Need for a Structural Change in the Society

Ahimsa reigned the politico-religious discourse of India two times in history: Emperor Ashoka’s time and Gandhian era. Except these two times, Indian social and political arena was or is controlled by violence. The films, literature and other social and entertainment platforms are glorifying various forms of violence, not just in India, but the whole world.
Violence in any form, for whatever reasons, cannot be justified. Animals kill the other species for their survival, for food. Had they known to think, to speak, and to write, they would have justified their violent nature; as humans are capable of doing these things, we are justifying our unjustifiable violence with the help of ideological explanations; in the name of religion, caste, creed, nationalism, social security, and so on.
Whether art and literature fuel violence or just represent violence in the society is a difficult question. Both help each other maybe the safest answer. However, one can easily see that violence, whether genocide or sexual crimes, are increasing in the society because the society favors violence instead of non-violence. As noted earlier, we can find only two instances where a widespread discussion surrounding non-violence dominated. When the national culture itself is that of violence, how can we expect a decrease in crime ratio?
There may be difference of opinion about the argument that the national character of India is violence itself. For that we need to identify the terms that are in use; for example, when the police or army kill someone in an encounter, nobody considers it as a crime, whereas when an individual kills someone for money or for any other reasons, it is a crime. However, in a closer look, we can identify that both are instances of violence, the only difference is that one act of violence is supported by the prevailing ideologies and social norms whereas the other not; one is accepted by the society, and the other not.
We, as a society, favor atrocities of any kind provided it is supported by religion, caste, party system, linguistic group, race and so on. Atrocities against minorities are supported by the national parties as these minorities do not form the part of the so-called “Sanatana Dharma”; violence against other parties are being justified as they are against the ideology of that party and so on.
These often can be exemplified in the movies of our times. We can never find the heroes arguing for non-violent methods, they are heroes mainly because they resort to cruel act of violence. They may give justifications for their violence, may be to save someone, the country, the village and so on. However, they are glorifying nothing but violence.
When the political parties, religious groups, caste leadership, literary pieces, movies and so on propagate violence in this way, what we can expect from the poor masses? They are living in their own imaginary world and whatever they are doing are for a reason (which may be madness for the society). The increased number of violence against women, children, and other socially isolated sections can be because of this reason.
If the continuing glorification of violence is the reasons for crimes in the society, what we need to do? We need to give an emphasis on non-violent ways of thinking in the society. This does not mean we need to reproduce the statements of Gandhi or Buddha; they already said what they want to say. We need to move on from where they stopped. Only through non-violence, we can decrease the crimes in the society.

From Ayodhya to Gujarath - Rise of Another Stalwart

I don't know anyone of you remember the name K. Lakshmana, the stalwart Inspector General of Police during the black days of Emergency. He was celebrated as a hero during the time of Emergency as under him, the Naxalite movement came to an end in Kerala, but later 'fate' turned its positions and he became a villain; he was convicted for the death of the Naxalite leader Varghese. I am not going to illustrate the complexities in this issue, but I was just reminded of Lakshmana when I heard of L.K. Advani's resignation letter. So, you may ask what is so common with I.G. Lakshmana and L.K. Advani.



I will come to that later, but what are the common aspects between LK and NaMo ( as the followers address Narendra Modi). One thing, both are BJP leaders, both are at least sometime in their lifetime been regarded as the hard face of RSS in the party, having so strong an idea on Hinduist principles. But, what attracts me the most is, Advani is responsible for Babri Masjid Demolition and subsequent murder of 2000 Muslims( if I trust Wikipedia) and then hailed as an undisputed leader of BJP whereas more or less Modi is responsible for the murder of 2500 or so people( excluding those who are missing and all) and the violence followed after Godhra incident and became the one and only notable leader in the BJP after LK Advani. Whereas Modi is trying to change his image from a bloodthirsty ideologue to the epitome of development, Advani failed in his attempt to be the moderate face in the NDA.

The question so is not who is better, but something else. Here lies the reason why I thought of Lakshmana when I heard of the fall of LK Advani. Lakshmana's case shows how good our system of law in punishing the culprits even if it is so late, whereas LK's case shows, even if the law failed, the time, the God will do its function well. Those who hailed him for the murder, for the illegal demolition of the Masjid conducted demonstration outside his house criticising him. A Great Show Indeed.

