IPL and the brand business

The Indian Premiere League (IPL) is underway. A lot has been said about the timing of the event and the changes this time around with the addition of two new teams and change of personnel in almost every team. One of the many things that hasn’t changed though is the brand promotion and typical ‘paisa’ attitude of the tournament.

In IPL, a sixer is more often referred to as a DLF maximum than a six. Not to mention the famous ‘Max Mobile Strategic Timeout’ and the blokes in the commentary box shouting ‘That’s a Karbon Kamaal Catch!’ every time a catch is taken.

The jerseys that cricketers wear, say it all really. Their shirts are loaded with brand names in varying sizes. They don’t look pretty at all. In fact, one reason why the ICC events look better is because the jerseys are simple. Watching Indian jerseys in ICC events is always pleasing because you get that feeling that its Team India playing and not a Team Sahara or Team Idea or Team Nokia.

Of terrorism and the “bigger threat”

 

It wasn’t too long ago when Union Home Minister P Chidambaram spoke of ‘Saffron Terror’ attracting stark criticism from the opposition BJP and the Sangh Parivar. It was Digvijay Singh then, another Congressman, who spoke of his conversation with ATS Chief Hemant Karkare hours before his death in the 26/11 shoot-out and the slain officer’s fears that Hindu organisations were threatening him. And now, the WikiLeaks revelation of the poster boy of Congress and his concern regarding the “bigger threat” of the “growth of radicalized Hindu groups”… More uproar, more criticism, more discussions on the nexus between religion and terror…

TV Channels got a hot topic to put forth their experts and panelists, to discuss religion and terrorism and whether Rahul Gandhi was right in stating that ‘Hindu terror’ is a bigger threat than Lashkar-e-Toiba or so to say, ‘Islamic terrorism’. In one such panel discussion in a TV news channel, there was this ‘expert’ who was invited to present his view, who in addition to condemning the statement of Gandhi, went on to say that the so called ‘Hindu terror’ was no match to ‘Islamic terrorism’. “Hardly one or two people in the Hindu community may resort to such activities. But the case is different with Muslims. They have a jehadi mentality”, he said.

“You’re absolutely right”, the moderator of the show seconded, adding that “Islamic terrorism comes with state backing and is recognized as an international threat. You have to accept that”, as he posed his next question to the panelist who was defending Rahul Gandhi’s statement.

To begin with, it is indeed ironic that the same people who say that no religion preaches terror, go on to brand terror activities on religious lines. It is said “He who likes to generalise, generally lies”. This perhaps is the best response one can think of for accusations of people  who say that a particular community or an entire group or an entire religion is associated with terrorism. Secondly, you do feel that somewhere down the line, a larger picture is not being touched upon.

Terrorism cannot and should not be confined to killing of innocent people by masked men using bombs and guns alone. Terrorism in a broader sense, and in the real sense of the term, is anything that terrorizes people…that forces them to live in an atmosphere, where they spend their days and nights with a sense of fear that anything may happen anytime… a sense of insecurity.  Ask any eye witness of communal riots like the one that took place in Gujarat, and he/she will tell you what ‘terror’ is. Ask a victim of police atrocity, someone who went to the law protectors expecting justice only to get torture in return, and he/she will tell you what terror is. Ask a mother who saw her innocent son being dragged out of the house by cops for ‘inquiry’ and she will tell you what terror is. Ask someone who has seen an ‘encounter’ of an innocent unfold right in front of him, and he/she will tell you what terror is. Ask the family members of an eye witness who is scheduled to give witness against a politician in a court of law, and you will know what terror is…

Many a time, these acts are state-sponsored. The Gujarat pogrom is widely referred to as an act of state sponsored violence. The atrocities on Christians in Orissa were also viewed as state sponsored by many. There are reports of human rights violations and torture in Kashmir (By the way, no one seems to be discussing the WikiLeaks expose that appeared in news agencies the same day as the Rahul Gandhi one, about the torture meted out to detainees in Kashmir). If the Indian government is aware of it, and is refraining from checking it, then its attitude too can in a way be called state-sponsored terror. Go a step ahead and look at the wars and post-war scenarios in US-Afghanistan or US-Iraq cases, and you’ll find more evidences for state sponsored terrorism. Why then is this form of ‘state backing’ and ‘internationally recognized threat’ not discussed in the same breath on such shows?

