Christ! What Just Happened In School.

When the ransack at Christ Church School at Dum Dum in Kolkata took place on Thursday the 12^th of September, no one had imagined it go out of control and things would pan out the way they did. Parents shouting names, leveling allegations, breaking chairs, tables, fax machines and glass panes of doors and windows, the Police just stood there helpless unable to control the mob. We the media, stood on the side sometimes, amongst the mob sometimes as we jostled to stay safe while capturing the situation to the best of our ability. Today when I look back, I still can’t get over the angry that spilled out onto the school premises. My cameraperson was injured as he tripped over a pot, yet his first concern was seeing the camera was not damaged though he was hurt and thankfully it wasen’t as someone caught the camera and helped stable him.

These are the scenes that first come to mind when I think of what happened that day. Outsiders mingling amongst the crowd deriving sadistic pleasure as angry parents were ready to heckle Principal Helen Sircar and Police tried to protect her in her chamber. She along with other teachers were ducking under the table. The crowds still didn’t stop pouring inside the premises. There was ransacking atleast 3 times that I remember. Rapid Action Force too arrived at the spot later only to be outnumbered by the mob as they jeered. Finally Principal Helen Sircar had to apologize to a crowd holding slippers and pieces of a flower pot to hit her.

Then under more pressure from the mob, she had to resign twice and be placed under arrest. Some students and parents rejoiced, some nodded at the unfortunate turn of events involving the Principal. What purpose did the incident serve when students are now kept away from attending school while the premises is being cleared up before it is functional.

Why was the Police there that day when there was nothing they could do? A Principal was almost lynched by a 200 plus strong angry mob and they could do nothing about calming the mob ransacking the premises from time to time. The Police was called in to protect the Principal and teachers and what happened went against her.

Whether she handled the case of ragging of class 5 student Oindrilla Das efficiently or not is still in question as Oinrilla lost her life and reports of whether it was ragging or the wrong injection administered poured in. But the situation caught everyone off guard, be it the Principal, teachers, the Church of North India that is the governing body for the school, the media and the viewers. And what would we say about the Police? That is best left unsaid.     

Que Sera Sera...

"Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be...The future is not ours to see...Que sera sera...What will be will be."

As I recollect the lines of this song most of us have learnt as children, I as a citizen wonder what the future of India will be. There was difficulty finding jobs when I passed out of college, but there were jobs. The economy was on the upswing and America was nowhere close to giving us an indication that recession would disbalance the economic stability in the world.  Post 2008, recession saw the worst in America, UK and across the oceans in India too. Thankfully India not being a free market economy saved the developing country from future doom and finally got it’s chance to prove to be smarter than the USA, a first world country. 

Things picked up eventually, people began to face reality and settle for jobs they could get. Everything seemed to suggest in some way that times might be difficult compared what it was prior to 2008, yet things would look up with time. But now as I see it 5 years later, there are jobs but the possibility of people loosing jobs is also high. This is disillusioning when I hear of people loosing jobs in the media industry too as a cost cutting exercise. But is that the only disillusioning part? 

There is a the Central Government too that plays a role. There are scams galore that UPA 2’s tenure  is laced with. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee once mentioned to me about being unhappy at the way the Parliament functions. There are more disruptions in the sessions than there are discussions and political dissidence overshadows the overall benefit of the masses, be it FDI in retail or the Food Security Bill. With general elections less than a year away and Narendra Modi likely to be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP, the battle to gain mileage by the ruling party and the Opposition is heating up with the plot changing by the day. 

While the aam aadmi goes about his daily work, in someway the awareness of the existing political scenario sets in which will translate into votes for the party that is elected in 2014. The Congress led UPA 2 Government has left the masses pessimistic of economic progress as rushes of all the scams cross the mind. Scams that involve crores of hard earned tax payer’s money. On the other hand Narendra Modi’s name resonates a note of positivity after the transformation of Gujarat. The 2002 Godhra riots are forgotten by some, but not by all. 

So while some dicard Modi’s credibility and ability to lead the country, some hope for better financial stability for the country as a whole and inturn reap the benefit for themselves and their families. Call Modi’s visits to various cities and speeches as a good marketing strategy, but what would you term the result of a prosperous Gujarat that was once just a vision? An example that speaks for Modi’s achievement? Or would you choose not to use this as a benchmark to decide his potential to rule the country efficiently? Going by the theory that a known devil is better than an unknown devil, would the Congress do justice to people's expectations given a 3rd chance to rule at the Centre with some strategies fine tuned?

