Newsmen learn to file reports in sync with changing times

By R Swaminathan

The sense and sensibility of mediapersons has undergone a sea change in recent days after the Delhi rape and its aftermath. Newsmen are now looking in every nook and corner for news relating to offences against women. Even courts are not spared; whether it is acquittal or conviction, anything and everything to do with sexual crime makes it to the press/ media. Not that the agencies have appointed special correspondents to report this sensitive branch of abnormal human behaviour or judicial activity.The reader, it is believed,  is keen to know what abnormal behaviour happened in which part of the country and what justice has to be meted out to the victim and without delay. The nose for (rape) news seems to have been sharpened also to bring to light offences which have been happening all these days but had gone unreported or unregistered in police chowkis. The harassment the victim/s face(s) in police stations and  from the khaki demons has always been there and will continue to be there, and the move to appoint set up more all-women police stations or increase their strength in a station to at least 33 per cent is a welcome move.

Obviously, the awareness has increased among both the victims and the law enforcing authorities to this species of crime and there is a growing feeling that the offenders have to be brought to book and women can't take it lying low any longer.

The reporters have not been appointed with a specific jurisdiction to cover this variety of news but have suddenly developed a strong preference to enquire with the authorities during their routine calls at night to file their last beat reports of the day. The details shared in such moments are churned into elaborate stories in newspapers the next morning. It is a pity that the quota of crime news in the newspapers is increasing day by day, whether it is murder, elopement, kidnap or chain snatching or even infidelity and crime over flirtatious behaviour. Experts join politicians and party leaders in expressing their opinions on every possible issue relating to devious behaviour, some vehemently state that it is all due to the provocative western attire while a few others say that adherence to our ancient moral education and values can do wonders. Yoga is doled out as the easy solution even as it is told that the weaker sex should definitley learn martial arts or self-defence techniques. The working women are advised to carry small useful tools of assault or pepper spray or a torchlight, besides calling or texting their favourite mobile friends/ family members every now and then on their whereabouts. Some want the juvenile delinquency redefined but no one can deny the fact the boys are becoming mentally maturer at an earlier age than in the past due to various socio-cultural phenomena and exposure to the entertainment media.

There is a craving, mild or strong, to experiment with among either sex and this is fanned by the entertainment industry which is preparing recipes of all sorts thanks to the western influence. While violence has become a big worry for Uncle Sam, sexual assault has become a great challenge for our police babus and netas. 

At election time, we see newsmen tuning themselves to stories of alliances, party manifestos, poll promises and poll time freebies. Pre-poll predictions and post-poll analyses show a clear pattern and scheme as it were.

At war time, we find incidents on the battle front move in a plethora and during the Emergency reports of compliance, obedience, discipline multiply in astronomical proportion. A similar fine tuning is happening now in this profession and there is a surfeit of news relating to sexual offences, and their dedication to duty must be channelised to raise awareness in society and prevent future crime. If that is achieved, the reorientation is in order and their credibility will be above board.Thus there is no mystery behind the sudden rise in the recording of this crime, and no debate in any forum is going to settle issues _ on causes and effects _convincingly and conclusively.

P,S: The rape law is being amended soon to make a provision that consent cannot be presumed in a matrimonial relationship between the complainant and the accused. Thus Marital rape becomes punishable. Previously an age limit of 15 was there and a marriage could not be taken as a licence to rape. Now husbands need the consent of the women for consummating their marriage. An argument quoting the moribund law of Restitution of conjugal rights cannot get them anywhere because a decree means nothing under that law. The court can only pave the way for judicial separation and divorce, or exhorting the couple to live together. Ultimately it is the success of the spouses that matters to bring them on even keel. Now the law will make the husband absolutely obedient and shorn of violent behaviour in the bed room.