The nation needs to discuss the larger issue of terrorism more than the religious affiliations. Even when the mainstream media discusses the nexus between religion and terror, why is that the larger picture is ignored? How many of us are aware that there is something called ‘Christian terrorism’ too? A Wikipedia page on ‘Christian terrorism’ will give you names of the many groups and country-wise terror activities of organizations that engaged in acts of terror, “the motivation for which is typically rooted in an idiosyncratic interpretation of the Bible and other tenets of faith”.  In one of the references is a BBC report on members of an American group called “Concerned Christians” who were “deported” by Israel as they were accused of “plotting attacks on sacred sites in Jerusalem”. The report goes on to add that the group was planning “unspecified extreme acts of violence in an attempt to hasten the second coming of Jesus, which they believe will take place at the end of the millennium”.

Forget Israel. There is a mention about Christian terrorism in India too. Wikipedia, while speaking about the National Liberation Front of Tripura, which it says is a Christian terrorist organization, says that it has been “classified by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism as one of the ten most active terrorist groups in the world” and that “The state government reports that the Baptist Church of Tripura supplies arms and gives financial support to the NLFT. The Church is also reported to encourage the NLFT to murder Hindus, particularly infants. NLFT has also declared a ban against Hindus celebrating Durga Puja and other Hindu festivals”. Whether these reports  are true or not, we don’t know. But the point is, how often do we see the topic of the so called ‘Christian terror’ being discussed in panel discussions on terrorism on TV channels?

Terror has no colour, no religion. Terror is terror. Besides, it is the everyday terror that people experience that needs to be addressed first. India has repeatedly expressed concerns about security, and internal security at a global platform. But it has to first deal with issues that terrify its people under its own law and order system.  Issues, that at times shake a citizen’s faith in the governance and the entire ‘system’ of the country.

 

Blind ain’t ‘Comp’etitive?

‘Treat to the eye’ – What a wonderful phrase of visual delight that the old yellow pages of language vocabulary have given to the masses… But the blind are one chunk of the populace who have got nothing to do with this expression. In their dictionary, there’s only one word – darkness.

If not for the Braille system, the blind had absolutely no hope of reading and writing. Gradually came the Braille typewriter and the Braille shorthand machines with typical six keys representing the six dots of a Braille alphabet.

However, the world has gone electronic today and computers are dictating terms. The pursuit for success and competition among the masses has elevated like never before. Looking at the ‘survival of the fittest’ scenario, not many would even consider the blind to be competent enough to give their counterparts a run for their money. But if you thought the blind cannot operate computers, think again.

Infact, many a blind may turn out to be more knowledgeable in computers than the non-blind, since they know almost all the keyboard shortcuts. Others exploit the ‘mouse’ and therefore remain unaware of many keyboard shortcuts, a key area that is examined in the entrance tests of prominent software companies!

Today, a wide range of computer softwares designed exclusively for the blind, are on hand. One of them is ‘JAWS’ (Job Access With Speech). It is a software that directs the blind in each of their moves on the keyboard, thereby enabling them to perform any task on the computer – from simple typing on the word processor to complex browsing on the internet. The functioning of the software requires a speaker or a headphone. Every key pressed on the keyboard will be ‘heard’ or ‘confirmed’ by the blind through the speaker audio output.

Another software meant for the blind is ‘WinBraille’. It is a software that helps in converting the typed text into Braille format. Once converted to the Braille format, a print out of the Braille format is taken with a special printer meant for printing Braille alphabets. A thick chart paper is used as the input paper for the printer.

Similarly, a software called OBR (Optical Braille Recognizer) works the other way round. It converts a Braille document into a typed English text format. The Braille document or the paper is kept in the scanner and the software reads data from the scanner, thereby converting the Braille alphabets into normal English text. This software is as helpful to the non-blind as it is to the blind. Those who cannot understand Braille, can use this software and easily interpret the content through the typed text. “Sometimes our exam papers written by the blind are valued by external examiners who do not know Braille. They value the papers by using this software” says Tulasi R, a Braille Instructor by profession.

