2009 is coming to a close.

Hi friends!
As any other year, 2009 also had its share of good and bad for each one of us personally and the country and the world as a whole. For the first time in history, an Afro-American sworn in as USA's 45th President ( I hope Igot it right!). The world is looking hope fully at the changing equations of military might, war and peace, and monitary power that once the US was. The global meltdown left all the western economic super powers gasping while emerging economies like China and India withstood stoically and came out even successfully achieving exceptionally good growth. The world leaders could arrive at a decision to reduce carbon emissions albeit much to the dissatisfaction of developing countries because it wasn't upto what they had expected. All the same, it was a welcome agreement because now the world can hope for something for its future generations. That was an agreement that was elluding all these years from Kyoto meeting.

That much internationally. But can we claim so much about our country and its administrators? Here is a case long forgotten by its perpetrators and by people except in the minds of the affected families where it was remaining like a cinder which started smouldering the moment the villain former DGP Rathore got a token punishment of 6 months imprisonment and a modest Rs 1000/ as fine for raping a minor girl of 14 and driving her to her eventual death by suicide and harassing her family! Ruchika's (the girl who was raped and later committed suicide) friend Aradhana and her family get the credit for making CBI to rake up the issue once again and got Rathore a punishment .
Another worst scnario was waiting down south in Andhra. The 86 year old governor decided to indulge in an orgy with 3 young women in Raj Bhavan. The whole lurid episode was video taped and was shown in Telugu channels much to the discomfiture of the leaders sitting in Delhi. This was a part of a revenge of a woman who didn't get the mining rights in Andhra as promised by the Gov.Tiwari. What would have happened if he had complied? Tiwari would be going ahead with his sexual escapades in Raj Bhavan!

While we pat our own backs for the progress we have made in all the fronts, what do we have to say about this depravity?
A Ruchika comes to light once in a blue moon. But how many Ruchikas would have been made to sleep with influential men like Rathore? How many of them might have committed suicide? How many would have carried illegimate pregnancies and delivered bastards? how many would have turned to lead a life of a prostitute? Why? Why is that the sufferers continue suffering and corrupt go scot free? Where is our righteousness? Why don't we rebel against this injustice? We have all the time and energy to fight and damage properties worth millions for rather far trivial causes but no one questions this moral degradation. We turn a blind eye at these corrupt bureaucrats' indulgence. I read the blog of my neice who expressed her shock at an incident involving the motorcade of PrimeMinister when a kidney patient who was critically ill died because the security people didn't allow him to cross the road and reach the hospital. Such was her indignation that I felt if we have a thousand of her type, we can try changing the attitude of our politicians. The unholy nexus of police-politician, bureaucracy and politician has reached its zenith and it has started undermining all that was pious and moral this country has stood for and fought for.

I think our archaic laws give more opportunity for the criminals to escape conviction than bring them to justice. The politicians assets grow several fold after every election and they are confident they can buy anything and anybody including the judges. We saw what the Karnataka highcourt chiefjustice Dinakaran did. And now there is a section who claim that the whole thing was fabricated because he is a Dalit Christian! The rich and the privileged escape and the poor is destined to suffer. It is time we rise against this oppression.

Let's hope the New Year will bring some consolation for the suffering humanity. I take this opportunity to wish the readers of this blog ( IF there are any!) A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A young Egyptologist!

Ashwin! I thought about that boy the other day when I met his grand mother. I came to know that the bright lad is in the first year of his engineering course.
The summer of 2003, Paris.
Suma and I was on our 1st European trip. We had that amazing rail journey through the euro tunnel under the English Channel. We were met in the railway station of Paris Nord by Narayanan who was the technical attache at the Indian Embassy. We reached Paris at lunch and in the afternoon we went out to see the boulevards of Paris where the history slept. Our guide was Ashwin!
I was the least impressed by the boy who opted to be our guide and, to some extent I was disappointed with our hosts. Narayanan was a busy person and that day Sheeba was also engaged . But all my apprehensions were dispelled within a few minutes of his introduction of the great Eiffel Tower.
A sail through the placid waters of the famous river Seine which cuts the city virtually half, was exhilerating. The boat ride touched some of the important land marks of Paris. Ashwin waxed eloquently about French Revolution and the part played by Rousseau. Not to be cowed down by a boy of 12, I tried to show off a bit of history myself. But when he started his 'lecture' on Pharoahs, I learnt that my knowledge was woefully inadequate! Such was his description of the great King Tutankhamun, the Pharoah of the 18th dynasty who ruled Egypt between 1358-1340 B.C. by Ashwin that made me stand spellbound!

The only time I found him a bit fumbling was when we visited Louvre. Quite understandably, the boy wouldn't have been so well versed with the famous painters. Still, he was well informed for his age.
It just occured to me when I thought about him a couple of days ago and when I came to know that he is an engineering student, I felt he will go afar in his career. He radiates intellectual brilliance. I wish him all the very best.