Mecheri V Venkataraman attains Devi's Padam

Shiva Shiva Shiva

We are very sad to hear about the shedding of the mortal coils by Br Shri M V Venkataraman, son of Mecheri Shri Vedapuri Iyer. WE had been blessed by him at the July Satabhishekam in Chennai and we are shocked to know about the sudden setback to his health.
A great scholar deeply involved in current affairs as well as highly sophisticated scriptural texts, a shrewd accounts officer, a strict parent, a stickler for discipline, straightforward always, independent in all ways and remembering to write back to all those who addressed him in writing even in the evening of life, keen to answer back phone calls any time even in the sunset of life a little hard of hearing, a real Srividya Upasaka who could thanks to Ambal's Arul take part in the Deeksha of his son just ahead of the Satabhishekam, a noble soul that completed four score years of purposeful human Being caring for all those in need of help, an asthika who completely associated himself with places of worship near his dwelling place, Ramani Athimber ( to me and our family members) endeared us all by his principles, policies, character and conduct at all times.
We are indebted to him always for the great affection he showed towards us and the great interest he showed in our growth and well-being. He will continue to bless everybody from his eternal abode in Sri Lalitha Parameswari's Sripuram, I strongly believe.

The special attribute of Srividya Upasana has been described in Tantras like Vamakeshwara to be: bhogashcha mokshashcha karasthitaiva – Srividya grants both Bhoga and Moksha to her Upasaka. Bhagavan is re-affirming the same in this verse. One who worships Sridevi in Srichakra in the said manner – every Friday – from the day of his
Diksha till his death (yAvajjIvitam) – will attain all luxuries like health, wealth, prosperity, fame (keerthi) along with his near and dear ones and after losing his mortal body, attains the sAyujya of Sri Lalitambika.

Shastras describe four kinds of Mukti or liberation:

1. sAlokya - living in the loka or abode of Amba, which is Srinagaram
2. sAmIpya - living in the proximity of Sridevi in Manidwipam
3. sArupya - living with a form identical with Sri Lalita
4. sAyujya – merging totally into Sridevi and becoming HER

The four are progressive and one's final goal is sAyujya, which is impersonal liberation and true Moksha, when there is true abheda between upAsya and Upasaka. A worshipper of Saguna Brahman like Sri
Lalita, after death, takes the path of Devayana to travel to Srinagara and attains Salokya Mukti. Gradually, he is blessed with the knowledge of Nirguna Brahman and finally attains sAyujya.

Follower of other paths qualify for one of the three (other than sAyujya), but a Srividyopasaka is blessed gradually with the four types of Mukti.
However, for a person who, through his upAsana, has attained Chitta Shuddhi and then the perfect knowledge of the Brahman through the anusandhAna of Upanishad vAkya, there is no devayana or the first three types of Moksha as he is already established in unity with Sridevi as Nirguna Brahman, and is hence a Jivanmukta – liberated even while living – waiting simply for the dissolution of the body. Such a person, whose goal is simply Moksha, has nothing to do with other desires or Bhoga.

Bhava Shankara deshika me sharaNam

-----------------------------------------------
On 1/21/13, Sailesh Venkatraman <mvvsadaabhisekham2012@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Mecheri Vedapuri Venkatarama Iyer attained the Lotus Feet of Divine Mother
> in Sripuram at 6:45 pm on 18th January 2013. Dasastu will take place at
> 164. Rasta Peth, Pune 411 011 residence on 27th January 2013. In grief
> VENKATARAMAN FAMILY MEMBERS

Sexual offence can take forms and go unpunished

By R Swaminathan

The brutish Delhi rape and several incidents of sexual assault of women from distant and different parts of the country which have followed it almost every day have stirred a debate on amending the existing laws to impose severe punishment as early as possible on those behaving like beasts. The clamour for death penalty has been seen even among leaders in power and finally the courts will have the discretion to impose that depending on the severity of the offence. But it is doubtful if enough thought has been given to yet another problem of sexual assault and exploitation, of course, with the consent of the woman concerned. The 19^th century habit of men keeping women as second or nth number of wife is still continuing in many places, including big cities and towns.

Women are virtually taken for a ride by these men who wield enormous power, position or pelf and the woman's body and soul is violated with impunity. There is a thin line between rape and such sexual crime in most cases. The element of coercion or consent is difficult to measure in many cases. The extra-marital affairs are still very common and even courts have given the children born out of wedlock a share in property in recent judgments as if it is inescapable.

The arrangement of the “second family”, or “chinna veedu” as it is called in Tamil, seems to be working well for many and also has social recognition these days. There is no stigma or hesitation in the practice of bigamy or polygamy as long as economics is in favour of the man in action. This external cohabitation was resented by children years ago as they were laughed at by peers. But that kind of moral disapprobation has disappeared or is disappearing.

