~ Delhi Crime ~

Delhi Crime is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case that took place in the neighbourhood of Munirka, in South Delhi. The Netflix series follows the story in the aftermath of the gang rape, where Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South Delhi, Chhaya Sharma (Vartika Chaturvedi in the reel) is tasked to find the culprits, responsible for the assaults and death of the female victim. Shefali Shah has performed the role of Chhaya Sharma very well.

Yesterday, Netflix promoted #DelhiCrime in the app. I thought for a moment and decided to skip it. Just because the 2012 incident, enraged & shocked most Indians for the brutality of the cimem. This article by @_NAN_DINI articulates well. https://t.co/Luwq3GBbxt

— Vivek (@vevck) March 28, 2019

Yes, I finally finished watching the series and it is well made. The anthology on the gruesome gang-rape is written and directed by Richie Mehta, Canadian film director and writer. It presents a view-point on different characters from the Delhi Police who were crucial to the investigation. 

After hearing constant corruption cases and scams involving politicians from different political parties over the last decade, people were very angry at Central government of 2012. Even I was very outraged at that incident and vented my anger against the establishment in a post 'Dance of Democracy'.

In an Insta-Everything-World, people's expectations from - the government, the police, and the judiciary - are such that we expect cases to be solved and justice delivered instantly. After watching Delhi Crime, the Indian viewer is reminded of the reality of we Indians live and operate. The situation depicted of Delhi Police probably holds good for any state police force across the country - under-staffed, over-worked, paid less, lacks infrastructure, etc. Against all such odds, the Delhi Police team under Chhaya Sharma, DCP South Delhi, did do an impressive job and arresting all the 6 accused in a span of five days, under some tremendous pressure and scrutiny from politicians, media and citizens. 

Rapes haven't stopped in Delhi or elsewhere in the country post December 2012. Here's a twitter trail on few of the rapes that I have come across and that's been reported in the media. This is definitely is not complete list, it requires the collective effort from the family and society in the up-bringing of young boys and men. 

This so disgusting. This is not the India we would like to live in. Please act. @rajnathsingh @HMOIndia @narendramodi @mlkhattar https://t.co/Bkiplvw7tp

— Vivek (@vevck) June 7, 2017

We the people have very high expectations from our forces while not considering the factors under which they operate. Unfortunately, our country has been run like this for ages, without much accountability from the governments that have ruled from Independence. Wish the young citizens of the country will change that and ask questions to the governments that seek vote every 5 years -

1. Why should there be reforms to law, judiciary and governance only when such terrible incidents happen. Why cannot the law-makers, read politicians, work for the betterment of people and forces?
2. Where do all the funds for the police forces go and how are they spent?

In retrospect after watching Delhi Crime, I feel the Media could have done much better job instead of bashing the police force for other political agenda. Media plays a very vital role in any democracy. However, in the recent years many journalists, TV and print, instead of reporting they also seem to be involved in doing activism leveraging their reach. Thanks to Social Media which has brought some equilibrium in countering such one-sided activism.

Additional reading - 
1. Chhaya Sharma inspired Delhi Crime

~ Dial out criminals ~

Times of India has started a campaign against the Ordinance which the government is proposing to pass which allows criminals to hold on to their posts as MPs and MLAs. 

All you need to do is call +918067730022. The number of missed calls received will be published to show the President of the number of people against the Ordinance. After one ring, the call automatically disconnects. You will get an SMS thanking you for the miss call. Those who live overseas can participate.

I just did my bit. Time to ring out the criminals from the political system. 

~ Animals as leaders ~

An interesting name for a music band ain't it? Animals as Leaders. I discovered the band during this season's Bangalore Open Air. They are American instrumental progressive band based out of Washington.

Don't mistake this blogpost for a review on the band. I felt the title goes well with the subject, as Humans we have lost control of our inner instincts in the world of Darwinism. Through the years of evolution, mankind might have evolved from being animals to intellectual beings. We have tried our level best to create a society by defining rules & institutions in various forms to have control over people. Why? To maintain order in the system where things can run smoothly & efficiently. 

However, the human mind hasn't been able to define a rule or a law which could adapt to the Continuous Evolution {CE}. The rules & institutions which were supposed to create an environment where everyone would have equality & freedom hasn't really happened even after so many countries have gained Independence from Colonial Rulers. 

Am sure you are wondering what is that am trying to convey with a progressive metal band name, Darwinism, Institutions, etc. This rant has been over the passing of judgment, which let Zimmerman walk free over the killing of young boy, Trayvon Martin. Also, how the systems which were created haven't evolved over changing times or the reformation of the system has been very slow.

Many Americans across major cities in the US have taken to the streets protesting the judgement. There have been numerous blogs & mainstream media covering it. From the User-Generated clutter on Social Media, these 3 posts stand out.

