We must not forget that Mr. Jinnah began his political life as a child of the Enlightenment the seeds of which were planted in India by the statesmen of Victorian England. He stood for parliamentary democracy after the British pattern and with a conscientious care practised the art of debate in which he attained a formidable proficiency. At the time of the Minto-Morley Reforms, he set his face sternly against the British attempts to entice the Muslims away from their allegiance to the Congress. For long he kept aloof from the Muslim League. And when at last he joined it his aim was to utilise it for promoting amity between the two communities and not for widening the gulf. But Mr. Jinnah was a man of ambition. He had a very high opinion of his own abilities and the success, professional and political, that had come to him early in life, seemed fully to justify it. It irked him to play second fiddle. The Congress in those early days was dominated by mighty personalities, Dadabhai Nowroji, Mehta and Gokhale, not to mention leaders of the Left like Tilak. That no doubt accounts for the fact that Mr. Jinnah gradually withdrew from the Congress organisation and cast about for materials wherewith to build a separate platform for himself. At this time the first World War broke out and the idea of self-determination was in the air. It was not a mere accident that Mr. Jinnah came to formulate the safeguards which he deemed necessary for the Muslim minority in his famous Fourteen Points so reminiscent of the Wilsonian formula.
But in those days he would have pooh-poohed the idea of the Muslim community cutting itself off from the rest of India. He was so little in sympathy with the Ali Brothers’ Khilafat campaign because it seemed to him to play with fire. He was deeply suspicious of the unrestrained passions of the mob and he was too good a student of history not to realise that once the dormant fires of fanaticism were stoked there was no knowing where it might end. He kept aloof from the Congress at the same time. Satyagraha with its jail-going and other hardships could not appeal to a hedonist like him; but the main reason for his avoiding the Gandhian Congress was the same nervousness about the consequences of rousing mass enthusiasm. The result was that he went into political hibernation for some years. But he remained keenly observant; and the dynamic energy generated by a successful policy of mass contact deeply impressed him. He came to see that a backward community like the Muslims could be roused to action only by an appeal, simplified almost to the point of crudeness, to what touched it most deeply, its religious faith. And a close study of the arts by which the European dictators, Mussolini, Hitler and a host of lesser men rose to power led him to perfect a technique of propaganda and mass instigation to which ‘atrocity’-mongering was central. But Mr. Jinnah could not have been entirely happy over the Frankenstein monster that he had invoked, especially when the stark horrors of the Punjab issued with all the inevitability of Attic tragedy from the contention and strife that he had sown. He was a prudent man to whom by nature and training anarchy was repellant. At the first Round Table Conference he took a lone stand in favour of a unitary Government for India because he felt that Federation in a country made up of such diverse elements would strengthen fissiparous tendencies. It was an irony that such a man should have become the instrument of a policy which, by imposing an unnatural division on a country meant by Nature to be one, has started a fatal course the end of which no man may foresee. Mr. Jinnah was too weak to withstand the momentum of the forces that he had helped to unleash. And the megalomania which unfortunately he came to develop would hardly allow him to admit that he was wrong.
Mr. Jinnah has passed away at the peak of his earthly career. He is sure of his place in history. But during the last months of his life he must have been visited by anxious thoughts about the future of the State which he had carved. Pakistan has many able men who may be expected to devote themselves with wholehearted zeal to its service according to their lights. And India will wish them well in a task of extraordinary difficulty. But it is no easy thing to don the mantle of the Quaid-i-Azam. No other Pakistani has anything like the international stature that Mr. Jinnah had achieved; and assuredly none else has that unquestioned authority with the masses. The freedom that Pakistan has won, largely as the result of a century of unremitting effort by India’s noblest sons, is yet to be consolidated. It is a task that calls for the highest qualities of statesmanship. Many are the teething troubles of the infant State. Apart from the refugee problem, which is Britain’s parting gift to both parts of distracted India, the Pakistan Government has by its handling of the Kashmir question and its unfortunate attitude towards the Indian Union’s difficulties with Hyderabad, raised in an acute form the future of the relations between Pakistan and India. Mr. Jinnah at his bitterest never forgot that firm friendship between the two States was not only feasible but indispensable if freedom was to be no Dead-Sea apple. It is earnestly to be hoped that the leaders of Pakistan will strive to be true to that ideal.
