2S
Techie. Writer. Photographer.
Archive for crime
January 15, 2008 at 3:56 am · Filed under bangalore, terrorism
I’d like to share an incident that happened with me this morning, at about 9.00 AM in Bangalore. To give you a bit of history, I was on the way back to Bangalore, a fourteen-hour bus journey from a little town called Manchakal in Dakshin Karnataka, via Belmannu, Mangalore, Hassan, Kunigal and Nelamangala. To give you a few facts, I was starved, surviving on a lone Mangalore bottle of Thumsup that I picked up in a hurry - not Akshay Kumarlike, but hurry it was - and I had seat number 22W booked for me. ‘W’ stands for Window, and 22 stands for the last-but one seat in a bus that drove through some of the worst roads known to mankind. Needless to say, my body went flying on many occasions - suspended in mid-air for a bit - before it landed back on the seat, almost every time the bus driver gave up on slowing down before potholes. Every time it landed safely, I’d gasp an ‘oh’, say three ‘Hail-Mary’s, and then go back to listening Eminem curse America on the iPod.
So, here I am, back in smokey, chilly Bangalore. Dressed to counter Mangalore’s sizzling heat, so the teeth are chattering in frosty fright. I’m all cranky, I haven’t slept well and my back has been through the mill. I hop out of the bus at Yeshwantpur (The driver told me that he’ll “stop” at Yeshwantpur, but he ended up slowing down just enough for me to jump out of the bus whilst in motion, almost as if I were auditioning for a junior 007’s role in the next Bond flick). I arrive - on my feet, mercifully - and I look around for a rickshaw. Along he comes, greets me with thirty-one teeth and beckons me into his metallic three-wheeled excuse for a ride.
The distance is hardly eight kilometers, and surely it wouldn’t cost more than fifty rupees. Matching the absurdity of rents in Bangalore, dude in rickshaw whispers - and I managed to catch it in spite of my plight - a figure. 100 rupees. What was he driving, a rickshaw or a Concorde? Lucky for him, this year, I don’t curse, although he pushed his luck.
I walked out of the rick, still cranky, half-sleepy. Mumbled some random Kannada words which repeatedly questioned the existence of meters. At the mention of the word ‘meter’ - which, for a rickshaw driver equates to profane verbiage in rickshawtongue - he flinched, did a double-take, and then resorted to negotiation.
‘One and a half, sir’.
‘No.’ I was yawning, because of sleep, but it seemed to him that I was bored from his talk already. Good.
‘Twenty rupees extra sir’.
‘No.’ Threw in another yawn. In his face, and this time I didn’t bother stifling it either. Let Satan enter and exit as He wills.
‘Sir, fuel prices have increased’.
And then I let it all out. Fury that Yeshwantpur might have rarely seen from a normal citizen. Not-so-politely, I did remind him - and a crowd of about twenty rickshawdrivers who easily outnumbered me - that they went on a strike few days ago. That there are better ways of demanding better fares. That I don’t subscribe to their half-baked stupid ideology, that they should’ve protested when fuel rates went up, that they have always managed to survive with the high fuel rates, and that if they want to extract more money from passengers then the strike was meaningless. Because they’re getting overpaid anyway - by demanding such fares. And saying that, I walked away in a hurry. Where to - I didn’t know.
Until another rickshaw guy came running along, asking me where I wanted to be dropped. ‘Chinnappa Gardens’, I replied loudly, in absolute pride, as if it were the Palace and I was King Wodeyar myself. He nodded his head and walked away, beckoning towards his ride.
‘Not a single rupee more!’ I shouted, and he kept nodding. True to his word, the guy dropped me at my doorstep, and I paid him the fare to the exact rupee. I got out, he drove off. Transaction complete and that’s how it ought to be.
I used to have pity at times, but when I see a majority of them drowned in their booze, ruining their families, they don’t deserve it. So, these days, I give some stick back. And I hope the rest of the city does that too.
It’s about time they behave. And it’s no coincidence that I’ve filed this post under ‘terrorism’.
October 11, 2007 at 8:27 pm · Filed under religion, terrorism
For anyone fascinated by dargahs like yours truly, the Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisty dargah in Ajmer would definitely be on the radar, at some point of time in life. At the risk of repeating this fact, dargahs are typically visited by people from all cultures, religious and races. The Ajmer Dargah makes a very statement on it’s website, what is quite obviously the dargah’s mission statement, one that Khwaja Sahib carved in timeless stone.
Love towards all, malice towards none.