Gary Younge writes 'Open season on black boys after a verdict like this' in The Guardian

Appeals for calm in the wake of such a verdict raise the question of what calm there can possibly be in a place where such a verdict is possible. Parents of black boys are not likely to feel calm. Partners of black men are not likely to feel calm. Children with black fathers are not likely to feel calm. Those who now fear violent social disorder must ask themselves whose interests are served by a violent social order in which young black men can be thus slain and discarded. 

But while the acquittal was shameful it was not a shock. It took more than six weeks after Martin's death for Zimmerman to be arrested and only then after massive pressure both nationally and locally. Those who dismissed this as a political trial (a peculiar accusation in the summer of Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden) should bear in mind that it was politics that made this case controversial.

Amy Davidson asks 'What should Trayvon Martin have done?' on her blog in The New Yorker.

I still don’t understand what Trayvon Martin was supposed to do. I’ve asked before, and received many confident answers; since the moment George Zimmerman shot him dead, there has been no shortage of loudly stated certainty about his actions and explanations of how it all ought to have gone. Most are presented as self-evident. Many are contradictory. None are satisfying. In part, that’s because we don’t know exactly what Martin did in the very last minute of a life that ought not to have ended. More than that, too many of the prescriptions are not about what Martin was supposed to do, but who he was supposed to be.

The third one where Charles Blow writes the Op-ed column in the NYT, "The whole system failed Taryvon Martin"

This is not to dispute the jury’s finding — one can intellectually rationalize the decision — as much as it is to howl at the moon, to yearn for a brighter reality for the politics around dark bodies, to raise a voice and say, this case is a rallying call, not a death dirge.  

The system began to fail Martin long before that night.  

The system failed him when Florida’s self-defense laws were written, allowing an aggressor to claim self-defense in the middle of an altercation — and to use deadly force in that defense — with no culpability for his role in the events that led to that point.

This isn't the first time we have seen injustice taking place in the world. We have been witnessing across the world time & again. Except that there is change now, people are no longer silent. They have started protesting against Govts or Institutions - Arab Springs, Occupy WallStreet, Greek protests, Nirbhaya protest. 

In the recent past, Indians have taken to the streets to protest corruption in the institutions which are meant to serve. The other one which shook India was the protests in Delhi over the rape and subsequent death of the victim. 

Even though Obama has spoken about Trayvon Martin case yesterday, that he could have been the person 35 years ago. He tells there are the flaws in the system & could drive reforms for a better & safer country. 

Compare that to our Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's speech given during the Rape protests. The speech is more like a news reading & ending up "Theek hai". Interesting, the 'Theek hai' video has removed from Youtube, probably a request from the Indian Government.

We might protests for freedom of speech, liberty, democracy, et al. As leaders Politicians might speak up from their past experiences or prepared speech. The speech could be for political gain or otherwise; in the end, the ground reality needs to improve for everyone in the system. 

Connecting the 3 - the title of American instrumental progressive metal band, Evolution and Institutions. We have a lot to learn from Animals. While they might live their lives out of instincts, there is some order in their system. Even though we Humans have evolved in many factors & attained mastery over many domains, we still are fighting over basic things in society we created. The Institutions - Democracy, Laws, Constitution, etc which were created to bring order and equality still hasn't been conducive for everyone. 

Till then I feel Animals are far better than Humans.

~ News is entertainment ~

Post the Doordarshan era when the Govt of India allowed private players to broadcast, we initially had a bouquet of sports & entertainment channels. As far as the News channels were concerned, back in late 90s we had - DD, Zee News & Aaj Tak. The alternative source of news were magazines - The Outlook, The Week, India Today & regional cousins - and traditional Newspapers.

Step into 21st Century, we have 120 News channels operating across India. Of these 120 channels, guess about 5 English channels are watched by most urban population, discounting the Regional news channels. 

Thanks to these channels, am disillusioned by how information is feed to us & at times they have constant supply of *Breaking News*. Thanks to FDI &  politicians / political parties who want a medium to reach out to the masses, we now have many of them who own or control some of these channels. Most of these channels are biased towards a specific party, religion or an issue. Very rarely do we see these channels take a neutral stance &  get the bottom of an issue. 

After the Radiagate exposè, I lost faith with some of the main stream media professionals {& their organizations} whose names have appeared in the deal making. I feel the role of media today has changed to that of a *Middleman* who brokers deals between different political parties, business men, corporations than their primary objective of delivery quality information to the people of the current affairs. My view holds good w.r.t Indian media only.

I have been watching Madhu Trehan's episodes today morning & agree with her points. Wonder how those anchoring the shows fail to miss the obvious. I wish those Media professionals watch Madhu's show & take it as feedback about their work & bring some change. Have been following the alternative media - bloggers or websites - which cover/offers another perspective to the main stream media. Some of them which I frequently visit are:

Open The Magazine

The Caravan

Kafila

Churmuri

Media Crooks

News Laundry

Faking News *Satire 

Move over bloggers or websites, we now have  realtime crowd-sourced news being covered by people across the globe powered by Twitter. Any major event {Political | Sporting | Festival | Product Launches} or Catastrophe being delivered instantaneously with videos & pictures. This breaks the hold of mainstream media on coverage of events. The below pictures were taken by Andrew Kitzenberg, in the night when Tsarnaev brothers had a show down with police.

