Victimas of Acid Attack-' Laxmi' Isnt she pretty

Image courtesy -L'Oreal Paris Femina Women Award 2014
This beautiful girl was only 15/16 when one of her friend;s brother threw acid on her at busy hour in a bus stop. Dont ask the question why... the answer is well known. She refused to accept his love proposal. Love well off course he was allegedly a 32 yrs  matured man... proposing a teenager.  She is completely disfigured. Her life was shattered but momentarily... unlike other victims of these gruesome heinous crime she didnt lose hope...she is a born fighter. It took seven long years to get the justice. She started a tireless campaign against usage of acid for violence. Finally the apex court intervenes and directed the union government to regulate the  sale  of acid.
The first Lady of the US of A Mrs Michelle Obama on her recent visit to India felicitated Laxmi for her courage and determination. She also won the International Women of Courage Award for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on women in India.
By the way this is how she looks without make up

This is her page in FB https://www.facebook.com/Laxmi.SAA ... do like her and support her.

Beware of your Copassenger in Metro he/she may be a Pickpocket

Read an amazing article about pick pockets in Kolkata Metro... I guess we all have some preconceived notions about the pickpockets.. i.e. they all look more or less like Nawajuddin Siddiqui in Munna Bhai MBBS ...lol


But the fact is altogether different.

1. Firstly them dont operate alone but always in a group of not less than four.
2. Secondly they dress well and speak fluent English (ignore the grammatical mistakes). 
3. Thirdly they carry Laptop (or the empty bag) just to give you the impression of being a student or a hot shot techie.
4.  Fourthly they carry smart phone with a ear phone. You think they are listening to music with occasional grooving but actually he is simply listening to instructions from his partners.

One of them selects the prey at the ticket counter mostly and sends the instructions accordingly to his partner in crime, literally ;) Second one follows the prey and boards the same compartment along with third and fourth accomplice. Third one distracts the prey and the fourth one does the job. Finally second and third one helps the fourth one to a safe escape.

By the way the gang of four mostly targets middle aged men, who stands before the ladies seats and exhibits their costly smart phones in order to impress the girls.... ROFL :P

If anything ever happens to you in Kolkata Metro or any other Metros dont forget to lodge a complaint. People hardly lodge complaints and it simply boosts  their(pick pockets) morals.

Female Infanticide the worst Epidemic so far...

India and China... two most populous countries... two arch rivals.... two super powers of the so called third world...every year countless money has been spent in the defense sector to confront each other but deep down both the countries are fatally affected by an epidemic.... no its not AIDS.... not even cancer... its female foeticide and female infanticide. Enough has been written about the foeticide and decreasing sex ratio of India. But the picture is equally serious in China too.

The tradition of killing female infants is very old in China may be thousands of year old. Various travelogue of christian Missionaries have confirmed this. There is Chinese word  called Ni nu... which means drowning girls. Babies are simply drowned in most cases by their mothers. If the woman hesitates to do so she is forced to do so by her husband, in laws even by her parents... the baby is drowned in the sink full of blood and water.... if the mother fails to do this heinous crime the mid wives would do it. The baby is immersed in water and is being hold forcefully until she stopes moving..... nightmarish isn't it. D.E. Mungello had written a book on this in 2008 called " Drowning Girls of China". Frankly speaking I don't have the guts to read it........ I'm too terrified.     

By the way there are/ were other technics too... like starvation ....like putting pressure in the appropriate places so  that the infant suffocates to death, mostly performed by the mid wives.... technics  like  exposing the baby to elements.. by placing it in a basket and by hanging the basket from a tree.... the baby shouts but nobody pays attention not even the passerby.. eventually the baby starves to death... though I doubt whether its practiced any more (source Google and Wikipedia).

In order to restrain the high growth of population the Chinese Government declared the famous/ infamous " One Couple One Child Policy" on 25th September 1980... it only added fuel to the fire... the aftermath was nothing but a genocide... watching the dreaded  sex ratio the Government finally amended the policy in 1984 by allowing those couple who have a female first borne to have another issue. This was practically of very little help.

In the Twenty First century the Chinese Government set up few baby hatches... a baby hatch is a place where unwilling couple may abandon their child that too anonimously. They are to drop the baby in a basket and ring a bell. After ten minutes the trained medical staff of that hatch come out and pick the baby up. Abandoned babies receives proper care and medical attention. Currently there are around 25 such hatches. It will be 75 within a few years.An article in the Times of India caught my eyes couple of days ago.. it says that the such an hatch was shut down by the authorities. Because 262 babies were dumped within a few weeks. The hatch was opened in the end of January 2014 by the way.

Scary or what??????????