The Broken Window- Jeffrey Deaver

The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Beware, you will not be able to put it down once you start reading. Thrilling would be a lesser word. The novel gives the details of the crime, the situation and the psychological reasons for making up his life. But what I like is his concept of 'the broken window'. Wikipedia defines 'broken window theory' as "a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime." When I was reading it, somehow, I cannot help think Foucault's theory of Panopticism which he formulated in his work 'Discipline and Punish'. The panopticon is used to for surveillance purposes, in the beginning in prisons, and later on in schools and other institutions. The novel narrates the issue of surveillance itself at the time of technological expansion and how data are used in the age of Internet and how can it turned out to be a trouble. Chilling, if you think further.

After a particular part of the novel, it seems the novel drags from the subject, but it is inevitable because the novelist needs to draw the characters, the formative stage of each and every character( of course not every, but main characters at least). This means, he needs to focus on the hero, Rhyme, his lover and fellow Sach, his cousin, and the villain and his victims. But somewhere I find it lacking something.

At one part of the novel, while the villain's stream of thought is going on, he recalls one experience from his childhood, especially the foster homes. Later on Detective Sach found that he is not the normal security man of SSD, but the former specialist before SSD was taken over by Sterling. He made the story that he was died in an accident, but later change his name and address to get a job as security guard in SSD. However, we won't get much more information about his transformation, except that from his childhood onwards he has this obsessive-compulsive disorder. Even then, I think, the writer should have given a little bit more information regarding this.

In the same way, I could not digest the relevance of the London operation which is mentioned in the book; maybe just to show that Lincoln Rhyme is a busy detective who got work from other places also. But I expected some more connection between this story and the main plot. If it does not have any connection with the main plot, avoiding some of the details might have helped to decrease the boredom some might feel while reading this. And the climax also could have been more colorful....



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Haridwaril Manikal Muzhangunnu- M. Mukundan

Haridwaril Manikal Muzhangunnu by M. Mukundan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Donno what to say after reading it. To be frank, I am always pessimistic regarding works which concentrates on pilgrim sites, some geographical unit which has some supernatural or transcendental significance. The same pattern can be seen in this novel as well, somewhat similar to O.V. Vijayan's Gurusagaram or so. Then, I just thought it is something like a recipe that we usually see in cookery shows; one teaspoon of salt, ... and so on. If you read carefully, it will be like, "some bhang or any other narcotics, some Sanskrit slokas, some puranas, and a girl, probably a lover with a sexual nature, and a hero who is not worldly- getting pleasures from sex, liquor, cigars and all. He has very good knowledge in puranas, and the Sanatana Dharma, but initially looks at those with a suspicious eye, but later finds solace in it.



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India and Italy- A Clash of Civilizations?

I am here trying to see the issue between India and Italy over the death of two fishermen in the Arabian Coast.

Both countries have a lot to share, culturally and politically. Both countries are the cradles of two great civilizations, ancient Roman civilization and The Sanatana Dharama of India. The Roman culture and religion has been forgotten a long while ago in Italy whereas the greater truths of Sanatana Dharma still exist in India.

Italian nationalist struggle and leader like Giuseppe Garibaldi greatly influenced Indian struggle for independence, especially a leader like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Along with that, the present president of Indian National Congress is an Italian by birth.

Though the two countries have a lot to share, some recent developments resulted in a rupture in the mutual love and respect. The clash originated after two fishermen got killed by the Italians in Indian Ocean in February 2012. I will here discuss the arguments of Italians and try to answer from my point of view.

India has Unlawfully Detained Two Italian Sailors- Italy

India didn't detain anyone illegally, but very legally only. If the Govt of Italy just ask those two mariners, how they were being treated here, they will get answers. They were spending their time in a govt guest houses, near the Italian embassy, unlike other prisoners. We won't give any Indian prisoners special privileges during X'mas, but we gave that to the Italians. Even then you guys are criticizing Indian court proceedings. India is not Mussolini's Italy, and the place of cruel Sicilian mafia guys. Here, "separation of powers" still exists, means, the legislator or the executive will not interfere in the proceedings of the court! The Italian citizens should feel shame the way they behaved in India, without any honour. Their representative in India gave the word that the mariners will return to India, but once they reached Italy, you forget your word.

