SIMON SAYS....

No country for old men !!

It's the Indian Independence day. Sitting on the road,with cars and rickshaws whizzing past him,dangerously, is a white haired, old, emaciated man, his frail arm stuck out, begging for money, food....any thing.

A well dressed man holding the Indian flag passes him by without throwing so much as a glance at him.

Others, mostly the blue collared workers, throw in a few coins in his battered steel cup but not one car stops...not even a single one, to give alms to this frail man obviously unable to work, not even on the day our country celebrates Independence.

As our reporter starts talking to him with our photographer clicking pictures......a small crowd gathers...curious, eager to give bytes and quotes but no help.

His name is Randa Pawar (A Marathi Manoos!) aged 90 and suffering from Throat and Mouth Cancer and Blurry vision.

His wife, Sakuna Bai,60, and he live in a 10 by 10 feet room. His elder son Samarao Pawar,22 lives with them while his younger son, Nagesh Pawar,20,who suffers from some mysterious ailment, one fine day, left home, never to return.

“My wife has cancer too.......thankfully we were both was operated on, at The Tata Memorial Hospital around the same time 12 years back. The operation was free and I am grateful to them,but we had to buy our own medicines. My wife is okay now but I am still sick”said Pawar

With no support from the sons, and left to fend for themselves.....Pawar's wife stays at home while he spends the day begging, trying to collect enough money to buy food and medicines including injections.

The medicines he needs are expensive costing Rs 100 per tablet. Since climbing stairs is a very big problem for him, how he manages to get on the train for the hospital,is anybody's guess!!!

Where does he stay? “In the same place I have been staying from 1947, Damu Nagar,Mahindra gate number 2”

Our reporter, Meeta Nair asked him a few questions....Did he know what day it was?

“Monday” he replied.

I'ts Independence Day, the day India gained Independence !!!.

The poor man is mumbles... “I didn’t know”. Well how old is he? “90” he said.

So he must have been around that time in 1947? “Yes I was.” Does he remember anything? “Not much” he says.

What does Independence day mean to him? “Nothing” he says

“What CAN it mean to me??.....look at my state, the Government gives me no assistance....I am so weak, some times I don't have the strength to go out and beg. Plus the Policemen beat me up when they catch me begging.” “NO!!”he says, dismissively, “ Aaazadi Divas means nothing to me"

Our reporter, Meeta asks him.Would he mind posing for the camera......holding the Indian flag?

Despite all his earlier complaints, Pawar not only agrees but insists on standing up......to give respect to the Tiranga.

Our Photographer,Naresh Das, and Reporter, Meeta Nair, watch silently as he struggles to his feet, his legs quivering as he faces the lens.

His speech becomes labored........“It hurts when I talk” he says indicating a spot on his neck. “The suffering is too much. There is no point in living any more” he trails off....

Does he need any immediate help besides money and food?

“Steps.”...he says stumping our reporter completely, “I need help with climbing steps”.

It's a cool,cloudy day, “How does Hot Daal-Rice sound? Would he like some?”

“Yes” he nods eagerly and waits patiently. He accepts the money and the steaming plate of Dal-Rice and the money that I send across and promptly digs in hungrily, asking if he can come the next day, for some more food.

Watching him wolf down the meal, I wipe away a tear as I think of all those Independence Day, self patting speeches, given all across India, by our supposedly well meaning Politicians, put there, by the Smart Indian Junta.... but somewhere, in the course of “The Great Indian Development,” millions of people like Pawar (both Marathi and Non-Marathi) have some how slipped through the huge cracks in the system and fallen into a pit of hell.

May God help them!! I don't think any one else will !!!

Simon Says.....

Baba re Baba!!

What a week! First Baba Ramdev decided to go on a 'Me Too' Anna Hazare fast, and despite leading all that healthy yoga lifestyle promptly buckled under starvation within day six, and had to consume honey and lime (And in my opinion, technically broke his fast) Looks like yoga and a satvik diet do not a strong system make.

It is a little difficult to believe that a fitness guru can collapse after fasting of mere five / six days.

On the other side a much older 73 plus Anna Hazare who follows no such diet or exercise regimen hung on resolutely surviving quietly on plain water till the government gave in... (technically, that is.)

The support that Anna enjoyed though was tremendous and spontaneous. People, especially, young educated professionals got shaken out of their insulated lives and sat up and took notice. Comparisons to Gandhi were made. Over and over again. There were frenzied texts, face book messages, tweets, singing and marches by the youth. Everyone who was young and optimistic was there for Anna and his cause.

In Baba's case the youth were not so charged. In fact not at all. I wonder why? Maybe because many saw /accused him as the mask for the RSS. Plus shots of him trying to flee in a white ladies outfit broke the saffron spell.