There are a few among us who are ‘partially blind’. For such people ‘Magic Magnifier’ is a software that is no less than a boon. It magnifies the elements on the computer screen, so much so that a ‘My Documents’ icon will occupy the entire space on the computer screen. The operator can easily navigate across the screen with the mouse.

With the help of these softwares, the blind are leaving no stone unturned in walking abreast with the competitive world. There are quite a few blind now recruited in several known companies and they provide quality output to the company just as others do. “I am blind but I do the same work that my colleagues do here. We are involved in networking, something which requires internet and computer skills. I contribute my bit to the company and I get the same pay packet as my colleagues” discloses Renukaaradhya, HR Executive, SYBAN India, Bangalore.

With the blind making such impressive advances, the ‘darkness’ factor isn’t going to frustrate the blind community much. They say literacy and education helps bring one from darkness to light. For the blind, these softwares have made it sound literally true.

Yousuf gives India a sweet problem

 

Wow. What an innings that was from Yousuf Pathan last night. He is one big hitting batsman who has made the Indian T20 team look incomplete without him. It was good to see him come good in the ODI format as well.

The hundred against NZ has proved that he has the temperament to be a good ODI batsman. Of course, NZ is not all that a great bowling unit especially in subcontinent conditions. Yousuf will have to give similar performances against good bowling attacks like South Africa.

He was out of the side for quite some time. Actually it’s a bit unfair if you are a number 6 or a number 7 batsman and are expected to live up to your reputation of a big hitter every time you walk in to the crease. Guys like Yousuf normally enter the scene when the death overs are on. They either score a quickfire 30-40 or perish in the process of upping the ante. They do not get the comfort of pacing the innings as the top order batsmen do, and miss out on the numbers to impress the selectors.

The Bangalore ODI against NZ was a golden opportunity for Yousuf and he grabbed it with both hands, didn’t he? With a century under his belt, and the ability to pick wickets with his spin bowling, he becomes a strong contender for a place in the playing eleven of the upcoming World Cup to be played in the subcontinent. With Kohli in red hot form, Suresh Raina emerging as an ODI specialist, and Rohit Sharma chipping in with some handy performances, the Indian selectors have a sweet problem now as to who should be included in the Indian squad for the World Cup.

 

Photo : cricbuzz.com

 

 

Nehru in focus

Its November 14 – a day that we all used to anxiously wait for during our school going days. The laddus being distributed on the day notwithstanding, just the way the day would unfold with some ‘unusual’ stuff from our teachers on stage to make us smile and surprise, was something that we all loved in those days. For us, the day was more about getting prizes for the various competitions held as part of the day and loads of on stage entertainment stuff. The ‘Chacha Nehru’ part was largely confined to speeches on the day and yes of course fancy dress competitions (for which I remember going to our neighbour’s house once asking for a rose). On that day, we would all sing in his praise, speak about him in high words, and what not.

 

But gradually, we saw the ‘controversial’ side of Nehru being discussed by others, which took me by surprise initially. We were under this impression that our freedom fighters are like angels who are ‘greats’ and from the ‘good’ camp that fought against the ‘evil’ one (British). But it took time really to come to terms with the reality that controversies surrounded people like them too.

 

Even today, there are people who see Nehru in negative light. A section in fact even hates him. Just the other day quite a few children were seen participating in a RSS protest held in the city of Mangalore. Not sure what they feel about Nehru…whether they consider him as ‘Chacha’ like most children do, or see him as a Congressman – a member of a party which according to them is responsible for the creation of Pakistan. Besides, not sure whether they noted the name of the location of their protest mentioned in their banner – it was ‘Kendra Maidana’ instead of ‘Nehru Maidan’.

 

What kind of ‘Insaaf’ is this?

Actress Rakhi Sawant, who has been part of quite a few controversies, and reality shows on TV, is facing a harsh ‘reality’ of life as her show ‘Rakhi Ka Insaaf’ has led to the death of a youth.