The Murder Happened In International Waters

There is, of course, a dispute between whether the act mentioned is in the international jurisdiction or in the Indian coastal side. And I accept my ignorance in the issue. But the present issue has nothing to do with this dispute. The issue is that the Supreme Court of India has been hearing the case on the present issue and the Italians were under custody. First, they requested that they need to visit their homeland for celebrating X'mas. Somehow, the Hon'ble Supreme Court agreed to let them go, which is unprecedented in the judicial history of India. They came back and had been under custody again. In the last time, they again requested the Court that they need to go back to the country for casting the vote. As India respects democratic principles a lot, the Court has agreed on this too. The Court got a ‘Word’ from the Italian Ambassador that they will come back to the country for the future proceedings and the Court asked the govt to set up a special court for the smooth proceedings. In between, the Italian govt declared that they will send the mariners back. So, it is a question of word, the honour of word, for the first case. The Wikipedia quotes on the issue, "India cited extra-territorial provisions of its own law[40] stating that irrespective of the location of the ship (whether in international or territorial waters), a crime had been committed against Indian citizens on an Indian ship and hence India had the jurisdiction to prosecute and try the case. Furthermore, India has pointed to the absence of any international treaty regarding immunity from prosecution for Vessel Protection Detachments (VPD) on board privately owned commercial ships. India has also highlighted that there exists limitations to functional sovereign immunity such as when commercial activity is involved and drew attention to the fact that the Italian Navy marines were working on a contract basis for the protection of the private interests of the ship owner and therefore could in no way be treated as a discharge of sovereign functions.[41] India has signed but not ratified the yet unimplemented United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, 2004.[42][43][44]". See this argument also, "Enrica Lexie was under its flag. Hence, in accordance with the U.N. Convention of Law of Seas (UNCLOS), Italy should try the two marines. India’s position is that St. Anthony, the fishing vessel aboard which the two fishermen were killed, was an Indian vessel; and under Indian law and the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA Convention), India has jurisdiction. India and Italy are signatories to both these conventions. But while Italy needs to show exclusive jurisdiction, India only needs to show that it also has jurisdiction."

The Word

The Italian govt and their representatives are not discussing anything about the word given by the Italian ambassador. Do they think it is diplomatically or in any other way correct for him to give a false promise, and what is the impact of that? Do we Indians then consider Italians as worthy of any good qualities? As for the case, I think Italians got the best advocate and counsel in India. Harish Salve is not just a normal person to take up this issue. Now, he says, Italians insulted him. And should we think that an eminent advocate like him propagating lies. They cheated India as well as their own counsel here. It is not because of his personal merit, the court has granted his request, but because he is a representative of a Nation. By discarding the very word, Italy insulted India, for that they need to answer.

No evidence to prove that it is the Italians who killed the fishermen

They argue that there were other ships at the same time there, and the Kerala Police, without any investigation, simply went and arrested the Italians through cheating. This is one of the best jokes I have ever heard. The thing is that, the Italians don't respect India and its judicial system, a typical arrogance of the White Man. You guys still think you are the masters of the world. What about the investigations of the most celebrated Scotland Yard? I remember reading about their investigation on Bob Wolmer’s murder. The Kerala Police is much better for sure. First of all, we don't have to frame anything against anyone, but even your mariners won't say they did not fire at Indian fishermen. If we have to frame a case against Italy, there should be a reason, any enmity against them. The Italians don't know the value of human lives and thinks that you can do any atrocities against anyone. In the mean time, I have read some superb stories of the judicial system in Italy, into which they are trying those mariners. Now, I know whether we get justice!!

The whole prosecution's case will be thrown out from ANY western court as there are no strong evidences against them

It is correct, but not any court who considers the case in an independent manner. The two facts that the Italians gloriously put before are nothing but fabricated by them to hide their heinous acts. First, you argued that there is no evidence to prove that the mariners of the Italians are the ones who fired. The two affidavit submitted by the mariners in the Kerala High Court admitted that a military action was done. So, I would say the arguments mentioned are childish including the distorting of evidence. The police conducted post-mortem in the proper way. Then, they are criticizing the incineration of the bodies of the fishermen; which is part of the religious belief of the Hindus, that after death, we will incinerate the bodies. In this case, the act was done only after the proper procedures. The thing is that they won't respect Indian laws and our traditions, which will have serious repercussions, if not now, later.

Let us wait and see what will happen to the issue amidst Indian Prime Minister's warning.

Reference:

Wikipedia-