Tuesday 26 November 2013

The Twisted Aarushi Verdict


                                                                             





                                                                                 

the verdict in the Aarushi Talwar case is finally out...the parents have been held guilty of murdering their daughter as well as their servant Hemraj....
The verdict itself is bizarre....the CBI or the police didn't  do their work cut out for them at the scene of crime....the sloppy manner in which the evidence was collected the clueless manner of investigation and the way the bodies of the victims were recovered.
From all accounts the prosecution proceeded at its own pace and didn't allow the defense to place certain crucial facts before them - the Talwars had to rush to courts for a direction several times to allow them to place material facts which were missing but somehow or the other luck alluded them at every step...as if destiny was waiting for them at every crossroad....
However whats surprising that should decisions be subject to personal prejudices or on the evidence available on record....
Should the requirements of the case not be paramount rather than hearsay and whims and fancies...if the case requires that the entire gamut of witnesses be examined should that request be denied?

The same agency which filed a closure report in the absence of any credible evidence did a U turn and asked for their conviction
The fault of the parents seem to be that in their quest for justice they seem to have forgotten that the agency did not have any credible answers, yet the parents being parents insisted - they needed the police to find the killers of their beloved daughter
It was this stubbornness which probably did them in.....they were bewildered to find that the very agency to which they were looking for justice was in fact gunning for their own blood...
Ultimately the (un) expected happened and the Talwars themselves were convicted of the murder of their only child for whom they beseeched the agency and the law....
Their conviction itself is a sort of deathblow on the parents, and indeed seems a 'miscarriage of justice'....
will this family finally get justice now is something we have to wait and see....

Sunday 24 November 2013

Arushi Talwar - trial by fire



                                                                               







The Arushi Talwar tangle....awfully complicated as it was initially has been made more so by the constant turns and twists involved in it....the constant media probes, the police and CBI flip flops, the torrent of opinions, and finally the quest for justice by the family and others...
We should see this case from a legal stand point....what may appear illogical to the layman may be the logical thing to do as per legal procedures....
The Court can only proceed as per settled legal procedures, as per the evidence available on record. It can't look beyond the witnesses, the evidence, the testimony, and the medico legal reports....
Whatever be the public opinion or the media glare the verdicts can't be based on that because if it is so then they are bound to be wrongly delivered in one way or the other...
Won't comment on the merits of this particular case as not familiar with the inside evidence available but one thing is for sure the family's quest for justice has actually led them into a maze of events....
Had the police been vigilant enough to collect forensic evidence from the scene of the crime and preserve and present it before Court perhaps a more cohesive result would have been available.....however it so happens sometimes that in the absence of credible evidence the Courts do tend to lean towards the 'benefit of doubt' theory....
Convictions can't solely be based on conjectures and surmises emotions or wishes.....it has to be on rock solid evidence, the murder weapon being recovered, the forensic and other reports, the testimonies and the circumstantial evidence too.....
The Court if it follows any other procedure or tries to super impose its own opinion over the evidence available on record may end up making a bigger mistake than initially made in this case...
So let the legal acumen prevail over any other consideration....and if in the end there are no results available the case should rest till eternity....all parties should just treat it as closure....
Of course if the Court comes to a horrendous incomprehensible conclusion then the case will drag on for more years to come.....in appeal.


Tuesday 19 November 2013

Indira Gandhi's victory speech......




Saturday 16 November 2013

Sachin's farewell speech (+playlist) - Courtesy Star Sports

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Can't believe Sachin has finally bid adieu to the game of cricket....is it true....can't be....the cricket field will be empty without Sachin - hope he hadn't taken this 'retirement' decision, it was a bit premature - could have played on for some more time...if Murli could play on as well as Jaisuriaya - why not Sachin.....
Can't express myself - truly truly an emotional moment as a fan...I just don't know what I'm saying or writing its a bit too much to handle....can imagine what Sachin must be going through...
Sachin what a wonderful speech....straight from the heart and spoke his entire life out
Goosebumps, lump in the throat and obviously it's difficult to speak right now - Cheers Sachin....keep going and Indians love you with the core of their heart

Saturday 9 November 2013

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar the Son of India - plays for a picture perfect finish





                                                                                       


                                                                                 





                                                                         





Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar loved and adored by millions all over is finally playing his 200th test in Mumbai from 14th November 2013 and retiring from cricket thereafter.
Mumbai Cricket Association which is hosting the match at Wankhede Stadium has announced grand plans of releasing a commemorative postal stamp in honor of Sachin Tendulkar. There are also plans to release a 64 page brochure on Sachin to depict his articles and photographs...A special gold coin would be used for the toss of the match with Sachin imprinted on it...
Fans will be distributed face masks, photographs, caps and Sachin memoirs on all days of the match...
A poignant moment indeed cherished by all Sachin fans who want the event to be as memorable as possible and perhaps as grand....After all its not everyday that India would be witness to such a sporting legend who has unified all Indians into one necklace - all are in unison in praising Sachin to the hilt as he deserves every bit of it....just like Bradman is priceless for the Australians so is Sachin Tendulkar for us Indians - a  matter of immense pride for everybody, irrespective whether the world places him below Bradman or above him....