The news of the sudden death of Mr. Jinnah will be received with widespread regret in this country. Till barely a twelvemonth ago he was, next to Gandhiji, the most powerful leader in undivided India. And not only among his fellow-Muslims but among members of all communities there was great admiration for his sterling personal qualities even while the goal which he pursued with increasing fanaticism was deplored. For more than half the period of nearly forty years in which he was a towering figure in our public life he identified himself so completely with the struggle that the Indian National Congress carried on for freedom that he came to be as nearly a popular idol as it was possible for a man so aristocratic and aloof by temperament to be. During the last years of his life, as the architect of Pakistan, he achieved a unique authority in his own community by virtue of the blind allegiance which the mass, dazzled by his political triumphs, gave him though the sane and sober elements of the community became more and more doubtful of the wisdom of his policies. In an age which saw centuries-old empires crumble this Bombay lawyer began late in life to dream of founding a new Empire; in an era of rampant secularism this Muslim, who had never been known to be very austere in his religion, began to dally with the notion that that Empire should be an Islamic State. And the dream became a reality overnight, and perhaps no man was more surprised at his success than Mr. Jinnah himself.
Mr. Jinnah was an astute lawyer. And his success was largely due to the fact that he was quick to seize the tactical implications of any development. His strength lay not in any firm body of general principle, any deeply cogitated philosophy of life, but in throwing all his tremendous powers of tenacity, strategy and dialectical skill into a cause which had been nursed by others and shaped in many of its most important phases by external factors. In this he offers a marked contrast to the Mahatma with whom rested the initiative during the thirty years he dominated Indian political life and who, however much he might adapt himself to the thrusts of circumstance, was able to maintain on a long range a remarkable consistency. Pakistan began with Iqbal as a poetic fancy. Rahmat Ali and his English allies at Cambridge provided it with ideology and dogma. Britain’s Divide and Rule diplomacy over a period of half a century was driving blindly towards this goal. What Mr. Jinnah did was to build up a political organisation, out of the moribund Muslim League, which gave coherence to the inchoate longings of the mass by yoking it to the realisation of the doctrinaires’ dream. Two world wars within a generation, bringing in their train a vast proliferation of nation-States as well as the decay of established Imperialisms and the rise of the Totalitarian Idea, were as much responsible for the emergence of Pakistan as the aggressive communalism to which Mr. Jinnah gave point and direction.
We must not forget that Mr. Jinnah began his political life as a child of the Enlightenment the seeds of which were planted in India by the statesmen of Victorian England. He stood for parliamentary democracy after the British pattern and with a conscientious care practised the art of debate in which he attained a formidable proficiency. At the time of the Minto-Morley Reforms, he set his face sternly against the British attempts to entice the Muslims away from their allegiance to the Congress. For long he kept aloof from the Muslim League. And when at last he joined it his aim was to utilise it for promoting amity between the two communities and not for widening the gulf. But Mr. Jinnah was a man of ambition. He had a very high opinion of his own abilities and the success, professional and political, that had come to him early in life, seemed fully to justify it. It irked him to play second fiddle. The Congress in those early days was dominated by mighty personalities, Dadabhai Nowroji, Mehta and Gokhale, not to mention leaders of the Left like Tilak. That no doubt accounts for the fact that Mr. Jinnah gradually withdrew from the Congress organisation and cast about for materials wherewith to build a separate platform for himself. At this time the first World War broke out and the idea of self-determination was in the air. It was not a mere accident that Mr. Jinnah came to formulate the safeguards which he deemed necessary for the Muslim minority in his famous Fourteen Points so reminiscent of the Wilsonian formula.
But in those days he would have pooh-poohed the idea of the Muslim community cutting itself off from the rest of India. He was so little in sympathy with the Ali Brothers’ Khilafat campaign because it seemed to him to play with fire. He was deeply suspicious of the unrestrained passions of the mob and he was too good a student of history not to realise that once the dormant fires of fanaticism were stoked there was no knowing where it might end. He kept aloof from the Congress at the same time. Satyagraha with its jail-going and other hardships could not appeal to a hedonist like him; but the main reason for his avoiding the Gandhian Congress was the same nervousness about the consequences of rousing mass enthusiasm. The result was that he went into political hibernation for some years. But he remained keenly observant; and the dynamic energy generated by a successful policy of mass contact deeply impressed him. He came to see that a backward community like the Muslims could be roused to action only by an appeal, simplified almost to the point of crudeness, to what touched it most deeply, its religious faith. And a close study of the arts by which the European dictators, Mussolini, Hitler and a host of lesser men rose to power led him to perfect a technique of propaganda and mass instigation to which ‘atrocity’-mongering was central. But Mr. Jinnah could not have been entirely happy over the Frankenstein monster that he had invoked, especially when the stark horrors of the Punjab issued with all the inevitability of Attic tragedy from the contention and strife that he had sown. He was a prudent man to whom by nature and training anarchy was repellant. At the first Round Table Conference he took a lone stand in favour of a unitary Government for India because he felt that Federation in a country made up of such diverse elements would strengthen fissiparous tendencies. It was an irony that such a man should have become the instrument of a policy which, by imposing an unnatural division on a country meant by Nature to be one, has started a fatal course the end of which no man may foresee. Mr. Jinnah was too weak to withstand the momentum of the forces that he had helped to unleash. And the megalomania which unfortunately he came to develop would hardly allow him to admit that he was wrong.
