It's commendable that the high court of Gujarat had dismissed the petition seeking stay on chief minister Narendra Modi's investigation in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots case. It has been 7 years and still no commission could concretely come up with a complete 'credible' report on the Godhra incident and the riots that followed. If we consider the investigations taken up by the commissions set up earlier, the Nanavati commission gave clean chit to Narendra Modi and even 'appreciated the efforts taken up the government' post-Godhra. The Bannerjee panel, set up the Railways Minister two years later, stated in its report that the fire in the coaches of the fateful S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express resulted out of cooking being carried within the train and ruled out involvement of any Muslim miscreants. However, this report was later declared as "uncostitutional, illegal and void" by the Gujarat HC whose judgment was based on the first-hand accounts of some of the survivors. The Special Investigation Team, set up the Gujarat police immediately after the Godhra incident, called the burning of the coaches a 'planned conspiracy' by some local Muslims. This too was rubbished later on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The final version, that is mostly accepted now, is based on the findings of Nanavati Commission which states that the altercation between the kar sevaks and the Muslim porters at the Godhra station led to a provocation of the locals, mostly Muslims. Also, false rumors of a Kar Sevak kidnapping a local Muslim girl added fire to these rumors. (See the detailed analysis: http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/23/stories/2005012303901400.htm & http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/04/15/stories/2002041500161000.htm) And now, it was the Hindus' turn. Falling prey to mindless jingoism (radical fanaticism or whatever you may call), the Hindus & the Muslims across the state went on mass pogrom. According to an official estimate, 1044 people were killed in the violence - 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus including those killed in the Godhra train fire. Another 223 people were reported missing, 2,548 injured, 919 women widowed and 606 children orphaned. Inspite of such large scale violence, the government has been cleared of any role in the riots and its role has been 'appreciated' by the Nanavati Commission. I really wonder whether this statement in the Nanavati Commission's report is to be believed since the commission was setup by none other than Modi himself. The recent ruling by the Gujarat HC that the SIT, which was acting under the directions of Supreme Court of India, can question Modi will atleast give some hope for those waiting for justice and would also throw in some credibility to the investigations. It remains to be seen whether Modi had been escaping the noose all along and for how long he will continue to do so...

Two months and I haven't had much of a time to go online. Ah! How could I even breathe without the internet. And the unfortunate part is I couldn't blog through my mobile though I was comfortably updating my status messages in Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social networking world through my mobile phone. Some may flatter my absence in the online world as 'too much of work dedication' but it's just another misattribution to my happy PPI climax. I'm happy. I'm contended... with what I've done. Not much of workaholism but yes, I gave in my best and even enjoyed a lot in Chennai... But blogging is something I missed a lot. Not that I'm a 'regular' blogger but... Probably, there has been lots to talk about in the recent months. Elections in India, IPL frenzy, life in the sambarland a.k.a Chennai, some debates on religion, direct selling and so on. Well, I couldn't even reply to the comments on my blog. My other blog on technology has been lying lifeless ever since I posted on it. Now I don't even know what to write on. Coz lately some of my friends have been wanting me to write on matters I don't even know about, movies that I haven't even seen. It's like someone telling you "Why are you talking about India? Why don't I see you talking about Azerbaijan?" No offense meant but it's just that I write what I want to in my blog, what I feel and what I assumingly know of. So, let me first figure out what to post on. I'll keep this post an utterly dry and useless one... Till then, please vote me (on this post only) to stop writing. That'd be my fuel for the weeks to come.

It is a tragic and irreparable loss for the family members of Aman Kachroo, a 19-year old medical student, who had been reportedly ragged to death by his seniors. In my opinion, ragging is a barbaric and inhuman way of torturing the juniors by the seniors in a college, subjecting them to extreme psychological and mental stress, in the name of breaking the ice between them. What becomes suffering for one becomes a sadistic form of enjoyment for the other and the same people who suffer today enjoy in the future; some sort of a perplexing way of reclaiming the sadistic pleasures that they have been subjected to. There are many other ways of 'breaking the ice' and such an excuse for allowing ragging blatantly defies the human logic. Ragging, in the current forms as we hear it and see it in the news, is a gross violation of human rights. The Supreme Court of India, based on the recommendations of a committee headed by R.K.Raghavan, has passed an interim order in 2007 reiterating that the responsibility in eliminating this menace lies with the institution itself. Only six states have implemented the anti-ragging policy till now. There are still a huge number of colleges in the country which have no anti-ragging policies put in place. Most of the faculty members of the colleges have a 'chalta hai' attitude coz they think that these things happen everyday and that 'we should not bother much about it'. The government should come up, atleast now, with a definite law banning ragging in all forms across the country. But if we look at the contrary, such a law can be misused by the juniors who can possibly raise hue and cry over trivial or unexisting incidents in order to settle their personal scores againts the seniors. Therefore, the only best way to possibly eliminate this would be to have anti-ragging squads in the colleges. It would do good for the seniors in the colleges to start an 'anti-ragging squad' and instead help in guiding their juniors who actually find it difficult to adjust to the new college environment. This way, the juniors would respect the seniors in the same way the latter would have liked it to and there would be minimal chances, if not none, of misunderstanding and hatred between them. A college sponsored (and controlled) freshers day where the seniors and the juniors are free to mix with each other would be the best form of breaking the ice. Whatever it may be, the important point to be noted here is the colleges themselves should deal ragging menace with an iron hand. Unless the colleges implement a code, nothing can stop such helpless deaths.