While 2014 will decide the path India and it’s economy traverses, it is the anxiety that will give some people sleepless nights. While for the rest who worry less, what will be, will be. Whatever it may be, may optimism not be a redundant word in the dictionary, for a country that comprises of scores of employable youth waiting to take forward the mantle. While for me, I would ride on dreams of a resurgent Indian economy.                        

Darjeeling Diaries...

Amidst the July end 72 hour strike declared by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to demand a separate State, the beauty of Darjeeling takes my breath away. The roads are devoid of tourists who otherwise would have hijacked the mall area, a place where you can sit at a Café Coffee Day, sipping your coffee and looking out at the mountains peeking amidst the fog. I wish I had an SLR camera to do justice to scenic beauty. If you just want to take a walk down the mall area, sit on the benches to chat while the furry street dogs and horses walk about, you might just forget there is a city bustling with activity and the honking cars that you left behind to steal some time away in the hills of Darjeeling. The small clean station of Darjeeling with it’s toy train parked thanks to the strike, cries out to be occupied by tourists. Eventhough the strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha translates into shops downing shutters and offices not functional, Darjeeling won’t let you leave without an image of it’s beauty imprinted in your mind.

The GJM President Bimal Gurung resigns from post of Chief Executive of the Gorkha Territorial Administration which came into being on 18th July 2011 after a tripartite agreement was signed by the Centre, State and the GJM. The GJM say they are not happy with the functioning of the GTA with unwanted interference from the State Government and unapproachable attitude. They have gone back to a more firm demand for separate Statehood in the wake of the UPA 2 Government agreeing to separate Statehood status for Telengana, breaking away from Andhra Pradesh. GJM wants Gorkhaland to be the 30th State of the country, refusing to be sidelined anymore by the Centre and West Bengal Government. They are stepping up their peaceful agitation, asking tourists and school students to leave the hills in 2 days time. Torchlight marches will give way to more sloganeering with flags of GJM and other forms of agitation.

Many from the GJM have switched loyalties to the Trinamool Congress, the future of talks with the State and Centre now depends on their ability to convince them that they mean serious business. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not too happy with the turn of events of Telengana and the echo of Gorkhaland growing louder. The GTA was her achievement and the Hills were smiling as she would say. But the people here say Darjeeling was a territory part of Sikkim in 1988 as per the white paper published during the Left Front Government’s rule and a realignment of territories took place. They say they speak a different language, their culture is different from the rest of West Bengal.

When I speak to one tourist from the UK who had grown up in Kalimpong not far from Darjeeling, he is saddened at not being able to visit there due to the bandh. I tell him he can come back when times are better and he replies saying “I am 73, I doubt I will be able to come back”. The tinge of disappointment, the pondering over the strike which will affect the economy of Darjeeling as the hills primarily depend on tourists makes me ponder. When will tourists be able to come back at leisure without being disappointed, to enjoy a sumptuous breakfast at Glenary’s or Keventers?

The empty hotels wear a longing look to usher in tourists into their hotel rooms and witness the scenic beauty of the mountains from their cosy rooms, like the hotel where I am staying at. Owned by a Tibetan, naming the hotel Seven Seventeen considering the numbers lucky with everyone’s birthday in her family falling on the 7th or 17th. She says the hotel owes it’s success to the patronizing guests…But when will luck favour her soon again? Ushering the tourists back without the disappointment of being sent away due to another strike, by the people hopeful of the birth of Gorkhaland.

City of 'Bhoy'

 

In recent weeks, I open the newspapers, switch on the television or through my work have come across eve teasing, molestation and rapes in West Bengal. Kolkata from being a city of Joy has become a city of 'Bhoy' or fear as it is called in Bengali. It seems to be not a one off incident, but now a regular affair. It could also be that these things did happen in the State, but were never reported to the extent that they are now. Bad enough there have been rapes reported recently, but now eve teasing and molestation on the city's road are also rampant. When I speak to victims or those who were with them at that point in time when the incidents occur, I know the sense of uneasiness that has gripped them. For me as a girl in the city, I can see the deserted streets that give a sense of unwanted presence of citizens traversing their paths towards their destinations. This was not the case though a few years ago, but I spot the difference only because I live in an area which is usually buzzing with activity and the transformation is evident.

