Rebuttal- N Ram's Highly Misleading Article in The Hindu

The following article appeared in The Hindu on 9th March, 2015- http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/ban-on-indias-daughter-no-leg-to-stand-on/article6972021.ece

I'm giving a point to point rebuttal-

1. " As though interviews and interactions with convicted criminals were something new to journalism and documentary film-making”

Except that the criminal in question isn’t convicted completely yet and his petition remains under trial! This interview, documentary and the resulting rape case brouhaha may well result in his death sentence being commuted into something more lenient! The view of the editor's guild is only an example of spin mastery- “it is an insult to the Supreme Court to suggest that the airing of the convict’s perverted views would tend to interfere with the course of justice". Surely not the view of the convict, but the broader inference that it was his "culture" that resulted in the rape which would save him.

2. Mr. Ram indulges in outright misrepresentations in the penultimate paragraph. The legal notice to Ms. Udwin and team was sent on 7th April 2014, much before the so called "change in regime".

3. Finally, the piece-de-resistance- Mr. Ram says “The PM would do well to undo the retrograde ban immediately, failing which he could allow it to lapse when it is challenged in the Supreme Court, as it surely will be. " Now this "ban" is dependent upon the Delhi HC order and is basically a stay on its broadcast till all the legal tangles and violations are sorted out. If the government of India cannot enforce its own rules, irrespective of the regimes, then there is nothing much to say!

The 'Mahi Way'

Spare a thought for Dhoni. How much pressure can this guy really take?

Dhoni would surely have lost his captaincy if India had not at least reached the finals. He looked dead and buried in the middle of the tournament. People, fans and experts all were criticizing him left, down and center. There were news that even selector-in-chief Srikanth clashed with him on playing Ashwin against WI (In the end, he did play). There was another report that said his wife, new to public life, was getting messages on Facebook from all over the world, imploring her to teach her husband how to select teams, how to strategise and what to speak in post match conferences!

Dhoni himself was struggling with the bat. He was unable to play himself in and- because he doesn't have a classical technique- was looking doubly ugly. His on-field decisions were questioned in letting Nehra bowl that over, in not allowing Yusuf pathan come in early and then in allowing Yusuf Pathan to come in early!

His off-field decisions were even more contentious. The whole country forgot it was only the qualifying stage and the team needed to have a working leg spinning option in Chawla. Unfortunately, apart from a practice match against Australia, Chawla was unable to take the pressure. Then in the semis against Pakistan, Dhoni had to admit his decision of leaving out Ashwin was wrong. And nothing has been heard about playing Sreesanth in the Final. My take is that Sree does bowl fast- he touched 145kmh during finals- and a fast bowler running in with fire and enthusiasm can lift the whole team up. The second reason might be that Sreesanth is a lucky mascot for the Indian team!

It's futile to debate these issues now. The real deal is that Dhoni was ready to be bold, unafraid of the consequences and be his own man (of course, with Gary Kirsten in the background). It was easy for him to do nothing- if you do nothing and let things run their course then you remain safe- and end up earning nothing. However, he chose not to. He stuck his neck out. He knew most of the decisions in Cricket turn out as gambles. He wanted to be on his own while gambling.

Cut to the final- would you promote yourself in a WC final when you're chasing a big total, your big guns have been silenced early; the team's under pressure and you yourself are out of form? Well, this guy did- based on sound cricketing logic and common sense. He did not want to expose Yuvraj to Murali, he had confidence that he could read Murali better and he wanted to keep a left-right combination.

He did come out. He struggled as usual initially but gradually started settling down for the first time in the whole tournament. And finally when he hit his first boundary, to Murali over extra cover, we JUST knew that the Dhoni we know was back. He managed to write his own script- the one only schoolboys imagine in their day dreams- win the world cup and finish things off with a six over the long on!

Hats off to this guy! One wonders which stuff he is made of!

Kashmir Conundrum- Solutions?

The best solution one can hope for the people of Kashmir is the withdrawal of armed forces and some more autonomy.

But there is already enough autonomy in the form of article 370 and some other cosmetic measures, like calling the governor sadr-e riyasat. In fact, article 370 is responsible for preserving the Kashmiri way of life and culture. Else Kashmiris would have been overtaken by enterprising people like Marwaris and Punjabis in their own state. (Have a look at Pakistan, by the way- totally dominated by Punjabis). Yet Kashmiris complain that India hasn't done enough to "win their hearts".