The Ajmer dargah - like most other dargahs - welcome every human being with the same warmth, irrespective of caste, creed or colour. It is in these premises where Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs stand shoulder-to-shoulder united seeking the blessings of a divine force. Neither room nor tolerance towards any kind of aggression. The only bond between these saints and their disciples is that of love, and nothing else.
Khwaja Sahib was believed to be a great scholar - one of the many who understood Islam to be a religion of peace and love. By being compassionate to every human being, irrespective if they are Muslim or otherwise, these saints won the hearts of many (and continue to do so) hence uniting people in ways more than one.
On the other hand are the religious extremists who are either horribly brainwashed in negativity and ‘revenge’, or use religion as a front for their political agenda.
What the blasted cowards have done today is not just bomb a dargah. They’ve attacked our unity. We can only respond by strengthening the bonds among ourselves, while filling in the gaps that extremism attempts to exploit.
There ought to be no room for racist differences in India. Maybe it’s a bold statement, but when you really do have ‘love towards all and malice towards none’, you’ve taken one mighty leap towards peace.
Peace. God knows our country needs it, as does the rest of the world.
September 5, 2007 at 12:04 am · Filed under terrorism
There’s a big, big problem with being one of the fastest-growing cities in Asia, and the region’s hottest destination for technology.
We’re also destination numero uno for terrorist attacks.
The underworld are already moving to Bangalore, because this is where the money is. And considering that terrorism and underworld make a rather healthy marriage - they need people on-site to execute the missions - Bangalore needs to worry (not panic, mind you) and shield itself. Proactively. Because - like other things - without protection, we are screwed with a capital S.
But where? Here’s a quick analysis looking at potential targets within the city, the reasons, and the impact if indeed they were attacked.
Government/military strongholds
Vidhana Soudha - A poor-terrorist’s Parliament attack, this would probably result in fewer but more important casualties. Rest assured that every camera within the city will be covering the impact all throughout, and that’s what the real objective of terrorism is anyway - mass panic. Similar targets are the High Court and even the Town Hall, which has a seating capacity of 1500 people.
Bangalore Airport - The traffic at the airport has grown exponentially, over the years, and the little HAL base is still, really, a makeshift airport, which is why Bangalore’s new Devanhalli airport is coming up. However, security has been tight as ever after 9/11 and it’s highly unlikely that the terrorist would inflict serious damage at the airport. But a bomb here would surely get CNN And BBC involved.
Contemporary Bangalore
Think average IT-goer, and you automatically think INOX, PVR, Brigade Road, Central, etc. The multiplexes are a big, big attraction in twentieth-century artificial Bangalore, and they’re crowded to suffocation on weekends. The Forum have already taken steps - there’s a bomb-detector in place for every vehicle that enters the premises. And PVR have always frisked cinema-goers, albeit getting uncomfortable at times. Anyway, smart thinking.
Technoville
The real big targets. It is impossible to think of Bangalore minus a software industry, and that really, is the heart and soul of urban Bangalore. Infy and Wipro seem to have bought half the town itself, especially on the outskirts, and they are the face of this city after all. ITPL in Whitefield, Embassy Golf Links Business park on the inner ring road, bits around Koramangala, Indiranagar and M.G. Road are a hot-favourite for the contemporary Bangalorean too.
The common Bangalorean
And the forgotten one too. The Majestic, City/National market areas are always crowded. While the Cantonment station isn’t overcrowded, City is, and it didn’t have too strong a security check until Laloo enforced it at stations throughout recently. Still, an open area where one can lose themselves in the crowd real easy.
Religion
This, seriously, is the biggest threat. Bangalore is home to a few religious strongholds, especially a few important temples. The Bull Temple, built by Kempegowda, is of extreme importance especially around November and December when there is an annual festival - a groundnut fair, to celebrate the harvest. And there’s a bigger one too - ISKCON - certainly contemporary Bangalore’s most spectacular property in terms of divine importance. ISKCON have a very strong security check around, and it’s well guarded - CCTV and the works, reminding us of the Vatican. There’s also the Jamma Masjid - a Muslim favourite within the city, and even the tomb of Sufi saint Tawakkal Mastan. Any attempt to attack here could spark communal violence, and for those who remember the Saddam’s execution’s aftermath, it could get nasty, especially in areas around Munireddypallya.
Luckily, Bangalore has a strong military presence as well, and most MNCs within the city are already paranoid about security. The Microsoft offices have their bomb-detection mechanisms in place from almost a year, so there is coverage already. Still, I somehow feel it’s a bubble about to be burst, and I can’t help question how little the authorities are doing to improve security at most of these places.