Mr. Jinnah has passed away at the peak of his earthly career. He is sure of his place in history. But during the last months of his life he must have been visited by anxious thoughts about the future of the State which he had carved. Pakistan has many able men who may be expected to devote themselves with wholehearted zeal to its service according to their lights. And India will wish them well in a task of extraordinary difficulty. But it is no easy thing to don the mantle of the Quaid-i-Azam. No other Pakistani has anything like the international stature that Mr. Jinnah had achieved; and assuredly none else has that unquestioned authority with the masses. The freedom that Pakistan has won, largely as the result of a century of unremitting effort by India’s noblest sons, is yet to be consolidated. It is a task that calls for the highest qualities of statesmanship. Many are the teething troubles of the infant State. Apart from the refugee problem, which is Britain’s parting gift to both parts of distracted India, the Pakistan Government has by its handling of the Kashmir question and its unfortunate attitude towards the Indian Union’s difficulties with Hyderabad, raised in an acute form the future of the relations between Pakistan and India. Mr. Jinnah at his bitterest never forgot that firm friendship between the two States was not only feasible but indispensable if freedom was to be no Dead-Sea apple. It is earnestly to be hoped that the leaders of Pakistan will strive to be true to that ideal.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Shopian: Who will tell the truth?
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdulla has finally admitted that something has gone wrong in Shopian. He apologized for the mistake and promised to bring the culprits to book. Nobody knows, what led him to this revelation after three months same as nobody knows, what really happened to those two unfortunate women, who found dead on a fine morning.
On the fateful day of May 2, 2009, Nilofar Jan and Asiya Jan, two women in Shopian village didn’t return home till late evening. Nilofar’s husband Shakeel Ahamed and a few police men searched for them till late night but could not find anything. Next day morning, while waiting outside the police station, Shakeel was informed that the bodies have been found on a river bed. He rushed to the spot and found his wife’s body hand outstretched and cloths torn. Later his sister Asiya’s body also found in similar condition. Curiously, both bodies were found on the bed of stream, where they had searched intensively on previous night.
The first reports said it was deaths by drowning. But the crowd refused to buy the police version. A second post mortem was done and the female doctor confirmed the gang rape…. “They were animals” she said. The Justice Jan Commission enquired the case and concluded it as case of death by drowning but later confirmed the police interpolations in the commission report.
The Shopian murder case has become a classic example of the truth being shaped by the way is it’s narrated.
On June 7 NDTV reported ….The post-mortem report confirm the presence of semen on both bodies, but does no draw a firm conclusion on murder saying the probable cause of deaths was haemorrhage and neurogenic shock. The report said the doctors who were to conduct the post-mortem could not complete their report because of hostile atmosphere and the post-mortem report was inconclusive.
The Hindu wrote ….The investigators have no firm determination on how the victims died, no medical opinion on whether the injuries were caused by weapons or stones in the river bed, no forensic finding on whether one of more persons were involved in the rape and all of the forensic evidence on record is vitiated by the doctor’s admissions that the post-mortem was incomplete and carried out under pressure. The report also quoted an SIT official saying …. “You could come to almost any conclusion you fancy, take your pick.”
The Indian Express report goes like this.... The first reaction from the police was, many said, bizarre. Not only did the police want to make it an “open and shut” case by saying drowning could have been the possible cause. A press release ruled out any kind of violence, in spite of the badly bruised state in which the bodies were found. Later, police came out with another press release, canceling the first one, but did not admit anything wrong. After series of protests, police admitted some thing was wrong. The second press release said the interim medical report received indicated prima facie cognizable offence has taken place.
On June 13 the Indian Express again reported…. The initial claim by officials that the women had drowned was negated by the first medical examination-doctors didn’t find either body in a condition that suggested drowning. Moreover, it was difficult to believe that the two women would have drowned in ankle-deep water.
On June 12 Mail Today wrote…. The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blindly chose to go with the initial police version describing it was a death by drowning.
Later, severely criticising the media, The Hindu wrote…both the journalists and the J&K government have maintained a stoic silence on the observation of the Justice Jan Commission. The Commission said many of the media reports on the incidents were grossly fabricated.
It gave a few examples: Just before the incident the victims called her husband saying she was being chased by the CRPF personnel. In the testimony to the commission the husband admitted that his wife never had a mobile.
The police constable who searched for the bodies received many calls from his boss indicating his unduly interest in the case. The commission found there were only four calls during the whole operation.
Media strongly tend to propagate the gang rape version, the commission report say there were no evidence of gang rape.
Newspapers reported the victim’s forehead was smeared with sindoor….indicating the culprit was a Hindu. The commission says it was just blood flown from the injury.