Sachin was born on 24th April 1973 in Mumbai and started playing serious cricket at the age of eleven when most other people his age were either busy playing marbles or flying kites....
Sachin was from a middle class yet illustrious family and a virtuous father and an equally virtuous Coach who taught him the virtues of a good honest life....
Sachin's test debut was at the tender age of 16 years against Pakistan and from then on has set up record after record.
Sachin was the first player to score one hundred international centuries, the first to score a double century in one day internationals and the only cricketer to complete 34,000 runs in international cricket.
On the 5th of October 2013 Sachin became the first Indian to aggregate 50,000 runs in all forms of cricket including international, domestic, first class.
Sachin was the part of the Indian squad which played and won the 2011 World Cup cricket after 6 World Cup appearances...
Sachin also won the 'Player of the Tournament' award in 2003 World Cup held in South Africa.
Sachin was the only Indian player named in an all time World Test XI team to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Sachin has been honored with the Padma Vibhushan - India's second highest civilian award, as well as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award - India's highest sporting honor...
Sachin was also awarded the rank of Group Officer by the Indian Air Force as an acknowledgement of his great prowess.
Sachin was nominated for the ICC Peoples Choice Award on 1st August 2012 for the third time.
In 2012 Sachin was nominated to the Indian Parliament as a Rajya Sabha member on an Indian National Congress ticket....
In December 2012 Sachin had announced his retirement from ODI and before that from T-20 tournaments.
Sachin finally bids goodbye to Test Cricket too when he plays his 200th penultimate Test at Mumbai city of his birth in front of an august audience which consists of his mother who would be watching Sachin play perhaps for the first time....Sachin's family will of course be there to flag off his journey from one cricketing zone to the other...
Sachin is Sachin today for what he has achieved not by his 'talks' but by his records set....
Sachin's greatness is heightened by his humbling nature....never has he publicly lost his cool or hurt anybody by his outbursts....always lending a helping hand to those in need much like a Florence Nightingale caring for the sick....
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will definitely linger on in the hearts and minds of all sport lovers who care for the sport and those who care for human character over rhetoric....long live Sachin and his brand of cricket - We love you Sachin and will definitely miss you for all times immemorial.....
But please Sachin - promise one thing - you will always retain that enduring yet endearing smile on your face and the humbleness in your nature - come what may and whatever field you may be in.....
Just one advice - stay away from 'sharks'.....
CHEERS! #SACHINSACHIN

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Krrish 3 - Super Hero - Super Hit


                                                                           










Saw Krrish 3 and loved its simplicity and sophistication both combined together - the story depicts the fight between evil and goodness, deceit and decency, and human emotions vs ruthless ambition...a fast paced movie which promotes goodness over bad elements - nice picturesque songs relevant to the theme especially Raghupati Raghav and the love duet with Kangna - not to forget 'God Allah aur Bhagwan' - the special effects are indeed the best which could have been incorporated in an Indian film.
The audience clapped when Krrish triumphs over Kaal as they want goodness to win over evil....
Performance wise both Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra come out superb...both acting in tune with their characters and never going overboard....Both Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) and Kaya (Kangna Ranaut) were superb in their characters especially Vivek .....so all in all  Krrish 3 is on a roll....points ? - pointless - its superb - just go grab it :)

Monday 4 November 2013

India's tryst with Mars - Mission Mangalyaan - ISRO Launch







There comes a time in the history of a Nation when its scientific temper is put to test and now its #India's turn - as the clock strikes 2.38 pm on 5th November 2013 - India will be making history when it releases its Mission Mars Mangalyaan from Sriharikota under the able guidance of ISRO Chief K Radhakrishnan and his entire talented team....
As proud Indians we all wish the launch a safe and successful launch and of course a successful course to Mars....
This Mars Orbiter launch will place India in a select band of Nations to launch their missions to Mars - the others being Nasa - USA, Roscosmos - USSR(now Russia) and ESA - Europe....India's ISRO will become the fourth space agency to attempt an expedition to Mars - the red planet
India's determined effort and combined with its scientific temper will definitely see success - Cheers!

