I’m Not Guilty

“It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.”   -Voltaire

Earlier this year in March, I attended a seminar on the contemporary situation of Indian politics, organized by the NGO ANHAD ( Act Now for Harmony and Democracy ) , which students may recognize from their Political Science textbooks of class IX-X. It was a really enlightening experience, and I'm really grateful to my dear friend Harshit for providing me with this opportunity of being a part of such a great endeavor, where I met with some unsung heroes of contemporary India, such as Dr. Gauhar Raza, poet and scientist, Dr. Sohail Hashmi, and Dr. Ram Puniyani, a well known political commentator ( and a bio-technologist at IIT-B too)

Well, this post is about a lesser known man I met there. He was one of the coordinators of the event, and we met him during a morning walk on the second day of the seminar. He was fiddling with his cellphone, trying to capture the wonderful surroundings of the venue ( Indira Gandhi Holiday Home for Children , a really beautiful place), but couldn't manage it. We offered to help him, and soon we were chatting like old friends. He told us that it was not that he was techno-illiterate, just that it was his "second-birth", and he was still amazed to see the changed world around him. We were a little confused. And then he told us.

He told us that his name was Mohammad Aamir Khan, one of the many innocents who were wrongly accused of terrorist activities under the TADA act, and he was just released from Tihar jail after 14 years. We just couldn't believe what we heard! 14 damn years...that's a lifetime for many...We told him that we wanted to know more about him, but it was already too late, so he asked us to meet him in his room after the afternoon session.

(From left) Myself, M. Aamir Khan and Harshit

" I was in class X back then. I had left my home in old Delhi at night to bring some medicines for my ailing father, but as I was walking along the dingy old streets, I was suddenly surrounded by a few men, blindfolded, and thrown in a jeep. When my blindfold was removed, I found myself in a small room, and was asked to confess about my connection with 20 cases of bomb blasts across NCR. When I refused, they subjected me to third degree torture, and forced me to sign blank sheets of paper. All this continued for years, with repeated court hearings, which acquitted me from all the cases one by one, due to "lack of evidence". Finally, I was released from Tihar jail in January 2012, 14 years after I was captured, and I found that I had lost my father, and that my mother was now confined to bed."

He showed us some newspapers clippings related to his case, which he had carefully preserved. He also told us that he had resolved to forget the past, and strive towards a better future, and the first step was to master the new-age technology, which he was working very hard on. I just couldn't stop wondering about the great strength possessed by this simple man. And I was deeply ashamed that day of our Indian judiciary system, which is so greatly flawed, that it accused a class X student of being the mastermind of 20 bomb blast cases...Serious Bullshit!

He is far from defeated and wants to move on. Although, he says, the cases slapped against him were more in number than his age, he does not dwell on them. “It’s a new life to me, I am living an unbelievable dream,” he says. Ask him his age, and he says with a slight exuberance, “just two months and a few days.”

If you guys want to know more about this man, here is a good link:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/I-m-Not-Guilty/Article1-833677.aspx

It's A Whole Lotta Fun

There's a new kid on the block.....

Meet fun., an alternative rock band, whose hit single We Are Young (featuring Janelle Monae) had recently hit the numero uno spot on the charts (maybe it's still there, i don't know...)

I bumped into this song while listening to AT40, where I heard Ryan Seacrest announce that a song had jumped 17 spots.....17 BLOODY SPOTS!!! I mean, that's some serious stuff, it's a gigantic leap for any song!

And recently, I heard the song play at the TV telecast of the UEFA Champions League Final 2012, on Ten Action, showing a slideshow of the tournament's highlights..(what a match it was...maybe I'll blog about it too...)

I've heard their album Some Nights has not been quite a success, but this song is really good. The beat is catchy, and the lyrics are nice too.

This band has got some really bright prospects. So let's wait and watch.

Till then, I'm done. With Fun.

Interesting stuff.......this band played the same song at the 2012 MTV Awards, 2 days after my publishing this post.
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Talking about music, I can't resist myself form saying a word or two on Adam Levine. For the uninitiated, Levine is the frontman of American pop rock band Maroon 5.

