How safe is our country?

This post is NOT meant for 'Mrs E' from Upsaala, Sweden. Reading it, she may stop her son Bjorn from visiting Bombay in January for the marathon.

An article in today's DNA talks about the crime statistics in India. The writer admits that these stats must be the fraction of the ice berg as governments and police forces don't want ugly stats out there.

Let's take a look at some of the numbers..

• There were 33,335 murders in India in 2010 (About 7763 in UP and Bihar alone)
• There were 29,000 attempts to murder
• There were 213,585 cases of offenses against women (Remember that in rural areas, women hesitate to report crimes, thanks to a social stigma on the victim)
• More than 22,000 cases of rape (!!!)

I agree that India doesn't have roadside knife-point or gun-point muggings but these figures, which are the tip of the iceberg are disturbing to say the least. One of the most urgent requirements in India is police reforms.

See the DNA analysis here http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_the-real-picture-behind-our-crime-statistics_1605290

Book Review: Le Gone du Chaâba (Shantytown Kid)

I am of the belief that it is more difficult for a person to rise from poverty to a good lifestyle in the west than it is in India. Being the son of illiterate Algerian immigrants and living in a shantytown would make it all the more tougher, but that didn't stop Azouz Begag from rising all the way from a Lyon slum to the French Prime Minister's Cabinet.

Begag, who was the minister for equal opportunities in Dominique de Villepin's government, writes this autobiography of his childhood in a slum near Lyon in the 1960s. Conditions in the slum were actually worse than in present-day Dharavi, which has electricity. Begag grew up in the company of other children who were in limbo between North Africa and France. But his resolve and ambition along with a few inspiring school-teachers helped him reach great heights, against the odds.

This beautiful coming-of-age book describes life in the Chaâba, a slum with Algerian immigrants. After Algerian independance, many impoverished men came in search of a better life in the former coloniser's country. While they stuck to their traditions in many aspects, this proved detrimental to a generation of confused children who weren't French enough.

I particulalry enjoyed the description of community life in the Chaâba, complete with fights between the womenfolk, when their husbands were at the construction sites. The book is a frank account of life in the slums but a positive one, none the less. Some might it find too hard to read the passage about circumcision, using common scissors or other details of the hygiene habits in the Chaâba, but I think this is a wonderful book to understand the questions of multi-culturalism, immigration and class divisions, issues that occupy centre-stage in many parts of the world.

Diwali in Pune

Pune's older areas called peths are an ideal place to witness the sights and sounds of Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights.

Here are some images from a wonderful evening in Pune

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7444188@N05/sets/72157627865057487/

Suspicious trio in Pune's Cantonment

Something must arouse suspicion with this picture in the military cantonment of Pune: 3 young people walking towards a statue of Field Marshall Maneckshaw. The first looks like a northeasterner (although she's Russian), the second could have Arab roots and speaks with a North African accent and the 3rd would fit the prototype of a Dravidian but has a large camera around his neck.

An armed soldier walks in parallel with the trio, who try to stay unnoticed. Then comes a polite question.."Where are you guys from?" Bombay, I say, and my friendly tone warms up the soldier and he wishes all of us a Happy Diwali. The soldier from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh was just making sure that no one was eyeing the cantonment for an attack.

One may laugh at the above notion but there's a road in the city named after General Arun Vaidya, who was the 13th chief of staff of the Indian Army. The general was assasinated in Pune in 1986 by Sikh terrorists, who wanted to avenge Operation Blue Star, one of the ugliest incidents in modern India. General Vaidya, who was a hero of the 1965 and 1971 wars, planned and executed the operation on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, when it was under seige by terrorists. There is a monument in honour of General Vaidya, at the same spot where he fell to the bullets of assasins.

Man's best friend

Unconditional love only comes from 2 sources: parents and pet dogs. The amount of love and affection that a dog possesses never ceases to amaze me.

Meet Caxixi, my newest friend from Pune

This 2-month old puppy goes completely beserk when people wake up. The fact is that dogs completely deserve all our love and affection.  

A Sad Demise

Uncle Frido was a cheerful and jovial man who loved to make fun of me, right from the time I was 15 years old. Like many of Bombay's Catholics, he was a huge hockey fan. If anyone had a typical Bandra accent, it was him. No afternoon was complete for Uncle Frido without his copy of the Mid-Day and an evening would not be the same without a particular type of bread from a nearby bakery.

He rode that bicycle of his on the crowded streets of JVPD, even the day before a massive heart-attack ended his life. That same old bicycle was parked in the corridor before the entry to his house. I froze when I saw it yesterday. Could I walk into that house and keep my emotions in check?

Memories from the glorious days of the early-to-mid 1990s rushed through my system. As hard as it is to believe for me now, I was once this annoying 15-year old kid, living in a city called Bombay after having been raised in New York. In 1993, it seemed like just about everybody in Bombay watched Santa Barbara and the Bold and the Beautiful on tv.  The only cars on the roads were Ambassadors, Premier Padminis and Maruti 800s. The "big shots" had their Contessas.

There was actually a beautiful roundabout circle at the area still called Juhu Circle. It had a very nice fountain and a very posh look. People still referred to the area around Shopper's Stop in Andheri as "Amber-Oscar" as the department store came up where there once existed a cinema theatre by that name. There was something very different about all of Bombay in 1993. Yes, it was already crowded by then and polluted as well, but courtesy was an integral part of a Bombayite's character. This city was known for its large number of gentlemen. Uncle Frido was definitely one such gentleman and for me represented all that was good about the Bombay that I once knew.

As I stood at the cemetery by the St Joseph's Church in Juhu, I said goodbye to someone who loved me and wished me well like few other people in this city did. A bright and sparkling light has gone out of our lives.

Rest in Peace: Frido Martin Perreira. You were loved and will be terribly missed by a countless number of people.

Gruesome Murder by Barbarians in Amboli (Andheri)

I was shocked and highly disturbed to hear about this murder on a block that is a walking distance from my house. A young man died because he slapped someone who molested his friend. That young man could have been me. It could have been any decent person who stood up to protect his friends.

The Times of India reported today that: "The deceased, Keenan Santos, who worked as a bartender in a five-star hotel, and his friends, including three women, were waiting at a paan shop in Amboli on Thursday night when four drunk men came by. One of the drunkards purposely fell on a woman in Keenan's group. When Keenan and his friends objected, a scuffle broke out. The drunks left the spot only to return minutes later with more men. They stabbed Santos and mercilessly beat up his friends-Reuben and Benjamin Fernandez and Avinash Bali."
The police arrested four people so far for the murder. The TOI goes on to say, "Keenan's friends alleged that the accused showed no remorse after the crime and were telling their friends at the police station that they would be out of jail within a few months. Eyewitnesses had said that a dozen men had attacked Keenan and his friends. However, the police, after verifying the facts, have concluded that only the arrested four were involved in the brawl."

It's a shame that someone had to die like this. I hope the full weight of the law is thrown on these barbarians.

I had a chance to visit the church, where the deceased young man was a parishoner. Some of his friends alleged that this murder was "pre-meditated and not caused by a slap." The mainly Catholic youth of Amboli are petrified after this incident and a funeral mass on Sunday had an unusually large number of visitors spanning all religions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-F9cNLRZI&feature=related