Passive acceptance of the fling due to the persuasive skills of the stronger sex is no mark of consent or approval. Women are won over by these powerful men by gifting jewels or property in liberal doses and the women are quietly subjugated without any feeble protest. Those who wriggle out after having a physical relationship mostly get away with a cheating (420) case but if the cohabitation has resulted in a pregnancy, what has happened is not just cheating but more than that and calls for severe punishment and damages in the eye of law. Only a powerful amendment will ensure justice to the dumped woman.

We have come to a stage in foreign countries when leaders are forced to face the courts for outraging the modesty of hotel servants or one-night stands or organising hunga bunga parties or paid intimacy with minor girls. From the entertainment industry we get to hear stories casting couch and from the media, tales of writing or shooting couch, all pointing to sexploitation of women who have a fancy for quick money and big money. Women who come from a rural background are easily exploited or driven to the world's oldest profession from which they cannot redeem themselves for generations.

No one can convincingly argue that monogamy is the one and only form of marriage suitable for men and women also from the point of view of health and future of children. Such contentions will be easily refuted. Even government service rules may mention that bigamy is not allowed but punishment is seldom given. But experts will agree that children born out of wedlock develop criminal propensities easily and become more demanding and aggressive in their later lives.

Apart from bigamy, there are sexual offences against women committed by men who promise to marry or marry many a times offering the moon to the beloved. Some multiple marriages happen without the knowledge of the woman concerned and she rushes to the police station in tears sometimes only after she comes to know about the much married man. Such morally depraved men should face punitive action when the laws are amended. Otherwise, women will be at the receiving end (pun intended). The innocent adolescent years and the amorous scenes in the entertainment media and even in real life in the neighbourhood embolden the weaker sex to experiment a loose relationship. They discover they are in deep trouble only very late and the situation becomes irretrievable at times.

No amount of compensation from the cheating man will seem enough, and will not ensure a smooth and happy life for the woman. A separate category of offenders are there thanks to the advancement of technology like hidden cameras and mobile phones. They click secret pictures of consenting women in relationship (when they are conscious or are deliberately sedated) and later blackmail them into sexual favours or try to mulct money. Even these friends have to cool their heels in prison for sufficiently long time. The list of possible sexual offences and violation of the woman's body cannot be complete and the spirit is more important to ensure that everyone is treated like a human being reasonably and rationally enough.  

Are our kids born to die on the footboard?

By R Swaminathan

Foodboard travel was recently in the news because of the loss of life of four students in Chennai. While all modes of transport have their own risks these days, public transport especially by road transport buses carries additional disadvantage and is a chief contributor to statistics on road fatalities. We also get to hear about other risks which end in fatalities from near railway tracks and level crossings and highways due to rash driving.

When the authorities need to bother themselves about how to avoid such accidents in buses like closing doors once the vehicle is about to move or just before it halts at a stop, one must ponder how the frequency of footboard travel has risen in recent years due to youth psychology. Young boys going to schools somehow get the courage to cling to the rickety fast moving vehicles with satchels on their shoulders or backs. Many affluent ones never bother as they are driven to the place of learning safely and fetched on their way back home. But the poor ones depend on public transport to commute to the school or college which invariably is quiet far from the place they live. House rent is one factor which increases the distance between the two and parents just can't help it.

What starts as a trial to travel freely on the footboard of a bus becomes an act of heroism to show their macho image in their adolescent years. Much influenced by the soaps and cinemas they often see, the boys almost cultivate a habit to wantonly travel just outside the vehicle to impress somebody. They hang out there in spite of repeated exhortations by the bus crew and also try to board or alight from the vehicle when it is moving. They have seen their own friends or relatives perish that way or be maimed for life and living with crutches. Nothing instils a fear in them.

The kids don't seem to appreciate the enormous and painstaking efforts the parents take to raise them from childhood to manhood, thinking that it is just only part of their duty towards them. Some think they are being reared for the parents' future benefits and security. Influenced largely by peer pressure they decide to even lay down their lives on the roads. Only proper training and teaching at a very young age, say, in elementary school level itself about the road sense and traffic discipline will infuse good qualities in them and prepare them to be useful to family and society. Elders should never lose a moment or opportunity to make them realise on the need to live safely and longer. Cinemas should remove scenes showing rude or romantic behaviour in public vehicles so that the kids don't gain a gut feeling from their role models on the screen. Just as smoking and drinking can be discouraged by abhoring them, footboard travel also can be banned in the visual medium.