I'm really impressed by the Adam's range of voice....I mean, I confess to having listened to only 3 of his songs...but still.........

Just take his cameo in Gym Class Heroes' hit single Stereo Hearts, and then listen to his song Harder To Breathe from his first album Songs About Jane. You'll get what I mean to say. You really have to appreciate Levine's talent.

And who can forget his Moves Like Jagger? The re-released song had Levine overshadow the beautiful cameo by Christina Augilera ( some of you might not agree with me).

But the thing that constantly pesters me is the slight tone of arrogance in his songs....even though he might not be writing the lyrics himself

Take for instance, these lines from Moves Like Jagger......

You say I'm a kid

My ego is big

I don't give a shit

I don't need to try and control you

Look into my eyes and I'll own you

Or these line from Harder To Breathe

Does it kill

Does it burn

Is it painful to learn

That it's me that has all the control

Does it thrill

Does it sting

When you feel what I bring

And you wish that you had me to hold

Whatever......I'm eagerly waiting to hear their song Payphone (featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa, from their next album overexposed) after a friend suggested it (although she hasn't heard it herself). I hope it will be as good as their previous hits. And I really like the album art for Overexposed.

Racism And Soccer

It seems the Beautiful Game is not "Beautiful" anymore.

Can you imagine a former soccer player, warning fans not to go to the stadium to watch their favorite teams compete in the upcoming EURO2012 Championship?

Barely 1 week is left before the championship commences, and the hosts Ukraine-Poland are staring at nothing less than a full-blown PR disaster....

In an interview with the BBC current affairs programme Panorama, former Englad defender Sol Campbell told fans:"Stay at home. Watch it on TV. Don't even risk (going), you could end up coming back in a coffin."
 Families of England players Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain said that they wont be attending the championship because of the threat of violent racist attacks.

"I wont accept racism at all," said Italy striker Mario Balotelli. The volatile Manchester City player experienced racism during his time in Serie A, and was abused by Juventus and Roma fans while playing for Inter Milan in 2009."If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail because I will kill them." he added, reffering to an incident in Rome when someone threw a banana at him in a bar.

On a defensive note, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said:"Nobody who comes to Poland will be in any danger because of his race. This is not our custom, as is not pointing out similar incidents in other countries."

ATTACK ON THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN DEMOCRACY

Recently, there has been an attack on the very FOUNDATIONS of Indian Democracy.
Yeah, I am talking about the arrest of Dr. Partha Sarothi Roy and Prof. Ambikesh Mahapatra, for their alleged invovement in the defamatory attempts on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

Sarothi was arrested while participating in a rally opposing the eviction of slum dwellers while Mahapatra was detained for making a cartoon showing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

This is clearly an instance of the violation of the fundamental democratic right of freedom of expression, which is guaranteed to every Indian citizen according to the Indian Constitution.




A group of academicians, scientists and social activists, including National Advisory Council member Aruna Roy and professor Noam Chomsky, have written to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention against the West Bengal government’s high handedness in dealing with scientist Dr Partho Sarothi and Jadavpur university professor Ambikesh Mahapatra.

“This, in our opinion, constitutes a clear violation of freedom of speech and all conceivable rights of an individual due to illegal action by the state police. The state administration has issued public statements in both print and electronic media in support of this barbaric act,” said the letter written by Roy and signed by 55 academicians based out of India and abroad.

TITANIC - AN AURA OF MYSTICISM

Titanic, the world’s best-known cruise ship was launched in May 1911. The ship sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg en route from Southampton, England to New York City. Titanic was carrying more than 2,200 passengers and more than 1,500 reportedly died. Today, the Titanic rests, disintegrating at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 12,405 feet below the water’s surface.Take a look at a collection of amazing underwater images of the ship

Two of Titanic’s engines lie exposed in a gaping cross section of the stern. Draped in “rusticles”—orange stalactites created by iron-eating bacteria—these massive structures, four stories tall, once powered the largest moving man-made object on Earth. COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AVIL, Woods Hole 

A view of the bow of the RMS Titanic. Image copyright Emory Kristof/National Geographic.