If the so called credible media brands report the same incident contradicting each other, to whom people will turn for truth?
The credibility of legislature and executive is a thing of past and judiciary has proved that it’s not immune to the virus. Now the fourth estate shows that a few hygienic practices and a simple mask are insufficient to protect them from the flu.
Food for thought:
The government acted swiftly when the exotic swine flu claimed a few lives across the country. How many more deaths need to be reported from Kashmir to contain the indigenous virus which has inflicted the whole system of administration?
On the fateful day of May 2, 2009, Nilofar Jan and Asiya Jan, two women in Shopian village didn’t return home till late evening. Nilofar’s husband Shakeel Ahamed and a few police men searched for them till late night but could not find anything. Next day morning, while waiting outside the police station, Shakeel was informed that the bodies have been found on a river bed. He rushed to the spot and found his wife’s body hand outstretched and cloths torn. Later his sister Asiya’s body also found in similar condition. Curiously, both bodies were found on the bed of stream, where they had searched intensively on previous night.
The first reports said it was deaths by drowning. But the crowd refused to buy the police version. A second post mortem was done and the female doctor confirmed the gang rape…. “They were animals” she said. The Justice Jan Commission enquired the case and concluded it as case of death by drowning but later confirmed the police interpolations in the commission report.
The Shopian murder case has become a classic example of the truth being shaped by the way is it’s narrated.
On June 7 NDTV reported ….The post-mortem report confirm the presence of semen on both bodies, but does no draw a firm conclusion on murder saying the probable cause of deaths was haemorrhage and neurogenic shock. The report said the doctors who were to conduct the post-mortem could not complete their report because of hostile atmosphere and the post-mortem report was inconclusive.
The Hindu wrote ….The investigators have no firm determination on how the victims died, no medical opinion on whether the injuries were caused by weapons or stones in the river bed, no forensic finding on whether one of more persons were involved in the rape and all of the forensic evidence on record is vitiated by the doctor’s admissions that the post-mortem was incomplete and carried out under pressure. The report also quoted an SIT official saying …. “You could come to almost any conclusion you fancy, take your pick.”
The Indian Express report goes like this.... The first reaction from the police was, many said, bizarre. Not only did the police want to make it an “open and shut” case by saying drowning could have been the possible cause. A press release ruled out any kind of violence, in spite of the badly bruised state in which the bodies were found. Later, police came out with another press release, canceling the first one, but did not admit anything wrong. After series of protests, police admitted some thing was wrong. The second press release said the interim medical report received indicated prima facie cognizable offence has taken place.
On June 13 the Indian Express again reported…. The initial claim by officials that the women had drowned was negated by the first medical examination-doctors didn’t find either body in a condition that suggested drowning. Moreover, it was difficult to believe that the two women would have drowned in ankle-deep water.
On June 12 Mail Today wrote…. The Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blindly chose to go with the initial police version describing it was a death by drowning.
Later, severely criticising the media, The Hindu wrote…both the journalists and the J&K government have maintained a stoic silence on the observation of the Justice Jan Commission. The Commission said many of the media reports on the incidents were grossly fabricated.
It gave a few examples: Just before the incident the victims called her husband saying she was being chased by the CRPF personnel. In the testimony to the commission the husband admitted that his wife never had a mobile.
The police constable who searched for the bodies received many calls from his boss indicating his unduly interest in the case. The commission found there were only four calls during the whole operation.
Media strongly tend to propagate the gang rape version, the commission report say there were no evidence of gang rape.
Newspapers reported the victim’s forehead was smeared with sindoor….indicating the culprit was a Hindu. The commission says it was just blood flown from the injury.
If the so called credible media brands report the same incident contradicting each other, to whom people will turn for truth?
The credibility of legislature and executive is a thing of past and judiciary has proved that it’s not immune to the virus. Now the fourth estate shows that a few hygienic practices and a simple mask are insufficient to protect them from the flu.
Food for thought:
The government acted swiftly when the exotic swine flu claimed a few lives across the country. How many more deaths need to be reported from Kashmir to contain the indigenous virus which has inflicted the whole system of administration?
Saturday, August 8, 2009
The Great Indian Justice!
Recently, Ornithologists spoted Great Indian Bustard, a endangered species of bird, in one of our forests. But there are many more things that are fast disappearing from our society but no red book has been prepared to protect them.
Last week, Pakistan gave a final slap on India’s face when it said it had no intention to arrest LeT chief Hafis Saeed. They say, they don’t have any evidence against him. But India has listed him as the mastermind behind Mumbai attacks. “We do not have any evidence against Hafis Saeed” said Pakistan Interior Minister Rehaman Malik. It was crystal clear what he meant when he said, we cannot arrest our citizens based on some hearsay.