The first and foremost question everybody should ask himself is whether he or she was born to die on the road taking risks all the way. While it is another story to be killed due to rash or negligent driving or vehicle failure, man-made deaths like footboard travel deaths should soon become stories of the distant past. Rules are being framed to make travel safe and secure by school vehicles for the tiny tots including employing dependable drivers and through proper maintenance of the vehicle's body and machinery. Peak hour travel can be made easier for school or college going youth if density of the traffic is properly studied and special services are operated where required. There are so many pro-active steps the authorities need to take, but safety must begin at home.

Detachment dawns after the decay of an almirah

By R Swaminathan

Shopping, especially one done at the festival time with bulging purses and after high pressure advertising in the media, can be a delightful or disastrous experience. It brings more delight when what you get costs you much less than at other times. It becomes disastrous when the expenditure terribly overshoots the budget. Those who refuse to see or ear advertisements also yield to the pressure to do shopping, for instance, for storage articles after an attack of their wooden almirah or furniture by termites.

Whether you live in flats or houses, the inferior country wood or plywood which is used to craft sexy furniture, is terribly prone to attack by white ants. The damage is always never known to you beforehand like the worst physical affliction, namely, cancer. It is always too late when you discover the worst is over, and a removal of the existing article/s is inevitable and a replacement is immediately necessary. Thus a compulsion arises to buy something when the discount sale is on.

You search the internet and newspapers for the best offer in the town, visit showrooms, small and big, with the entire family in tow (Children also claim at times they are knowledgeable because they have tremendous exposure in the neighbourhood and on the same TV channels which you watch with them). Small shopkeepers don't seem to appeal to you much because you realise that you have to think several times before you decide. The replacement is going to be expensive, your mind tells you. So the best showroom and manufacturer is the immediate target of your shopping adventure.

You are not jolted so much by the seller telling that it will take at least a week to deliver what you want from the warehouse. That there is no delivery charge makes you happy at once. You place an order with the help of ever ready plastic money and come home singing your favourite tune.

Suddenly, dawns the realisation that it will arrive only after a week. The place has to be cleaned up immediately because you firmly believe that termites breed in geometric progression and across your flat and even the whole building.

Finding a carpenter for an odd job is an impossible task these days. It is the better half's turn to tell you now that you should pick up small skills like using a screwdriver and hammer and break up the cupboard yourself. “Decide to do it yourself.” But the sight of hundreds of termites in a small area drives you crazy. Because the almirah has not been opened for a long time, the entire place has been mercilessly spoilt. The advice comes from the kitchen side, “You should have done something, before, as a precaution.” “All this because teak wood is costly and they use only country wood and plywood, using quick fix adhesive,” you curse yourself.

The only redeeming feature is the support you get from the family members who previously liked only fashionable wooden articles. After seeing the army of termites they feel it is better hereafter to go in for the strong and sturdy steel stuff. They decide to tell neighbours that wooden stuff are well polished but can be cruelly bad for you. They pass a resolution not to go in for more clothes (at least for the time being), and finding it difficult to stack them, they agree to part with old and worn out ones by giving them to the near and needy. In the bundles rolling out of the cupboard are those with dye washed out or sticking to others as well as the ancient wear still kept there (though family members have outgrown that size) just because there may be potential users. Then occurs Vastra Vairagyam, a dispassionate detachment from clothes.

Vairagyam kinds

There are various types of Vairagyam, two of which are well known. Prasava Vairagyam is what a woman who is about to give birth to a child feels: “Never again to conceive, carry and deliver a baby.” But as time passes this disappears and she is in the family way yet again. Masana Vairagyam is the realisation at the cremation ground when someone dear passes away and is about to be cremated: It is knowing the truth that one day all must die and face the same end and why fight between us during this short span of life?.

A third truth is Masiru Vairagyam: When a man has a shave after a long time, say, a week or two, and has pain and difficulty in removing the rough hair growth, he decides for a minute that he should have a shave as frequently as possible. Pariksha Vairagyam is what a student encounters when the question paper is very tough and thinks that his problem is insurmountable. Kadalar Vairagyam is the dispassion that one experiences after a break-up in love or affair or after a marriage that goes on the rocks.