A view of the steering motor on the bridge of the Titanic. Image copyright Emory Kristof/National Geographic.

A view of the bathtub in Capt. Smiths bathroom. Rusticles are observed growing over most of the pipes and fixtures in the room. Image courtesy of Lori Johnston, RMS Titanic Expedition 2003, NOAA-OE.

With her rudder cleaving the sand and two propeller blades peeking from the murk, Titanic’s mangled stern rests on the abyssal plain, 1,970 feet south of the more photographed bow. This optical mosaic combines 300 high-resolution images taken on a 2010 expedition. COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. 

Rusticle hanging from the stern section of the RMS Titanic showing secondary growths during maturation. Image courtesy of Lori Johnston, RMS Titanic Expedition 2003, NOAA-OE.

Ethereal views of Titanic's bow (modeled) offer a comprehensiveness of detail never seen before. COPYRIGHT© 2012 RMS TITANIC, INC; Produced by AIVL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Modeling by Stefan Fichtel.

Broken crockery found in the debris.

There is still an aura of mysticism that remains around that fateful ship.

All pictures are sourced from www.yahoo.co.in and are presented courtesy National Geographic.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME

Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries? These are just some of the questions considered in the internationally acclaimed masterpiece "A Brief History Of Time" by Stephen Hawking which begins by reviewing the great theories of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein, before delving into the secrets which still lie at the heart of space and time



In my subsequent posts, I am going to simplify and discuss the various aspects discussed in this masterpiece.

Königsberg Bridge Problem

In the 17^th century, in the town of Königsberg in erstwhile Prussia (now Germany), there was a system of bridges on the river Pregel which divided into two branches, with two islands in between. There were seven bridges in all, as shown in the figure.

The townsfolk were fond of walking across the bridges, and soon it became apparent to them that it was impossible to take a walk in such a way that each bridge was crossed once and only once. This is known as the famous Königsberg Bridge problem.

Try and find out such a way to cross all the bridges once and only once, and if you think that it is impossible, then try to prove it. I will tell you the solution in one of my subsequent posts.

The Darkest Chapter In Indian History

Recently, on April10, 2012, I read in Hindustan Times, a leading Indian newspaper the following article.......

It's a huge relief to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) "…has found no evidence against any of the 62 accused named in the complaint of Zakia Jafri. The report has stated that no offence has been established against the accused," Ahmedabad metropolitan magistrate SM Bhatt said in court on Tuesday.

Jafri, wife of slain Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, had sought the criminal prosecution of Modi and over 50 others for their alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, which left more than 1,100 people dead.

The court will now have to decide whether to accept the report and close the case but for now, Modi, has got a clean chit from the SIT, which was entrusted the task of investigating nine Gujarat riot cases by the Supreme Court.

HT had reported on February 9 this year that the SIT had not found evidence to substantiate the allegation that Ehsan Jafri, former Congress parliamentarian killed in the massacre at Gulbarg society, had made phone calls to the chief minister's office for help when the housing complex was encircled by a frenzied mob on February 28, 2002, which killed 69 residents.

The court also ordered that Zakia Jafri be given copies of all the related documents and reports within 30 days.

"It is hereby ordered that as per the Supreme Court order, Zakia Jafri will be given copies of the investigation report, statements of witnesses and all related documents within 30 days of this order."

The Gujarat riots of 2002-03 was one of the darkest chapters of Indian history, which shook the very foundation of Indian democracy. But what exactly went on was very different from what was reported exaggeratedly by the media. In my subsequent post, I'm gonna discuss the various myths around these riots, and also my opinions on this matter.

So, keep following.

About This Blog......And Of Course, Myself..........

Hey Reader

I am Shady, a myth buster by profession. And this is my workplace, where I draw the curtains from some of the most prevalent myths of all time, along with my opinion of the matter. But that's not all. I would also be talking to you about a mix-bag of interesting tit-bits, related to Science, Politics, Music,Current-Affairs, Mythology, Mathematics...and the list goes on. So, stay connected, and surely I would get you hooked on.

And of course I would like to hear from you, in praise or criticism, everything is allowed here. So, don't hesitate to comment on my posts.

Till my next post then. Goodbye.