Kangna the New Queen of Bollywood

This film Queen has apparently set all social networking sites in fire.... received accolades from all most all film critic through out the country. Released on the eve of Women's day along with multi starer Gulab Gang... it was not even a dark horse... no body counted on it... their is no super star in this film except Lady Amir Khan..oopse Kangna Ranaut.... but she wasn't a super star... not even a star of Madhuri's stature.... still its an instant hit.... Kanghna was better than the best... though its an author backed role still she is fantabulous...... intact each and every single character was portrayed so beautifully.... I was awestruck. The story is very simple the extraordinary journey of an ordinary behenji type woman. A middle class typical good girl Rani... she followed every rule by heart.... obeyed every single thing said  by her parents. She is in a long term relationship with a guy Vijay and they are about to get married. She is going through the happiest phase of her life.... suddenly her fiancée calls off the wedding.. Rani had accumulated every single penny for her honeymoon in Paris and in Amsterdam...
After the mishap she decides to go to her honeymoon alone....... here begins that journey that ultimately changes her to a superlative degree..... do watch it. Rather its a must watch. One last thing Lisa Hayden and the guy who played Vijay was fab ....

Happy birth day to Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and a big salute to Mr K. Unnikrishnan..... like father like son

Happy Holi everyone. This morning is full of colours... social networking sites are flooded with photos of men/women/children immersed in assorted colours.... happy and gay... but amidst all these post what caught my was that yesterday i.e. 15th March was the birth day of our national hero Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. We all remember him right??? He is the 31 year old NSG man who sacrificed his live in a fierce battle at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai during November 2008.

Major Unnikrishnana born on 15th March 1977... an only child.. his father was an retired ISRO officer. What a brave man he is... like father like son I must say. After Major Unnikrishanan's death whole nation mourned for him and for other martyrs.... his funeral was over crowded but sadly not a single representative of the Kerala Government attended the rituals.... few days back after much hue and cry in the media, the then Chief Minister of Kerala V. S. Achuthanandan went to meet the parents of the slain Major. Sandeep's father K. Unnikrishnan was so angry that he asked them to leave. He even threatened to commit suicide if any politician from Kerala entered his home. He said, "No dog would enter my house".Later, V. S. Achuthanandan told media that had it not been for Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, not even a dog would have visited his parents' house.
 This again invited harsh criticism from the media and public.But, Achuthanandan stated that he would not apologize to the Major's family.

But finally he said or rather had to say that he respects the slain Major's family.

“Do not come up, I will handle them”, were the last words of Major Unnikrishnan to his men as he was hit by bullets. He was awarded with Ashok Chakra, the highest peace time gallantry award of India on 26.01.2009

A big salute to Major Sandeep Unnikrishanan and to his father Sir K Unnikrishnan.... what a man.

  Mr. K. Unnikrishnan, speaking to the press reporters at his residence

Holi at Vrindaban

Holi, the Hindu festival of colors will be celebrated throughout India on 16th and 17th of  March,  2014. Vrindaban is a town in Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh....the place has its own mythological significance. It is believed that lord Krishna was raised in this very place by his foster parents Nanda and Yashoda. His famous love story with Radha also blossomed here. this is an important Hindu pilgrimage site from time immemorial. Vrindaban has tens of hundreds of temples and ashramas. this pious place has a very sad heritage....Hindu widows mostly Bengali widows are brought and abandoned here.... Poor old ladies, literally penniless roam around the city .... begging is the only source of livelihood for these poor creatures .... some of them are lucky to get employed by the temple authorities for cleaning of the temples and the premises. My father visited Vrindaban when he was in college... he was so traumatized after meeting some of them...even this day he flatly refuses to visit Vrindaban again.... he often says that he doesn't have the guts to face any of the poor ladies again.

Here are few photograph of these poor women playing Holi and enjoying themselves. A great initiative by The Times Of India. Loved to see them smile... Im kinda overwhelmed. We all have parents/in laws. some of them are very old but the very idea of abandoning them .... is quite scary.... worse than a nightmare.....  .May God showers them with love and warmth.Photo Courtesy The Times of Inda

 

Petition for leniency filed by the accused in the Nirbjaya gang rape case.... summarily rejected by the Delhi High Court

Hope you remember the heinous rape of a 23 year old paramedic in a school bus in Delhi that shook each and every sane human beings through out the globe, since as per law the name of the victim couldn't be published so the media christened her with various names like Nirbhya/ Damini and so on. Though her family had no objection. In fact her parents wanted us to know her by her real name i.e. Jyoti. But she is still known as Nirbhaya (the fearless).

The brutal rape enraged Delhites so much that they burst with strong protest through out the city demanding capital punishments for the accused.  All the rapists were duly arrested. But unfortunately one of the rapist were minor. Though as per Nirbhaya's final statement he was the one who shoved that iron rod into her( through her vagina), the fatal blow that ultimately killed her. It was also reported that while shoving the rod he uttered , " sali mar( die, you bitch). Being a minor I.e. below 18 he was judged under Juvenile Justice Act and was awarded a mere imprisonment of two years only. Ironical isn't it?????

One of the other accused also claimed to be a minor but he claim was summarily rejected. In the middle of the proceedings one accused committed suicide. Whole country waited with  bated breath and finally justice was delivered that too in time. All the accused were sentenced to death. It was like an untimely dewali.... every true Indian was elated.

Anyway the accused filed a petition at the Delhi High Court and prayed for leniency.  But yesterday their prayer was rejected by calling it rarest of rare in nature.... now they'll apply to the Supreme Court. Its not that we have any personal rivalry with them..... capita punishment to a handful rapist will never solve the issue .... more and more women were raped after the fretful incident... but still something is better than nothing.... we want justice. Justice for her ... for every single victim... in every nook and corner of the world.