PTI, one of India’s prominent news agencies reported that a participant of Rakhi’s show where she plays the host, died after he went into a state of depression apparently unable to bear the alleged humiliation meted out to him by her on air.

The report says:

“Laxman (25) was suffering from depression ever since he was humiliated at reality TV show ‘Rakhi Ka Insaaf’, hosted by drama queen Rakhi Sawant following which he was admitted to Jhansi Medical College hospital on November 9. Unable to bear the ignominy, he stopped taking his food and eventually died yesterday,” his uncle Balbir, who had also taken part in the programme, alleged. “Ever since he was humiliated and called names by the anchor in the programme aired on October 23, he had become an object of rebuke. This had caused him mental agony and he stopped taking food,” he claimed.

For many in the television industry, it seems as though everything has become a game. Whether it’s a game show or a reality show, no one has the license to ‘play’ with the lives and emotions of people. Can Rakhi compensate a life now? No matter what she does, she cannot really give ‘Insaaf’ to Laxman’s family.

Ashtiani, Iran, and torture..

There’s this news about Sakineh Ashtiani, an Iranian woman who has reportedly been ordered by the Iranian government to be stoned to death, resurfacing in the media these days. Media reports say that she, along with her son Sajjad Ghaderzah, her attorney Houtan Kian, and two German journalists who traveled to Iran to bring Ashtiani’s story to light have been jailed and severely tortured.

Ashtiani’s children reportedly pleaded for her life and appealed to human rights groups to intervene. Her sentence was scheduled to be carried out on November 3, but has been put on hold for the time being. It is also reported that after being convicted of adultery she was paraded on national TV to “confess”, and the reports even say that according to the ICAS, she had been tortured to extract this “confession”. She was even convicted of playing a role in the murder of her husband.

What is highlighted in media reports is that the entire episode is taking place in the ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’.  Phew…somehow, the word Islamic and Islam keep coming under the scanner every now and then, don’t they?

As far as Islam is concerned, yes, adultery is an offence that is punishable by stoning to death. But torture… there is no place for torture in Islam. I personally do not know whether Ashtiani is at fault or not. Neither do I know personally that she has been ‘severely tortured’. I read what appears in the newspapers and websites. Therefore, I can neither point a finger towards Ashtiani nor agree blindly that she is being tortured brutally. If she is, it really is condemnable. Simply because torture has no place in Islam.

There’s a hadith of Sahih Bukhari (Hadith number 3:553):

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar (ra): Allah’s Apostle (Prophet Muhammad pbuh) said, “A woman was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger.” Allah’s Apostle (pbuh) further said “(Allah knows better) Allah said (to the woman), ‘You neither fed it nor watered when you locked it up, nor did you set it free to eat the insects of the earth.’ ”

There is no way that Islam, which does not tolerate torturing even animals, will advocate such torture on human beings, who are the ‘Ashraf-ul-Maqlooqaat’ (the best among the creatures of God). Yes, death penalty is there. But capital punishments are there in other countries as well, including our own India.

Most western media are viewing Iran as a villain as far as this case of ‘human rights violation’ is concerned. On the other hand, Iran is refuting the charge saying that the western countries “have tried to exploit this case, politicize it and turn it into a political charade”, as it “has been under a lot of political pressure by the US and other Western countries over its nuclear work”.

Possible. You never know. The mainstream media told the entire world that the attack on WTC twin towers was by Al-Qaeda and people like Bin Laden and Mullah Omar. On the other hand you have a section of the media (host of websites) and a lot of people including Americans themselves saying with evidences that 9/11 was an inside job. They said the mainstream media was up with a propaganda. Possible, that it is carrying a propaganda again. It was Afghanistan first, then Iraq (remember weapons of mass destruction). Possible that its Iran on the radar this time around. It has been for quite some time now in fact.

But if Iran is indeed torturing Ashtiani, then it better not do it. It should be condemned. Its act would go down as one of the heinous crimes and would only bring Islam in negative light yet again, although it has nothing to do with it. The problem, or shall we say irony today is that countries that claim to be Islamic states are not Islamic in the true sense at all. Our neighbour Pakistan declared itself as an Islamic state, but its own citizens today claim that there’s hardly anything Islamic in the so called Islamic country. The real Islam lies in the teachings of the Quran and that of the Prophet (pbuh). Whenever they have been implemented, mankind has benefited. Iran, and all the countries that claim to be Islamic states, should perhaps reconsider as to how Islamic they are in their administrations.