What pisses me off more, is that most of contemporary Bangalore - the malls and multiplexes - have the counter-measures in place, but the common Bangalorean has been forgotten. We can’t have the government focus only on protecting IT strongholds and ignoring the rest of the city, it’s just not done. I hope they realise this soon enough and act accordingly.
August 30, 2007 at 11:01 am · Filed under crime
Looks like there’s a Taleban hangover in Bhagalpur.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gFOqlCslZE]
An incident of this nature doesn’t require any dramatisation - the facts are disturbing enough. Mohammed Aurangzeb, also known as Salim, apparently stole a gold chain, a crime for which he nearly lost his life.
In the video, Aurangzeb can seen kicked in the face and abdomen, and thrashed by the Bhagalpur mob. He was even whipped with a belt, before being dragged on a motorbike on his stomach, his hands tried to the bike. The bike seemed to belong to the police. It’s barbaric rider, a sub-inspector.
What kind of discipline is instilled into these officers? What kind of barbarism is this? Where are the human rights gone? With which face do we as Indians now tell the world that we are a democracy? This is stuff right out of pre-historic India - has God really given up on Bihar?
And this isn’t the first incident either. Authorities have first used, misused, overused and now abused their power in enforcing law. Women have been raped, students have been beaten, petty theives nearly pay with their life, and many a criminal has lost his life to an encounter. Those who have been ‘encountered’, of course, are more often than not convicted criminals beyond repair. Not that innocent people have never been encountered, but hey.
Police brutality has always been there in India. It has been researched, and action points recommended, but clearly, little has happened since. That report of 1996 is extremely relevant, even today.
Someone at a top level of the State needs to act. Extreme force is potentially justifiable in the wake of an emergency, or when things go out of hand. The only good that has come out of this incident, is that it’s struck fear into the hearts of many theives around the nation who might see the video. But at what cost?
Indeed, quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
August 27, 2007 at 3:21 am · Filed under terrorism
People are dead. People are injured, some decapitated - worse than death, that. Families are shattered, a whole generation is mourning. There’s talk, there’s analysis, there’s blame. But there’s not enough action - first to prevent it and then to counter it. I don’t care if anyone does think they’re trying their best. If this is the ‘best’ we can do in the event of a terrorist attack, then hey, we’ve screwed up somewhere.
And while people are blaming each other, some are defending them. Um, are we missing something here? Pardon me, for this is a point done-to-death, but it’s quite salient, so I’ll make it again.
There is a fundamental difference when bombs go off in India and America. We don’t retaliate.
And that sucks. It pains me to think that we should look at the Americans for inspiration on anything of national interest, but here I am.
If there were twin blasts in New York, Uncle Sam - who might have his brains where other orbs ought to be - would have ensured that he nukes the rears of a thousand ‘terrorists’ (who could just be innocent Muslims, but hey - you think Bush can tell the difference?). Eerily, it seems there is an anti-Muslim propaganda taking birth from these events. Maybe someday the leaders will wake up and realise that there’s a political agenda, and nothing else. If indeed, these are Muslim outfits, then they are horribly far from their religion, and they ought to be exterminated anyway.
But we, on the other hand, do very, very little to lose them. When have you heard of R&AW’s counter-intelligence officials assasinating ISI agents? When have you heard of a planned military offensive on targets in Pakistan and Kashmir to counter terrorism?
We can’t have this. We just can’t have cowardly eunuchs scare us, and then kill us. My heart goes out to the people of Hyderabad, many of whom are scared to walk out in the open. I genuinely hope the Army and Intelligence work together to realise their fundamental objective - National Security. I hope they find out exactly who was behind all this. I hope they hunt down every one of manhood-deficient rogues in those sleeper cells. I hope they put everything else aside, and focus entirely on eradicating terrorism from the city. Not being able to walk free is the shittiest feeling one can ever encounter, and that’s what many in Hyderabad would be thinking about now. It’s mass murder. It’s bloody genocide.
I also hope that we will counter-attack - both strategically and tactically. And fast. We ought to kill them, not before feeding their intimate parts to the strays.
And Gandhism you better sit this one out. Because folks, we are at war. Again.
The only differences in this war - the victims are civilians, the enemy is an illegitimate coward who isn’t even blessed between his legs with the courage to stand up and fight like a man for his baseless cause, and the battlefield is the city.
It could be your home next. Or mine.
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