Sunday 3 November 2013

Whose India is it - a land of innumerable contradictions and opinions ?















India is it becoming a land of contradictions? I say this because everywhere you look around you see people saying contradictory things - naturally in 'free for all' democracy you might say there'll be a resonance of different opinions....but when you have opinions which sometimes border on the eccentric you tend to sit up and take notice.
Who are these people who are flinging around their opinions all over the available space and do they have motives, even ulterior?
Let's start with festivals - especially festivals like Diwali and Holi. Come Diwali and all sorts of voices start echoing about the noise of bursting crackers, the smoke and gas levels going up....lets analyze this - bursting crackers is an expression of joy of happiness of celebration of success....when India wins a cricket match or series what is the first thing you hear - the bursting of crackers. When there are weddings taking place or receptions happening you have crackers being burst on the roads....in Diwali Melas you have fireworks display at all the major clubs and so on and so forth....even in an event like an international games meet China burst innumerable crackers and presented to the world an awesome display of fireworks - the whole world stood up and applauded.
However people don't bat an eyelid then as it's happiness being expressed, yet in a major festival of the Indian community like Diwali there are whimpers from all over regarding the noise levels being breached, the pollution levels being raised and the animals being scared etc etc....
Similarly in the festival of Holi you have various anglicized protesters coming forward against the use of colors.....yet these same people go around the whole year getting colors put on their hair, and chemicals far worse being put on their faces to maintain the artificial glow on them....then nobody bats an eyelid...
What I feel is that festivals are a matter of personal celebration and expression of faith....how you celebrate the festival should be left on the persons celebrating....you can't impose your views on how to go around celebrating only on the grounds of personal prejudices likes or dislikes....just like you don't interfere in other religions where other practices like animal sacrifices etc etc are not interfered with or commented upon, its actually quite demeaning to interfere in religious matters of other communities....and to clarify I'm not being communal here.....it's a Right to Equality apart from Freedom of Religion available to all communities and on how to celebrate their personal religious festivals - please respect that right - Period!

Similarly whenever a welfare programme is launched either by the Ruling Party or by the Govt the similar kind of voices come out again and start targeting the programme itself - point in question are various schemes for the welfare of the poor and marginalized like the Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill, the Right to Education, the Street Vendors Regulation Bill and so on.....questions are raised on the validity of these schemes, their funding, their value, their reach, so much so their motives are also questioned....
The freedom of speech doesn't always imply the freedom to disagree.....sometimes even in disagreement their should be consent and that too somewhat unanimous....
It's the Govt which fashions the policies and destinies of it's Nation....and it should be allowed to do its job unless the Govt is straying from its path or it can't see what everybody else can see, maybe for ulterior motives....but those moments are rare...
Another problem is the constant prodding and shoving which the Govt faces from different quarters on the policies it makes or the foreign policy it pursues....even there it has to face different opinions and sometimes forced to backtrack on its decisions - point in issue is the Bangladesh agreement on borders or sharing of waters, or the recent CHOGM visit of the PM to SriLanka - what possible right does internal factors localized to a certain Southern district and a hostile Opposition party CM in place have to do with the PM's visit to an international meet being attended by all Nations of the Commonwealth...we can't carry our prejudices to absurd limits and then we sit and discuss foreign relations with our immediate neighbors - Tell me can these type of boycotts help the normal ties between our immediate neighbors - are these friendly gestures or acts of provocation?
Sri Lanka as we all know is a friendly Country towards India and should continue to remain so irrespective of inane voices being raised from vested quarters and those bent on isolating India from all world events....CHOGM is not a Sri Lanka event - it consists of all the Commonwealth Nations of which India is an extremely important part - Sri Lanka is simply the venue....if you can see that difference the cacophony will automatically die down....
All these shrill voices are far worse than any burst of crackers on a particular day or festival - for these inane voices are forever attacking - all through the year...they are never ending
It's time we kept our responses muted and see the things in their broader prospective - not react just for the sake of reacting or because some interested parties want us to react in a particular manner or its a headlines story for them or they are motivated by vested interests or worse have been set up to make noise....
In a developing Nation like ours a small setback can put our development back by centuries and can make the difference between forward development and continued backwardness...even the smallest achievement needs to be applauded in a positive manner - baby steps lead to giant strides and need to be taken by a developing Nation...
These are points to ponder not mere words to preach...I love my Country more than anything else and only want its able and uninterrupted progress at a fast pace - why should we allow a handful of ppl who although speak their minds but mostly speak gibberish to slow down our progress....take the freedom of speech as a gift not as a burden or stick to beat ppl with it......Cheers!