Santana Vairagyam is known well to those who have no children or those with unworthy children. Those without kids have no issues and treat everybody's child as their own. And those with wayward children wish their own are somebody's else. They rationalise to themselves that there is no use having a unit in which younger ones are not obedient children and one day each one has to tread his path to the land of Dharma Raja all alone.

Vivaha Vairagyam comes to parents after they marry off their son or daughter. A father of a girl feels his duty on earth is over after the event is gone through. A father of a boy is convinced on marriage that the son is in the safe hands of his wife and her family who will be decision-makers in future _ he will be least consulted on any matter.

KG or college Vairagyam hits one at the face when he finds the doors of kindergarten (the most sought after one) closed for his lovely kid and college vairagyam comes when there is denial of admission in a leading professional or business school. The victim screams: “What the hell one is going to do special in that place? And after all, there are far better places elsewhere. Others have fared better.”

Pitch Vairagyam is known to cricket sportspersons and fans: defeat hugs you after a prestigious match and you don't want to be crestfallen but show some bravado. You say the pitch ditched your side. Vellai Illadhavan Vairagyam does not need any vyakhyanam: it is the detachment of a person who misses the bus in an interview for a job: he feels the right time has not come for the right post or the Nine planets (as per horoscope ) are not favourable to him at the moment. Realisations as such are many and can't be listed comprehensively. It is better to leave it to an individual's experience and imagination.

Weird ways of compulsive letter writers to newspapers

By R Swaminathan
There are a few newspaper readers who are very much keen on getting their views and comments published in the "Letters to the column." This they do for a variety of reasons, some academic and some psychological. The tribe of those who assume that they are competent to write about any subject under the sun keeps growing day by day. Some can write only long articles packing their views on the subject while there are a few who rehash something appearing in print just to get their name into the column. A very small number write clearly and powerfully, to the point of course. Many never keep the length in mind and assume whatever they write will appear in print.
The itch to write in most cases appears to be irresistible and strong opinions are expressed in such letters to get the establishment correct itself and the powers-that-be to act in better ways. If the view or idea given is genuine, practical and sensible, it ought to be published and there cannot be two opinions about that. Opinion givers influence decision makers and this has been proved in many cases, though seldom acknowledged. In good old days, this breed of writers emerged when papers had a lot of free space to accommodate their feelings, observations and punditry. The writers with great linguistic felicity used to wake up every morning with great anxiety to see their letters in print. Encouraged by the appearance of one piece, they will sit down and write another very soon and despatch it by post, or hand it over in person to the newspaper office so that nothing went wrong in communicating their views to the editor. Thus, many became professional letter writers who honed their skill of journalism by hard work and sheer practice. Their ascribed status would expand in leaps and bounds and they come to be known in friends' circles and even wider associations. A habitual /frequent writer would assume he had a halo of learning over his head with which he could easily please persons he talked to. Some would write in their wife's name either to immensely please her, or to avoid embarrassment for self that might arise from the contents of the letter.
When typewriter was the only available machine to churn out their views with good speed, the letter writers started using carbon paper (they would not easily discard even the faded carbon papers) and addressed their mega pieces to various newspapers, far and near. Thus a writer in Madras could get his letter published in a Bombay paper, and his friends and relatives would call him up on phone to say that they have seen his writing in such and such a paper. In the days of snail mail, however, newspaper offices received the letters after days and due to surfeit of mails, kept the letters pending. The writer could never know if it had been accepted or when it would appear in the paper.
Those with several letters to their credit on a variety of “burning topics and current affairs” go to the extent of getting their published letters brought out in a book form. I know a specific instance in which a member of the united writers forum, (such a forum could easily come up to bring together like-minded individuals in those days), organised a function to get the book released by a VIP.
A letter writer's power and influence cannot be underestimated in those days because armed with their published piece he would go to the authorities and demand corrective action. The authorities also feared the readers' mail column because their acts of omission and commission would be directly seen by the higher-ups and they have to face the music. The local authories even started writing their reaction for a feedback slot when complaints were raised and the grievances were redressed.
One cannot omit a reference to those who go to any length to chase their letters and see at least a small portion of it, even if the piece is badly mauled, just to see their name in print. There are those who argue when the sense is totally changed. The subtle and gross pressure comes through friends' references, repeated phone calls addressing any official in the newspaper office, and multiple emails in the internet age. The severity is amply clear in case of those with an obsessive and compulsive disorder to think and write something for the paper they love much.
Then there are those who use pseudonyms or amend their initials or write in the names of family members, taking numerous avatars as it were. They alter the spelling of their names for numerological or other reasons and this makes the editor's job more difficult _ He dare not correct and incur their wrath later. Their despatches are tailored to suit the columns they are writing for, like the editorial page, citizens' voice or neighbourhood papers. Their handwriting or e-mail ids reveal their identity to those who process the material. But they don't seem to be bothered by all that. Their aim is to write, stop not till the matter is published in the paper. The papers too cannot brush aside the mail from such valuable readers as they get informed comment and considered views through this feedback, and so give space for the loyal and regular fans. When readers develop hate for certain columnists, they don't hide their anger and spew venom in their immediate despatches.
The papers conduct contests for the best and most frequent letter writers to boost their morale and their own circulation! The best ones are given mementoes at functions organised as an image-building exercise. Rarely, we do see the letter writing habit continue over generations in certain families. Enterprising ones conduct classes for the aspiring letter writers. The pupils flock to them to develop contacts and their language, two birds in one stone.
 (This article does not appear anywhere else)

