A Time to Kill,

The following posts are about the books that influenced my thoughts; I start with A Time to Kill. This is tale of a young lawyer defending a black Vietnam war hero who kills the white druggies who raped his child in tiny Clanton, Mississippi, is the first novel by John Grisham.

Carl Lee Hailey, the father, gets an M-16 from the Chicago hoodlum he'd saved at Da Nang, wastes the rapists on the courthouse steps, then turns to attorney Jake Brigance, who needs a desperate win to boost his career. Folks want to give Carl Lee a second medal, but how can they ignore premeditated execution? The town is split, revealing its social structure. Blacks note that a white man shooting a black rapist would be acquitted; the KKK revives itself and starts a new Clanton chapter ; the NAACP, the ambitious local reverend, a snobby, Harvard-infested big local firm, and others try to outmanoeuvre Jake and his brilliant, disbarred drunk of an ex-law partner. The stakes are high and everyone wants the whole cake. Jake Brigance looses his house, his dog, and his wife almost leaves him, due to the consequence of such high profile, society dividing case. Jake is driven to a point of giving up this case and wants to get back his old regular life. Crosses burn, people die, crowds chant "Free Carl Lee!" and "Fry Carl Lee,” the church forms special congressional meetings and the entire trial is watched by the media. The book is beautifully written describing the local customs and invisible divide between the races. It is meticulously researched and no accusatory tone used to describe the whites or the blacks. But the palpable tension is felt throughout the book. The conclusion can be rated one of the stark and hurting truth I have ever read.

This book gave me the true insight of a rural town in America and a lot information about the racial divide there. The customs, the court system and of course the segregation but not explicitly. That is when I decided that I will not discriminate on the basis of colour, religion, language or on the basis of general stereotypical descriptions. It thought me whatever may be the background, everyone is guided by a certain sense dignity and I need to respect that. And this book was the starting point for me to know more about the American culture. John Grisham’s books like The Painted House, The Chamber and The Innocent Man are steeped in full accounts of the rural America and it is not very different from the Indian rural villages. Many situations or the common struggles a man face is universal. It is the love and respect for each other to a large extent which keeps the momentum of life.

This is one book I would recommend first others to read to know about the struggles of the blacks in the US and other is To Kill a Mocking Bird, which is also there in my repertoire. This was made into a successful movie later on in 1996, starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey.

The closing argument of this case can be seen in the below link to YouTube…

Closing Argument

Books that influenced my life.

I am tired of thinking and writing on many issues which I have no control over.

There is a prayer, I am not sure who really wrote it or said it and there is a controversy in this regard too..

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This is a prayer which is applicable in all areas of our life. Maybe it is one way of resigning from the reality of the situation. There are umpteen areas in our day-to-day life that we have no control over. Most of us have reconciled to this fact, it is one way of living at this time of uncertainties. But the greatest gift to man is no one can control anyone’s thoughts or change it in entirety. The change has to come over from inside, influenced by many sources and for me the books I have read has a deep impact on my life and thoughts. The following posts would be of books.

The earliest of books or rather the stories read out by my grandma were the greatest influence in my life and they are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. God bless and rest in peace. We did not have any electricity in our place in Kerala, we literally burned the midnight oil by reading with the little kerosene lantern. I used to long for our winter holidays to go there to listen to those wonderful stories. My grandma was a fantastic storyteller, those epics were in Sanskrit and she would translate it to chaste Malayalam. She was the person who took me into the world of books and my curiosity and thirst for knowledge grew with the times.

The next biggest influence were the NCERT English textbooks we had in Kendriya Vidyalaya. I personally felt the entire time I spend in the school was an unending period of boredom. The only thing of worth I learned was the language English and the rest all is just a blur in the horizon. Those textbooks were full of beautiful stories on moral values, integrity, character and many many things. From the absent minded Kutchu to the poems by Nissim Ezekiel, I enjoyed them all. The Amar Chitra Katha, Tintin, Asterix and Obelix, Batman, Mad Comics, Chandamama, Spiderman, Walt Disney, and all the children’s books had a deep impact on me. They were all full of fun and every book or comic had a beautiful message to tell. I remember our librarian Mr Gandhi encouraging everyone to take up reading.

Then came the bit more serious stuff at that time and bulkier Famous Five, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I read most of them whenever I could lay my hands on them. This was the stepping stone for most of the other serious reading later on. Slowly Alistair Maclean, Ken Follet, James Hardly Chase (I used to be excited and fearful of the covers), Louis L’Amour, the Sudden series of Western stories and ran through the entire lot by the end of school and the source of these books was a library run by a women’s welfare club. Then a girl introduced the wonderful writer P.G. Wodehouse. I used to read his books at the time of my 10th std and was caught reading this in the English period and a funny incident ensued. Those were the best days of my life. I was transported to a different world all together, I could conceive the scenario in my mind and conjure up the happenings. And my reading into the night was a cause of frequent frictions with my brothers.

I would give anything to get back to that period of wishful reading, if time travel backwards is possible. The next post will be much more details of the books which really changed my perception and thoughts.