Here it’s clear to see the brothers taking aim and firing on the officers. (Taken at 12:47:57AM)

This is a zoomed in view from the last image. The red circle highlights the pressure cooker bomb that was used just moments after this photo was taken. These are the only pictures which I have come across on the internet captured by Andrew. For first hand account of the event witnessed by Andrew visit here

However, the normal public do not have access to information when it comes to Govts or Corporations. That's where we bank on the these Media Corps to deliver news AS IS versus interpreting or transforming before reaching us.

We have hacktivist style of news reporting from YourAnonNews & WikiLeaks. Even though their means of obtaining information is not considered ethical by majority their intent isn't *always* wrong. From the recent Boston bombings, we have seen online vigilantism which caused a lot of rumour & chaos in the already stressed environment. This is one of the major drawbacks of digital world when data is available for everyone to piece together & offer their own versions.

One of the politicians I admire is Mr Obama. How I wish our PM Mr Manmohan Singh shared some wit or at least spoke, at times, when it mattered. Enjoy this talk, Obama taking digs at the entire media during his speech at the White House Correspondent’s dinner.

Additional reading: A week inside India's media boom {FT} | Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew' {The Atlantic} | THE LESSONS OF STEUBENVILLE {The NewYorker} | Breaking news is broken {Slate} | Hey Reddit, Enough Boston Bombing Vigilantism {The Atlantic} | Security alert: notes from the frontline of the war in cyberspace {The Guardian} | The trolls among us {NYT}

Update 13 May 2013

Anubha Bhonsle has a very good write up on how Twitter plays a role in how we consume news & also the responsibility of the journalists to get their basics right & provide meaningful context to the raw data. Do read 'News in the time of Twitter' on News Laundry. 

There is no denying that social media platforms can today spread information and misinformation far quicker than they would have spread a decade ago. The problem though isn’t with technology. The problem is many of us have all but abandoned standards of good reporting, the very basics. The need of the hour is a reporter who will shape a narrative in a cacophony of noise, conversation and abundant content around him/her or on the social web. A reporter who will dig, question, unearth and make the linkages.

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter has been quoted as saying, “We provide the information. That’s when we hand off the baton to journalists, to provide context.”

~ Vote maadi ~

Citizens of Karnataka, do step out & vote tomorrow. Agreed that not every constituency is being contested by candidates you wish to support. However, it is important to cast your vote. 

Those of you who are part of Hebbal constituency please show your support for Sridhar. Why Sridhar Pabbisetty?

• Educated - MBA from IIM Bangalore, BE Computer Science from Bangalore University has resigned from his coveted post of Chief Operating Officer of the Centre for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore.
• Aspiring to bring transparency & accountability in a system which is known to pass the buck from pillar to pillar
• Has keen interest in the public policy which focuses on advancing the research in the areas of inclusive education, enhancing employability, better waste management.

You can read more about his Credentials & Experience. 

B.PAC has a list of manifestos from all the parties. If you wish to read them check here.

If you want better Bangalore then NOW is the time! Vote maadi

~ Go Vote! ~

Finally a video which summarises my thoughts { & probably others too} very well. The video nails all the points. Stop voting for parties whose ideologies are - religion, caste, free supply, dynasty - oriented. Time for some movement from WE THE PEOPLE. Doesn't matter if these unknown candidates win or loose, at least the corrupt ones will get a taste of citizens.

Let us put a fight against the corrupt ones. Do your bit, know your candidate & VOTE!

~ Dance of Democracy ~

The finger salute is for all those corrupt politicians in our country. {Captured at NH7}

This is what happens in India, when the citizens of the country are asking for better governance by the politicians whom we elected. Rather than doing their jobs correctly, they play at the expense of peoples lives.

We are the clowns of this country to have chosen them to rule us. I call it a Dance of Democracy. Where the Politicians (Ring Masters) who control the Citizens (as Clowns). These guys use money to lure the masses to vote them during the election day. They use all possible means - Religion, Caste, Creed, Economic Disparity, etc - to divide and win the votes of people of this country. This my friend is called Democratic process of electing the incapable & incompetent to the house of representatives to run a nation called India.

I hope we sensitise people when these buffoons come begging for votes in 2014. They pretend to behave like Clowns for a month & then become the RingMasters for 5 years. This is the game which they have played all the time & got away. 

This current wave of protests in Delhi for better legislation, judicial & police reforms against rapists. This I feel is the beginning of a change in the country. It is India's own Tahrir Square at Raisina Hill.

You can watch the massive continuing protests Live