It is sad but true, that fear is instilled in the minds of citizens, women and men while fearlessness takes over the unruly masses that smirk at thought of being intimidating. When I say intimidating I refer to the gang of men on bikes showing their so called power by troubling citizens on the roads, the epitome of uncouth. I spoke to an actor Indrajit and his friend DJ Akash who narrate the incident on Park Street on a Saturday night when they saw a gang of 18 men on 9 motorcycles making rounds near their car when they spotted Indrajit's sister in law and neice. One said ' Uthale' while another said 'Uthale, kuch nahi hoga'. The actor and DJ kept mum instead of questioning the youth as the safety of women was first priority. The gang of bikers had the audacity to do this when the women were accompanied by 3 men. I ask them why they didn't file an FIR and they say they didn't have substantial evidence as the bikers were many in number and it was impossible to note down the bike numbers.

I speak to one Police officer about the lack of evidence being one of the reasons some people choose not to file a Police complaint and he tells me that evidence can be collected. But are these words enough to coax victims out of their shell of fear? What stops them? Is it the acceptance that the Police can't do much as most of the accussed will be out on bail as the laws have loopholes? Or is it that noone wants to get into that mess of Police and the court?

I speak to an American lady staying at a city hotel who was solicited by a waiter and she chose to file a complaint of sexual harrassment with the Police, while the American Consulate helps her out. The accussed is let off on bail. She tells me India has become worse than what it was, since her earlier visits in her 40 years of being married to a Bengali. I tell her that in the past, we citizens could not venture out of our houses late at night with fear of being unsafe lurking around somewhere, be it Kolkata or other cities. Also most women including me have faced eve teasing or molestation and have learnt to be street smart to fight back. While noone crossed the limits with foreigners as much before since there was somewhat a fear of the law, there were not so many people bragging about their political clout. Times have changed now and the fear for the law replaces fearlessness and hence crossing the limits with foreigners has become more prevalent now, perhaps for this reason.

Yet I say that it is not alarming enough to make women stay locked up in their homes. What needs to change is each one of us, whether women or men, should wrap ourselves up with an air of caution. Men too, for it is them who face the brunt. Like the TV anchor from Mumbai who along with her friend were molested outside an eatery in Howrah on a Monday night, while her male friend was beaten up by 5 men. It was as regular an event of the male friend getting food packed while the 2 women and the anchor's father sat in the car, only to have a drunkard pass lewd comments at the anchor's friend. When they protested, the event took a turn for the worse.  
   
But where does the buck stop? Is it that now targetting the modesty of woman is common and so it should be about digesting the fact or that the law and order situation could just get better eventually? Your guess is as good as mine and till the latter happens, fight back instead of staying quiet. I just hope the unpleasant times are a passing phase...a bad dream that will be replaced by better and safer times which is a wish that is on almost every Kolkatan's lips.

 

As They Step Out To Vote...

The winds of change have ushered in the TMC Government voting out the Left after 34 years in power, but some things have not changed. There are still people who are not allowed to go out and vote, intimidated by some, that is what the second phase of Panchayat elections showed. Perhaps because some are identified as supporters of a particular party which the other party wants to intimidate. Like the independent candidate Laxmikanta Gayen of Sonachura Gram Panchayat in Nandigram (located in East Midnapore district) and his supporters who were too scared to go out and vote for him. A reporter from a newspaper managed to track down Gayen, who was seated below the Tekhali bridge making calls to his supporters to go out and vote.

I travelled to Hoogly and Burdwan districts during the second leg of polling on the 15th of July. Barring one person, people in Singur were too scared to speak to me.All I asked them was, would it be issues like the contentious Tata motors case, better farming facilities, improvement of infrastructure, etc they would consider while voting. In Burdwan district, a crude bomb killed a CPIM candidate's husband in Jhamuria while some prevented him from going out to cast his vote at a polling booth 300 metres away. Three people died in total while some were injured in political clashes in the second phase of Panchayat polls, despite the presence of paramilitary forces patrolling the booths. But it takes just seconds for things to happen and we are talking about around 12,500 polling booths across three districts. Would it be correct to say security forces are not doing their duty effectively? Or is it the culture of West Bengal politics that has been embedded since decades and history repeats itself?

For a State where the common man has been politically aware from a young age in urban and rural Bengal, there are somethings that will never change. For the rural masses, their political alignment defines them and hence more reports of clashes come in from districts, especially with close to 30% of rural population in Bengal . It has been just two years since the corridors of power have now changed colours from red to green and there are some more years to go into the era of change, to see whether the history of political culture will be rewritten.
       