Two days after India handed over a dossier containing evidence against Let Chief Hafis Saeed the Pakistan Supreme Court adjourned indefinitely, practically leaving Saeed walk free.
With no less time, Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna said talks with Pakistan is futile until Pakistan acts decisively against terror groups. We have provided enough proof to punish anybody for terror related activities. We know for the fact that Hafis is the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks, he said. Earlier in June, the Lahore High Court dismissed cases against Saeed saying Indian evidence against Saeed is unreliable.
We, the Indians are enraged, fumed and fretted….. no doubt.
Wait…hold onto your thoughts…...
A special court in Mumbai sentenced to death another Syed and two others for plotting terror attacks at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar in 2003. We hailed the verdict as remarkable, praised our justice system for speedy disposal of justice and completion of trial in a transparent manner.
Our legal luminaries are now only worried about whether death sentence is the right deterrent against crime or not. Let the debate continue till next terrorist strike bang at our doors!
But we all forget that disturbing question…aren’t we following two justice system for the same crime and being hypocritical about our independent judiciary?
We still resist to face the hard question….
Wait…
Do we need any dossier from Pakistan to prosecute Narendra Modi who, according to independent reports, facilitated the Gujarat riots?
Which dossier are we waiting for to bring to book Bal Thakkarey who instigated the Mumbai riots?
Why our judicial system still groping in darkness in the Babri Masjid demolition case!
Our own official Liberhan Commission took nearly two decades to submit its reports on it! And by the time, we elected many of the accused to the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy….the Indian Parliament…..we made them ministers and prime ministers!
What else proof do we need to prosecute Raj Thakkare, who instigated killings of our North Indian brothers on the streets of Mumbai?
Why the victims of Mumbai and Coimbatore riots still waiting for justice?
Why we conveniently forgot them while delivering justice to the victims of Mumbai and Combatore blasts, which happened years later?
Did we deliver justice beyond doubt to the Sikh community for the killings of 1984?
If not, why are we so furious when Pakistan Supreme Court set free their own ‘terrorists’?
How can we stamp partiality only to courts in Pakistan while our own courts doing the same?
At least people in Pakistan are more sensible, not to elect these kind of people to rule their country…..we shamelessly doing it every five years.
Food for thought….was there any suicide bomber in Iraq before the US invasion?
Why a spate of terrorist attack in India during the past two decades?
Last week, Pakistan gave a final slap on India’s face when it said it had no intention to arrest LeT chief Hafis Saeed. They say, they don’t have any evidence against him. But India has listed him as the mastermind behind Mumbai attacks. “We do not have any evidence against Hafis Saeed” said Pakistan Interior Minister Rehaman Malik. It was crystal clear what he meant when he said, we cannot arrest our citizens based on some hearsay.
Two days after India handed over a dossier containing evidence against Let Chief Hafis Saeed the Pakistan Supreme Court adjourned indefinitely, practically leaving Saeed walk free.
With no less time, Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna said talks with Pakistan is futile until Pakistan acts decisively against terror groups. We have provided enough proof to punish anybody for terror related activities. We know for the fact that Hafis is the mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks, he said. Earlier in June, the Lahore High Court dismissed cases against Saeed saying Indian evidence against Saeed is unreliable.
We, the Indians are enraged, fumed and fretted….. no doubt.
Wait…hold onto your thoughts…...
A special court in Mumbai sentenced to death another Syed and two others for plotting terror attacks at Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazar in 2003. We hailed the verdict as remarkable, praised our justice system for speedy disposal of justice and completion of trial in a transparent manner.
Our legal luminaries are now only worried about whether death sentence is the right deterrent against crime or not. Let the debate continue till next terrorist strike bang at our doors!
But we all forget that disturbing question…aren’t we following two justice system for the same crime and being hypocritical about our independent judiciary?
We still resist to face the hard question….
Wait…
Do we need any dossier from Pakistan to prosecute Narendra Modi who, according to independent reports, facilitated the Gujarat riots?
Which dossier are we waiting for to bring to book Bal Thakkarey who instigated the Mumbai riots?
Why our judicial system still groping in darkness in the Babri Masjid demolition case!
Our own official Liberhan Commission took nearly two decades to submit its reports on it! And by the time, we elected many of the accused to the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy….the Indian Parliament…..we made them ministers and prime ministers!
What else proof do we need to prosecute Raj Thakkare, who instigated killings of our North Indian brothers on the streets of Mumbai?
Why the victims of Mumbai and Coimbatore riots still waiting for justice?
Why we conveniently forgot them while delivering justice to the victims of Mumbai and Combatore blasts, which happened years later?
Did we deliver justice beyond doubt to the Sikh community for the killings of 1984?
If not, why are we so furious when Pakistan Supreme Court set free their own ‘terrorists’?
How can we stamp partiality only to courts in Pakistan while our own courts doing the same?