However, this also means that along with the Kashmiri way of life the stunted economy is also preserved and that in turn leads to more frustations. Which then is vented out against the state itself and its representative security forces. People suffer, then some people and some other vested interests make an issue out that, the janta (awaam) vents even more frustration on the state and consequently, even more people suffer. Thus it becomes a vicious cycle.

And police excesses happen everywhere in India. Ever heard of Dalsinghsarai in Bihar? In '90s, ELEVEN students died because of police firing, and I can't even find it on Internet. But have a look at THIS link, anyway.

http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/liberty.nsf/(docid)/65DD3DD45C07BB77E5256AD30013065E?OpenDocument

But let's leave that aside. For Kashmir, free movement of people seems one of the major solutions. Of course, this would mean diluting the Kashmiri conservation but then that's a challenge all the traditional societies are facing. Once the people get preoccupied then the armed forces can also afford to take rest and gradually retreat to their barracks. However, given the blatant communalism of the valley people and the general propensity towards conspiracy theories and rumour mongering, this also looks out of question.

So the people of the state should press for 'Azaadi from the forces'. If you give a movement a more meaningful direction, then it becomes that much more valid and effective. Congregating after the Friday prayers, putting women and children on the front, repeatedly provoking armed security personnel and then getting angry that they opened fire- this isn't a great template for protests. You are only harming yourself and then blaming it on others.

And no matter who rules, institutions like police and the army will always be there, protecting those in power. People all over the world already know this.

One final thing- no other regime in the world provides as much freedom as India does. You can follow your own religion, speak your own language, live according to your way of life, have your own film industry and film stars, and to top it all, still keep protesting. Try that in any other country- I bet it cannot be done even under a self rule!

P.S. All said and expressed, one cannot help but feel sympathy for the people of Kashmir and their anguish. Stupid and corrupt bureaucracy and leadership has bungled up cases like the Shopian tragedy. For people who have been under siege for nearly 2 decades, discontent builds up like steam in a pressure cooker.

Haare Zameen Pe!

When I got newly admitted in my school in Std 1st, my big and scary (to me, in those days!) class teacher Mrs. Gilbert sternly told everyone in the class the following- “The boy who remains most silent in the class will be made the monitor” (it was a boy’s school, by the way)

I took her advice a little too seriously. I spent the next 3-4 years being absolutely silent, the quietest and the shiest in the class. However, the title of the class monitor continued to elude me- although I kept getting similar accolades even in parent teachers meeting. My parents listened to my praise with a little incredulous expression on their faces, wondering how this rowdy, boisterous kid manages to remain so quiet in the class room!

Only after I grew up a little did I realize that it was not actually the quietest kid who gets to be the monitor, it is actually the noisiest, most talkative kid! The only thing is that the noise must be made in the right manner and all the talks be done under one pretext or the other. Nothing significant should be done in contravention of the orders of those sacrosanct teachers. Like so many things in life and careers that come up later, one should “manage” their aspects of personalities and behaviour!

Another thing that happened due to my shyness was that I never got selected to be a part of dance/acting troops. I was never a great dancer or actor to begin with but always felt I could do better than many of those guys on stage. I tried to get in but my then close friend Deepak told me that it won’t be possible. He said that I had “visibility” issues and only those with good visibility are selected. I retorted that I had created some visibility for myself and was doing well in quizzes et al. He replied that actually the thing was that the teachers were too lazy to teach a new entrant like me all the dance steps (despite that being the spirit of their work, if not the letter). I gave up at this point.

Time flew by and in higher classes, I managed to become everything I had wanted- act in skits, become a monitor of the class, editor of the school magazine and as the coup-de-gras, become the house captain as well. But now when I look back to those days, I wonder at the parallels that emerge between our current life in the corporate world and what we were in primary school. One can only say that some things never change! Even now, you need to manage yourselves, keep looking around constantly, remain in the right peer group, make the right noises and keep impressing the powers-that-be. And of course, you should not take their words literally- always take them with a pinch of salt!

P.S. - One of my classmates who was a regular in the song-dance-act routines did well enough to become an actor in saas bahu serials!