'Painted and Dented'

What do Indian Politicians hope to portray and why would they gain the confidence of the public or voters if their thought process is digressive instead of instilling faith to usher in a better tomorrow? When Abhijit Mukherjee, Congress MP from Jangipur Constituency made a statement on 27th December 2012 saying women come' painted and dented' for protests on the Delhi rape and all are not students, it created outrage not just amongst the public, but his sister and wife too. President Pranab Mukherjee's son who took his father's seat as MP at Jangipur has embarrassed the Congress that is trying to put the protests on the Delhi rape behind them while his family too wonder where this statement came from. His sister Sharmista said that she does not agree with her brother and is an emancipated woman who does visit a discotheque sometimes. She goes on to say these are not views of the family.

After the statement on television, Abhijit Mukherjee when asked by anchors what he meant by the statement, he says these are his personal views and that when he was in college, he students would study and not dress up.Is this what a responsible representative of the people says? When these are his individual views why even say them on television? Media is meant to disseminate information, why blame them later? When I went to his house to request him to come for a live on our show, he sees me dressed in a black long sweater, spectacles and boots and when I introduce myself says "How do I describe you?". For a moment I was speechless and asked him to repeat his question as I thought I heard wrong. And when he said the same thing, I just replied "The why you choose to perceive me." without taking the discussion any further. His views should just be in his head and not on his lips as a responsible representative of the people. I for once was surprised and it certainly wasen't a comment I misunderstood.

There was more. After the live on our channel, he says never to trust the media, but what about responsibility as a Leader if the media did not get hold of his 'painted and dented' statement? He goes on to tell me and another girl, my reporter friend from another channel how times have changed and now words misunderstood. A term 'maal' would be used for girls in college and he calls an MLA from his constituency who has a surname that sounds the same as the term. Was there a need to make such a comment to justify a way of thinking? 

The incident has probably been relegated to the back of the mind for most people, but this is an incident that I will recollect from time to time as one of the many experiences as a journalist
.

Repairing Faith...Rebuilding Uttarakhand.

After the June 15th floods in Uttarakhand, thousands were rescued but thousands still remain stranded. While rescue operations are still on which keeps hope alive, it is the residents of Uttarakhand now that need help. I watched a story on one of the National news channels which says that there is only ration and relief material for 30 families out of 270 families. It might be said that in dire situations, make do with what you have. But one of the residents said, 'We helped rescue pilgrims, but what about us?' And it really makes one wonder, has the State administration forgotten about them? How long will the residents continue to survive on ration and relief material meant for less than half their number? From the looks of it, it will take years to repair the damage in the State. But before that, there are more pertinent issues that need to be addressed.

The politics behind the blame game overshadows the need of the hour. Some reports suggested it was a man made disaster as warning signs were ignored and norms were not adhered to. But man made efforts too can reach out to the people at the core of the State and thereafter help rebuild Uttarakhand. Politics aside, who sits with a plan on how to go about the work in the aftermath of the disaster? The buck doesn't just stop at rescuing people and presuming those missing as dead. It is not easy for the victims of the natural disaster to move on and it is not a plausible solution for the State administration to ignore the reality faced of the road that lies ahead. With hopes shattered, the State Government has a task of living upto the faith of the commoners that choose to rebuild their lives in the State rather than fleeing to greener pastures with the nightmare left behind.

Politics of a religion called Cricket...

I wasen't much of a cricket fan apart from watching an India Pakistan match, World Cup or IPL finals. When I did start watching some matches this IPL season, out comes the IPL spot fixing controversy. Apart from being in the media and all the events that I have been covering surrounding the events, with the IPL finals in Kolkata and Jagmohan Dalmiya taking over as BCCI President for now, I have just been bombarded with a whole lot of cricket than I imagined. Each day came with a new development and it seems to continue. Now with Dhoni's stake in Rhiti Sports being questioned apart from others like Anil Kumble, what's left for people to believe there is nothing more to cricket than what they see on the field?

Cricket is a religion in our country and lest faith be shaken, what happens to those who worship the sport? BCCI is a private body and some wonder, why the fuss when there are more important issues like the naxal attack in Chattisgarh among others that should entail more time for serious discussion. But who made cricket a region? The people of the country who take an off from work to watch a World Cup final, who shell out any amount of money to buy a IPL final's ticket. So the people of the country do deserve an answer, irrespective of the fact that the BCCI board members decide whether N Srinivasan should have stayed or stepped down and not the people of India.

And will cricket really be cleaned now that there is a new BCCI President? What happens to other questions that need to be asked and answers that need to be given? Is it just the media pressure that will open the pandora's box and then be questioned why a trial by media is taking place? There are big fish in the sea and minds like ours don't work the way they do. But we as citizens of the country certainly have a right to question and hope that faith is restored and cricket remains a religion that binds the hearts of those who love the game.