At least people in Pakistan are more sensible, not to elect these kind of people to rule their country…..we shamelessly doing it every five years.
Food for thought….was there any suicide bomber in Iraq before the US invasion?
Why a spate of terrorist attack in India during the past two decades?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Drumming in to Guinnes
Drumming into Guinness
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 17 Apr 2005 12:00:00 AM IST
17, April 2005. The New Indian Express. It was a day of celebration for Kadalundi, a tiny hamlet near Calicut, when Sudheer, a tabla player from this village created a world record for a marathon 56 hour performance. The programme was held in January at an outdoor stage near Kadalundi railway station. On the third day after he started, Sudheer emerged victorious with a smiling face and walked into the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records. He broke the record held by Prasad Choudhury from Maharashtra, who had played for 46 hours non stop. After breaking the world record, Sudheer continued his performance for another ten hours.
The programme was meticulously planned keeping the Guinness rules in mind. Though the Guinness authorities fixed the time and date, the venue was his own choice. A 15-minute break is allowed after every eight hours. Prescribed minimum length of a rhythm is two minutes and the same rhythm cannot be repeated within four hours.
Sudheer began with teental and slowly gathered pace with varying range of rhythms like keherva, dadara, and deepchandi. More than a dozen well-known artists, including the famous playback singer G Venugopal, were at the venue.
A mammoth crowd, chanting and dancing to his tunes, was present to witness the historic moment when he crossed the previous record. He continued tapping on his favourite instrument and finally concluded the show in the evening with a solo in keherva, setting a new record of 56 hours.
A videographer by profession, Sudheer developed a keen interest in tabla when he was five. As a child, he used to participate in weekly bhajans conducted at his mother’s house. He later trained professionally under Karmachandran and Ayyappnashan.
In 1991, he led a group of artistes from Kanyakumari to Gokarnam, along with the Malayalam poet Akkitham to spread the message of communal harmony. His first marathon performance was in 2003 at Calicut setting a personal record of 10 hours. In 2004 he played for 13 hours without a break. These two attempts gave him the confidence to attempt a new world record. He did it with the programme ‘Talalaya 2005’ which was dedicated to world peace.
Sudheer does not want to be a professional tabla player. “It is a gift of god and I do not want to sell it”, he says. He believes that the overwhelming support extended by the villagers helped him to keep the tempo for such a long time. People celebrated his concert like a local festival and cheered him on. I owe my success to this village and its people,” says Sudheer.
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 17 Apr 2005 12:00:00 AM IST
17, April 2005. The New Indian Express. It was a day of celebration for Kadalundi, a tiny hamlet near Calicut, when Sudheer, a tabla player from this village created a world record for a marathon 56 hour performance. The programme was held in January at an outdoor stage near Kadalundi railway station. On the third day after he started, Sudheer emerged victorious with a smiling face and walked into the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records. He broke the record held by Prasad Choudhury from Maharashtra, who had played for 46 hours non stop. After breaking the world record, Sudheer continued his performance for another ten hours.
The programme was meticulously planned keeping the Guinness rules in mind. Though the Guinness authorities fixed the time and date, the venue was his own choice. A 15-minute break is allowed after every eight hours. Prescribed minimum length of a rhythm is two minutes and the same rhythm cannot be repeated within four hours.
Sudheer began with teental and slowly gathered pace with varying range of rhythms like keherva, dadara, and deepchandi. More than a dozen well-known artists, including the famous playback singer G Venugopal, were at the venue.
A mammoth crowd, chanting and dancing to his tunes, was present to witness the historic moment when he crossed the previous record. He continued tapping on his favourite instrument and finally concluded the show in the evening with a solo in keherva, setting a new record of 56 hours.
A videographer by profession, Sudheer developed a keen interest in tabla when he was five. As a child, he used to participate in weekly bhajans conducted at his mother’s house. He later trained professionally under Karmachandran and Ayyappnashan.
In 1991, he led a group of artistes from Kanyakumari to Gokarnam, along with the Malayalam poet Akkitham to spread the message of communal harmony. His first marathon performance was in 2003 at Calicut setting a personal record of 10 hours. In 2004 he played for 13 hours without a break. These two attempts gave him the confidence to attempt a new world record. He did it with the programme ‘Talalaya 2005’ which was dedicated to world peace.
Sudheer does not want to be a professional tabla player. “It is a gift of god and I do not want to sell it”, he says. He believes that the overwhelming support extended by the villagers helped him to keep the tempo for such a long time. People celebrated his concert like a local festival and cheered him on. I owe my success to this village and its people,” says Sudheer.
The goal
Goal!
2006-02-23 17:12:00
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 26 Feb 2006 12:00:00 AM IST
26 February,2006. The Indian Express
Malappuram is an off-season destination for many international players, from countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Algeria. With remarkable public support, more than a thousand matches are played here every year. International tournaments like the World Cup, the Euro Cup and the Confederations Cup are big events here, and cinema halls even suspend regular shows to screen matches. The district is also home to many players in Indian football.