The safe route of denial and procrastination

By R Swaminathan

"No" and "Not now" are two terms which have come to be repeated by everyone and in every household as life becomes difficult and unmanageable each day. For the middle class living in urban slums (sorry, but I can't avoid using such a word to describe cramped old houses in narrow streets), the morning dawns with a complaint of no water in the tap or sump. Fetching water might involve a walk down the tricky stairs or even a kilometre to the hand pump or community tap.

The day starts with the summoning of children from bed and getting them ready for school. When the parents remind them of their home work, they get a reply , "No, not yet done," and "Can't do it now." The well habituated tongues of the heads of families have to compromise for a bare and simple breakfast or just bread/biscuits got from the shop. Reminding the housewife of her failure to get dough prepared for the favouite idlis or dosas brings back an immediate retort: "Don't you know there was no power throughout the day due to maintenance work?"

So the family trots to school or office cursing itself for the tragedy of the morning. At the immediate destination also, there may be hours of fretting and fuming to follow because of the power cut restrictions in force. Once the day is over and the members prepare to rush home, they have to wrangle with auto drivers who refuse to ply.  They say “no” to the rate asked for by the passenger because petrol and diesel prices have gone up and a lot of diversions and traffic snarls force them to take a circuitous route to reach the destination.

'No, not now' is often used by boys and girls eligible for marriage when approached by parents for their consent and job hoppers also use this phrase because recession has put a mortal fear in them about the next vocation. No, not now is slightly different from “No, not yet” and the usage depends on details of the situation which I would like to leave your imagination.

At the beginning of the month when the house owner reaches the family head for the monthly rent, he is told : “No, not now” and “My salary is not yet credited in the bank and could you please wait for a few more days? It has been never so bad and will hopefully not be so in future.” If he is a gentleman he swallows your “no” calmly and leaves the place quietly.

Having putting up with such undependable tenants for months, one fine morning the owner might come and say, “Please try to vacate the premises as early as possible or pay 20 per cent more from next month as prices all round are going up and taxes too.” If you say “No, not now, sir,” you have to start looking for another place as early as you can.

Finding grocer's items and daily consumables like vegetables is another big ordeal when one can't but use, “No, will try elsewhere.” Here also he will soon realise that the situation is simply beyond his control and he has to relent meekly to the market forces.

Back home, if and when he is advised by friends and family members to look for a place of his own to live “for the rest of his life,” he has to come up with a stock reply like,“No, not now” because he is convinced it is not the appropriate time to go in for an apartment when prices are unrealistic and the interest rate too is ikely to be revised too often. When pink papers advise him to save for the life's big occasions and retirement (he is scared to think of that now), he simply bows his head and says “No, not now.” He finds words like “savings” and “investment” only in the dictionary.

An edited version of this article appears on Mindspace page in the TNIE today.