Copyrights first! The title has been copied from the Gtalk status message of 'Chacha' Manabesh Pradhan, a not-so-old bald student at NITIE who happens to be my classmate and my achcha dost. The phrase Shamdog Millionaire seems so perfect that I couldn't resist copying it. There would have been a heaping praise on this movie had it been really true to the reality. Portraying the worst forms of poverty, beggary and child prostitution in a manner that baffles the slumdogs themselves is definitely not some arty stuff. And with this confrontation in my mind, I watched the movie twice just to understand if I have been wrong with my views. True, Slumdog definitely portrays the hidden part of India which had been quagmired by the glamorous song & dance sequences of the mainstream Hindi movies (sadly known as bollywood) but it overdoes it to such an extent just to please the western audience who'd love to see India's poverty, that too in the commercial capital Mumbai. This movie stands no chance to win 8 Oscars. Two or three probably would have done more than enough justice to this movie. I'm thankful that the 2009 Oscars have completely changed my opinion about the prestige associated with these awards. For me, Oscars are now no better than Filmfare. Rehman finally got his recognition albeit for a wrong act. I'm sure the whole nation would agree on this. There might be arguments that he did not give music to any other english movie but that doesn't make for the case. He won simply because he had to be given an Oscar. The portrayal of the Indian slum boy getting beaten up and saying "This is the real India" while the US lady responding while handing over a $100 bill with a "Let me show you the real America" was really hilarious. I never laughed so much in my life. What I was expecting out of a 'real America' was some horny-corny-fest. Now isn't that the mark of a genius director to come up with some original creative and (dare do I say) daring stuff? Kudos... In the end, it is Freida who is the ultimate slumdog millionaire; who travelled a long journey from a who-cares-about-her-model to boyfriend-dumping-page3 celebrity! But yes, I learnt one important lesson from this. If you want to win an Oscar, make a movie on race, poverty, war or controversy (gay sex etc..) Now that makes me even more motivated. How would it be if I make a movie on a US born software engineer getting into the deepest shit due to the recession and finally his dreams of getting a job in India become true. Wow! My movie should be getting 10 Oscars and I'll be taking away 6 viz. Hero, Director, Screenplay, Music, Dance & Best movie (producer). Anyone listening???

Here comes my first post of 2009. And, these one and a half months have seen events that wouldn't be enough for me to comment in a single post here. While Satyam scam welcomed 2009 to a future that has already been enervated by the economic slowdown, it followed with a much expected change at the power center US. It followed with something even more important (atleast for me); that's the placement season @NITIE. Right now, I can say only one thing on this. I'm happy I made the right choice... For those who are curious about the situation here, I'd say pls wait for the results to speak for themselves... :) But have we missed the most unimportant points here? Oh yes, the ruckus created by Ram Sene activists. Which culture has taught us to harass and slap women. It's not just talibanisation as portrayed by some media commentators. It's more than that. It's the annihilation of the identity of a peace-loving king who, by virtue, is regarded as the most perfect human avatar of God. They are the ones who are destroying the religion in the name of culture. I confess I'm single and not-really-ready-to-mingle. But still I despise those moronic demons who, in the name of morality and culture, destroy the freedom that two individuals enjoy. Do I need to take someone's permission to talk to a girl or go on date with someone? For how many years and to how many people should we fear in expressing our love? My personal opinion is that dating is much better than marrying someone you don't know. It atleast helps in understanding how much compatible you are with the other person. On the political front, India's diplomacy succeeded to an extent in forcing pakistan to confess what India had been saying all along. However, much more needs to be done by the Indian government. The truce signed by the Pak govt with Taliban to introduce the Sharia Law in the northern frontiers should be a closely watched development for India in the coming weeks. Back in campus, the competition rose to new levels. The students are leaving no stone unturned to get an additional CV point. NITIE is everywhere. Whether it be a sports event, quiz competition, case study contest or a business plan competition, there's surely a NITIEan topper. Imagine this... In an event, out of 6 teams in the final round, 3 NITIE teams are in the final shortlist and 2 more in the waitlist. Wow!!! All in all, it's been one of the most interesting new year kickoff. Amidst of all this, I am happy to announce that I'm planning to start a technology blog soon, something that I'll be more interested to write about than politics, religion, crime, war and hatred. Hopefully another interesting kick-off... Let's see...