Social Activists and NGOs

An article in Times of India prompts me to write this post. I am just going to vent out my frustrations and opinions on NGOs and some National Social Agencies. (Article is not found on the TOI website)

Duelling with the city police was an article under the City Lights of the Times of India on 26th Jan ‘09. The gist of the story is the National Commission for Women member Ms Nirmala Venkatesh going to a police station in Chennai with a posse of journalists and an 80 year old woman. The reason is the police harass this woman who sells biscuits in street. The filmy way of the whole episode was very graphically presented by the Times. It also said the NCW member demanded the constables to salute her for the post she holds and demanded justice for that old women who was harassed for hawking her wares in the street.

There are two points here.

1. The police had a valid point that the lady was a traffic hindrance. This is very common in the cities, where the vehicles, the cows, the pedestrians, the hawkers and peddlers jostle for space on the roads. These hawkers with their wares occupy every space on the pavement making pedestrians to walk on the road and face all sort uncertainties.

2. Even if your are the President of India, you don’t go around putting your weight. Respect is commanded not demanded. Why do a lowly person salute the higher up? It is not the status or the position he holds, it is out of respect and adoration. This lady who was a MLA from Karnataka, this is not the first time she has troubled the police, parking in no parking areas and accusing the traffic policeman of bribery.

Has Ms Nirmala Venkatesh seen this issue on a different angle and enquired about all the mitigating circumstances in the alleged harassment of the police? What right has the NCW member demand the police to salute her?

The NGOs and these agencies are becoming more and more of a pain. They think their cause is the most important issue in the society, but have seen the other side of the argument? Human rights mean rights of all, not just the oppressed or the downtrodden.

By obstructing the traffic the lady has caused inconvenience to the cops, the drivers and the pedestrians. So what about their rights? Every situation has another side to it and I would like these people to enquire the full incident before making a dramatic entrance to the scene.

Yes, it is fine if the NGOs and the social activists have a zealous approach to their cause, but it should be done within the parameters of law and the rights of others.

Cable Television Network Regulations (CNR) Act

This is an interesting topic on which I have commented on many occasions in the print media, called up TV stations, wrote to the editors, given online comments. This is one topic I have a great interest. You can start with The Times of India, Times Now TV, NDTV, CNN IBN, and countless number of regional and national media houses.

I remember the good old days of DD and their sober news time. With the advent of the cable television and entry of TRP based performances have greatly contribute to the crass quality, sensationalism and giving irrelevant, trivial information just for the sake of creating sympathy, anger and increase their viewership. This is not limited to some small players who can only survive this rat race by publishing or covering these trivial, petty and sensationalistic information. But this is the case with the big players as well.

I am just commenting on the common style of the presenters and anchor in TV News Channels

1. They try to put words into the mouth of the interviewees instead of soliciting their opinions.

2. They are very often biased in its coverage of issues of National importance like the reservations issue, communalism and the sensational murder cases (like the Arushi Talwar murder, which was a total character assassination)

3. They all have the Intellectual arrogance - all try their earnest best to push its own view on its viewers instead of presenting the story at hand in a unbiased manner

4. Sensationalism and insensitivity - all make trivial or insignificant issues into something of great magnitude, the poor viewer has no option but to become panicky. Anything can be written, peddled, promoted, distorted and sensationalized if it can sell.

5. A bunch of half baked presenters / writers whose only qualification for presenting / writing is their freedom of speech and who think they can write to and speak for an entire nation.

6. Personal opinions of presenters / writers are analysed, minor trends portrayed as the 'next big thing' and irrelevant minuscule details of celebrities and wannabes are made a part of a national debate.

7. Most of them are phony, pretentious, pseudo-secular (when-it-suits-me secularism) and have a prior opinion and try to prove a point. (That is not the goal of good journalism)

8. All indulge in one sided coverage, wrong news reportage, influencing the authorities and creating sympathy and media trials.

9. Have no respect for the guest interviewed, for example Karan Thapar... His interviews are such a farce and a mockery. The past interviews can be seen on the YouTube, like the one with J Jayalalitha. (Who in the end says it was not a pleasure talking to you)

10. Starting emotional campaigns. (Burka Dutt 'Enough is enough')

11. Continious feed of the so called Live... they just repeat the same over and over again. Bringing panelists and some inconsequential and irrelevant people to talk shows and deteriorate the issues further (Example Burka Dutt's talk show after the Mumbai terrorist attacks where Simi Garewal let her tongue loose and gave a very controversial statement)

12. Showing false concern, anger and sympathy (As if the reporter or the presenter is personally affected by these happenings). This is the most disgusting and the worst part of the all above.

I feel personally these tactics are used to generate TRP ratings and in turn get advertisements and revenue. But is that justified, by feeding such nonsense and sensationalized gibberish 24x7? The news channels as well as the print media are taking full advantage of all trivial and of no national importance issues and misusing the freedom of expression.

The Indian Media has to see the sobriety of the NPR.ORG website and their careful and responsible reporting. It is not just sensationalism or generating TRP, the Fourth Estate has a very vital role to play in the building of the nation and have a huge responsibility in giving clean and responsible coverage.

Unless the government take a strong stance on this, the media is going continue doing all the above for the TRP and advertisements. I really hope Rajdeep Sardesai, Burka Dutt, Arnab Goswami, Karan Thapar and many others change their ways by keeping a check on their reporting, analysing and presenting of news.