And now, Malappuram has scored another distinction, by hosting a six-day film festival exclusively on soccer. The aptly named Kickoff was the first of its kind in our country, with 17 films from India and abroad. Seminars and discussions on related topics were organised on the sidelines. It was a rare opportunity for fans.
The festival was kicked off with the American film The Giants of Brazil, about the Brazilian team, the only one to win the World Cup four times. Pele Forever (Brazil) showcased the living legend. Maradona - Villain or Victim traced the life of the Argentinean hero, and About Maradona Kicking the Habit followed his tragedies related to drug addiction.
Escobar’s Own Goal was the chilling story of Colombian footballer Andres Escobar, who was brutally murdered for scoring a self-goal for his team in the 1994 World Cup. The Cup (Bhutan), The Miracle Bern (Germany), Two Halftimes in Hell (Hungary), Bend It like Beckham (UK), How Heysel Changed Football (UK) and Escape to Victory (USA) were some of the other films screened. Kalo Harin (a musical documentary on IM Vijayan by Cherian Joseph), Oru Nadu Kali Kanunnu (Deepak Narayan’s documentary, tracing the roots of the football craze in Malappuram) and Sevens were the Indian films shown.
Kickoff was organised by Malappuram Manass, a cultural organisation, in association with the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala, and the Kerala Chalachithra Academy
2006-02-23 17:12:00
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 26 Feb 2006 12:00:00 AM IST
26 February,2006. The Indian Express
Malappuram is an off-season destination for many international players, from countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Algeria. With remarkable public support, more than a thousand matches are played here every year. International tournaments like the World Cup, the Euro Cup and the Confederations Cup are big events here, and cinema halls even suspend regular shows to screen matches. The district is also home to many players in Indian football.
And now, Malappuram has scored another distinction, by hosting a six-day film festival exclusively on soccer. The aptly named Kickoff was the first of its kind in our country, with 17 films from India and abroad. Seminars and discussions on related topics were organised on the sidelines. It was a rare opportunity for fans.
The festival was kicked off with the American film The Giants of Brazil, about the Brazilian team, the only one to win the World Cup four times. Pele Forever (Brazil) showcased the living legend. Maradona - Villain or Victim traced the life of the Argentinean hero, and About Maradona Kicking the Habit followed his tragedies related to drug addiction.
Escobar’s Own Goal was the chilling story of Colombian footballer Andres Escobar, who was brutally murdered for scoring a self-goal for his team in the 1994 World Cup. The Cup (Bhutan), The Miracle Bern (Germany), Two Halftimes in Hell (Hungary), Bend It like Beckham (UK), How Heysel Changed Football (UK) and Escape to Victory (USA) were some of the other films screened. Kalo Harin (a musical documentary on IM Vijayan by Cherian Joseph), Oru Nadu Kali Kanunnu (Deepak Narayan’s documentary, tracing the roots of the football craze in Malappuram) and Sevens were the Indian films shown.
Kickoff was organised by Malappuram Manass, a cultural organisation, in association with the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala, and the Kerala Chalachithra Academy
The dancer, the healer
A dancer, a healer
2006-05-18 18:17:00
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 21 May 2006 12:00:00 AM IST
21 May, 2006. The Indian Express"My biggest dream is to live as a woman, at least for one day,’’ said Kalki Sabari, a transgendered individual from Coimbatore. For the last twenty five years, the life of Kalki has been an unending struggle to manage a dual personality: the soul of a woman within a male physique. But this life-long ordeal has not debilitated her determination to pursue the best in her life.
From someone who was thought of as a puzzling character by her teachers and colleagues, Kalki has grown to become an activist for the transgendered community in India.
Kalki was born in an upper-caste family at Ambika Nagar in Coimbatore. Her parents named her Sabari, and this continues to be her legal name. Instead, she has adopted another name; that of Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.
Kalki received a good education in an English-medium school at Kodaikanal. Though Kalki was largely treated as a boy in the family as well as in school, she always preferred the company of girls.
Kalki’s teenage years were a horrible experience as the feminine side of her personality became increasingly pronounced. She was rebuked and molested by other students, and even by teachers. During her college days,she was always targeted by many groups of students. She was ragged and virtually hounded all the time on campus.
Struggling to come to terms with the trauma of all this ill-treatment, Kalki began to develop a clandestine relationship with eunuchs outside the campus. Every day, after the regular class hours, she would sneak out of the residential campus to join ‘‘her own people’’. Once outside the campus, Kalki would transform herself into a woman, clad in a skirt and blouse. However, while in college, she would dress like a regular boy.