Another one speaks of hand chopping…

On Friday, Jagadish Karanth, leader of Hindu Jagarana Vedike, ‘announced’ in Bagalkot that anyone who chops off the hands of the district administration officials who are demolishing illegal religious structures in the region as per the orders of the Supreme Court, will be given Rs 1 lakh as a reward from his side.

Its been quite some time now that we have been coming across people making chopping statements.  Not too long ago, Eshwarappa, Karnataka State BJP President, had ‘warned’ leaders of opposition parties that if in future, they speak ill about Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, their ‘tongues will be chopped off’.

The CM himself had made a chopping statement once, if my memory is right. Oh yes, he had said that the hands of those who vandalise churches, should be chopped off… Not sure if action would be taken against Karanth for making such a statement, since the CM himself has led by example.

 

Has Kashmir been taken care of adequately?

Everyone’s after Arundhati Roy today for her statement that Kashmir is not an integral part of India. Debates at different fora with regard to freedom of expression and sedition have already begun. Roy’s statement has even become a subject of opinion polls in a few TV channels. The latest that we hear is that a sedition charge has already been laid against her.

Whether what she said really amounts to sedition or not, should not be the prime concern. The concern should primarily be on what prompted her to make such a statement. In her response to the uproar that triggered across the country, Roy said “I said what the Kashmiris say everyday”. I coudn’t agree more with her when she said that.

Very recently I had the opportunity to speak to a few Kashmiri students studying here in Mangalore. When I read what Roy had to say, it almost seemed to me that she has simply echoed what most Kashmiris feel there. They do not want to see Indian armed forces in their land. It almost seems as though you pick any Kashmiri and you’ll get to hear stories of rape, murder, atrocities and the like being carried out by personnel of Indian armed forces deputed there. There is something that makes their people pelt stones at army men.

“We do not hate India. We hate the policies of Indian government”, said one of the students that I spoke to. “If people from Mangalore or any part of India comes to our Kashmir, we will welcome them. No one will throw stones at them. Stones are thrown only at the Indian army men”, he adds.

Kashmiris have this feeling that India in general does not care for them and is only interested in possessing the Kashmiri land, the ‘paradise’ as it is popularly known. They feel India does not value their lives, that of their children, their youth, their women and their elderly…To make things worse, they are looked at with suspicion. “Our teachers here ask us as to why we have come here all the way from Kashmir. Once when the College was organizing an anti-terrorism rally, one of our teachers taunted us saying ‘you people are terrorists yourselves’. We had a lot of difficulty in finding a room to stay here. The moment we told the owners that we are Kashmiris, they would refuse to give us the house”, says Shahid Ashraf, one of those many Kashmiri students studying here.

Whether Kashmir should allowed to be independent or not is left to the Indian government to decide. But one thing our Indian government needs to realize is that there is no point in merely possessing the land of Kashmir as it’s, if the people there do not feel they belong to India. Making the people of Kashmir as ‘its’ people, is something that the Indian government should look forward to, if it considers Kashmir to be an integral part of India, in the true sense of the term.

Split verdict again…What’s happening in our Courts?

Not sure if this is the new trend in judiciary but somehow, the ‘most awaited verdicts’ seem to be having anti-climaxes with split verdicts.

First it was the weird Ayodhya judgement which puzzled one and all where you had judges differing in their verdict. One judge said the mosque was not built by demolishing a temple while another said that a temple was indeed demolished for the structure to be built. Similarly one judge said that the entire property belongs to the Hindus while the other two said that it should be divided into three parts.

And now, we have the Karnataka High Court judges differing in their verdict over the disqualification of MLAs that has now ensured that the issue will come up for hearing before a ‘third judge’, on October 20. What’s happening in our Courts? People knock the Court door to settle a dispute and not to see it get complicated further. There seems to be no consensus among the judges themselves, which is a disheartening thing for a common man.