Baba Ramdev should have let the cops take him. That would have have gotten him more sympathy. And his call for arms, was shocking, desperate and unfitting for a Yogi Baba. Personally for me Baba has lost his magic. I kinda feel bad for the guy. He used to be almost worshiped and look what this has done for his image. He should have stayed out of politics and stuck to what he was best at, teaching yoga.

Then came the sad news of the passing away of Mr M. F Husain.

Almost every paper I picked up had devoted pages after pages of eulogies, praises and quotes of grieving celebrities. Where were all these people when he was alive? If only these newspapers had devoted the same amount of space to convince the govt to provide him enough security and confidence to get him back, the poor man wouldn't have died in a country that wasn't his own. Let’s own up, we just didn't do enough to fight for his safe return.

Barely had this sunk in, I heard horror struck, as a news reporter gave the news about a Senior crime reporter from Mid-Day being riddled with bullets in broad daylight.

I had to pinch my self, didn't these atrocities happen in countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan? Was this the beginning of a crime wave against reporters? Were we Journalists going to be used for target practice? Should we start applying for gun licenses? (More important since I cover crime, was it time for me to hire some one else to do my crime reporting?)

The government and the police should get cracking as they would, if this had happened to one of them. Forget killing a reporter,even hitting a journalist should be made a non bailable offense.

There has been talk about a legislation like this in the making for quite some time but it seems, that it has been put in the deep freezer. In fact some media reports say that certain parliamentarians are against passing such a law against attacking journalists. Someof them even want the term 'Journalist' defined. No prizes for guessing why, eh?

It is imperative that the bill against attacking journos is passed ASAP. If not, then it can only be interpreted as a tacit consent to freely attack or kill members of the media. Take away the freedom of the press and our country will be on the verge of collapse.

The killing of Senior Reporter, J Day is shocking, abominable and has no place in a civilized democracy like ours. The authorities should not drag their feet about this. The real killers should be nabbed and tried in a super fast track court. This is not Pakistan, for Pete’s sake folks. THIS IS INDIA! You just don't kill a Journalist and get away with it.

(Pssst....Heard that Baba is a millionaire. Maybe he could donate those millions to his country whilst the struggle to get back all that black money from abroad goes on.)

IRON MAIDEN

Assam witnessed a rock show by an Iron Maiden yesterday.

Media reports splashed images of a young girl in Assam, stoning an armed Indian Army Jawan for molesting her.

I watched, frozen in horror as the petite lioness repeatedly attacked the burly soldier. She carried on throwing rocks at the Jawan fearlessly to the slow rumblings of ‘Kill, Kill’ in the background.

I was terrified that the soldier might just whip his gun off his shoulder and shoot her, but obviously this possibility never crossed the mind of the little tigress (or if it did… it didn’t matter)

I felt disgusted and so proud at the same time.

Disgusted that a soldier from the Indian army could do this and pride at the young girl’s fierce reaction which forced the whole of India to sit up, take notice and make the army order an inquiry.

Even as she was bundled up and driven away in a jeep, she kept clutching on to a couple of rocks... (for future use maybe)

The women of north-east keep displaying an amazing amount of courage,grit, guts and sheer balls.....

Does anyone remember the demonstration (in July 2004) made by hundreds of women in front of the Head-quarters of Assam Rifles in Imphal?

It was to protest the torture, rape and custodial death of a woman named Manorama by soldiers of Paramilitary Assam Rifles.

During the protests, more than a dozen women stripped stark naked with banners reading ‘Indian Army Rape Us’ and ‘Indian Army Takes Our Flesh’.

Speaking of Iron Maidens, brings me to the toughest of them all – Irom Sharmilla.

This woman wants the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) scrapped.

This act gives army personnel (in areas proclaimed 'disturbed') special powers, to arrest, search without warrant, shoot at and even kill on suspicion in the name of curbing insurgency.

The Indian army has committed grave and gory human rights abuses wherever it has had special powers and immunity under the protection of AFSPA (namely J&K, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya).

To protest against this act, Irom Sharmilla has been on a fast from November 2000.

Since then she has been forcibly fed from a tube and has spent most of her time behind bars.


This is because every time she is released, she resumes her fast and gets re-arrested.

That means that for the past 8 years and 8 months this Iron Maiden has not eaten anything!! Not of her own free will!!

The only reason she is alive is because, she constantly has a tube up her nose from which regularly force fed liquid food !!

Those who have been operated upon must be aware of how painful it is to be intubated through the nose. I was for a few days and, and it chafed, hurt and was painful all the time esp while talking.

Imagine having one up your nose all the way down to your food pipe for 8 years!!!

She is in the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘The longest protest on a social cause by a single individual anywhere in the world.'

In her support, the relay hunger strike demanding to save the life of Irom Sharmilla entered the 235th day today.

It is shameful,that the Government has not addressed this atrocity.

Meanwhile, the Iron Maiden continues to starve for her fellow citizens.

Women of modern India, think about it the next time, your well manicured hand reaches for a sandwich.