Soon fed up with the drama of concealing her true self, one day Kalki confessed to her parents her yearning to be a woman. Her family was horrified, and hushed up the matter to protect themselves from disgrace. A month-long stint of psychiatric treatment followed, at Vellore Medical College. Still, she remained ‘abnormal’ everywhere.
But Kalki was determined not to be deterred by all this, and therefore, pursued her studies seriously. She now holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a PG in Mass Communication. She also holds a diploma in Advanced English.
Having learned from her bitter experiences, she decided to fight for the cause of transgendered people, who are considered as outcastes by the society. In 2005 she launched the magazine, Sahodari, in Tamil. Since most of the contributors are eunuchs from the transgendered community, the publication stands out as a pioneering attempt in India to allow the voice of the community to be heard. The magazine has now become a platform for the transgendered to share their feelings amongst themselves. It is now freely distributed amongst the transgender community in Coimbatore and also other places nearby.
‘‘The public society is insensitive to our feelings. Even the media target us for all the wrong reasons,’’ rues Kalki. ‘‘We behave arrogantly just to protect ourself,’’ she says. Kalki maintains close contact with the transgender community all over the world. Recently a website (www.sahodari.com) has also been developed for this purpose.
Kalki discovered dance as a medium through which she could reconnect with her true self. It is evidently more than a passion for her. Right from her school days, she has given numerous performances and won many prizes.
Fascinated by Indian dance mudras and western dance movements, she has developed her own unique style of dance, which she terms ‘‘freedom of soul’’. She is deeply engaged in research to progress her art. She claims that this new artform will be able to heal men and women; particularly those belonging to the transgendered community.
2006-05-18 18:17:00
Hussain Kodinhi
First Published : 21 May 2006 12:00:00 AM IST
21 May, 2006. The Indian Express"My biggest dream is to live as a woman, at least for one day,’’ said Kalki Sabari, a transgendered individual from Coimbatore. For the last twenty five years, the life of Kalki has been an unending struggle to manage a dual personality: the soul of a woman within a male physique. But this life-long ordeal has not debilitated her determination to pursue the best in her life.
From someone who was thought of as a puzzling character by her teachers and colleagues, Kalki has grown to become an activist for the transgendered community in India.
Kalki was born in an upper-caste family at Ambika Nagar in Coimbatore. Her parents named her Sabari, and this continues to be her legal name. Instead, she has adopted another name; that of Kalki, the tenth avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.
Kalki received a good education in an English-medium school at Kodaikanal. Though Kalki was largely treated as a boy in the family as well as in school, she always preferred the company of girls.
Kalki’s teenage years were a horrible experience as the feminine side of her personality became increasingly pronounced. She was rebuked and molested by other students, and even by teachers. During her college days,she was always targeted by many groups of students. She was ragged and virtually hounded all the time on campus.
Struggling to come to terms with the trauma of all this ill-treatment, Kalki began to develop a clandestine relationship with eunuchs outside the campus. Every day, after the regular class hours, she would sneak out of the residential campus to join ‘‘her own people’’. Once outside the campus, Kalki would transform herself into a woman, clad in a skirt and blouse. However, while in college, she would dress like a regular boy.
Soon fed up with the drama of concealing her true self, one day Kalki confessed to her parents her yearning to be a woman. Her family was horrified, and hushed up the matter to protect themselves from disgrace. A month-long stint of psychiatric treatment followed, at Vellore Medical College. Still, she remained ‘abnormal’ everywhere.
But Kalki was determined not to be deterred by all this, and therefore, pursued her studies seriously. She now holds an undergraduate degree in English Literature and a PG in Mass Communication. She also holds a diploma in Advanced English.
Having learned from her bitter experiences, she decided to fight for the cause of transgendered people, who are considered as outcastes by the society. In 2005 she launched the magazine, Sahodari, in Tamil. Since most of the contributors are eunuchs from the transgendered community, the publication stands out as a pioneering attempt in India to allow the voice of the community to be heard. The magazine has now become a platform for the transgendered to share their feelings amongst themselves. It is now freely distributed amongst the transgender community in Coimbatore and also other places nearby.
‘‘The public society is insensitive to our feelings. Even the media target us for all the wrong reasons,’’ rues Kalki. ‘‘We behave arrogantly just to protect ourself,’’ she says. Kalki maintains close contact with the transgender community all over the world. Recently a website (www.sahodari.com) has also been developed for this purpose.
Kalki discovered dance as a medium through which she could reconnect with her true self. It is evidently more than a passion for her. Right from her school days, she has given numerous performances and won many prizes.
Fascinated by Indian dance mudras and western dance movements, she has developed her own unique style of dance, which she terms ‘‘freedom of soul’’. She is deeply engaged in research to progress her art. She claims that this new artform will be able to heal men and women; particularly those belonging to the transgendered community.
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