Category Archives: Freedom

The Media’s Negligence of the North-East

Posted on by
Reply

Face the fact – the media has always had a sloppy side in reporting whats happening in the north-east. The Indian Media, simply fails to actively report any incident thats happening in the North-Eastern parts of our country. The only time it ever appears in the news is for some ULFA bomb attacks or if one of the so called ‘famous’ politicians makes a visit. Apart from that the Indian Media seems to have no reason what so ever to report on the incidents of the north-east.

So what exactly is the north-east. The North-East, as its commonly known across India, consists of the 7 states located at the north-east part of India, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura. Tough many people have heard about Assam in the news, the rest of the 7 ‘sisters’, remain in a total negligence from the media. Partially blame it on the political leaders leading the country. Though they have the time and money to go to every other state in the country, they just cant make it to the north-east.

manip 313 The Medias Negligence of the North EastI have friends who hail from that region, and i admit that, if it wasnt for them, i would have never even realized about this. The media, just feeds us with all the rubbish things from a shoot-out in Delhi to the local political party’s march in Cochin. These things are hailed and showcased as things of national interest, but not the killing of a law abiding officer and how it subsequently put a population into crisis. I’m talking about the killing of Dr Kishan, who was brutally murdered.

The sad part is that, when i got a mail from a friend asking me to help him report this event, i googled for it. The top results for – “Dr Kishan murder” – didnt even reveal any of the top news sites. Here are a few links -

It was indeed sad when, i was faced with the question, “We are also Indians, why are we treated differently every where?”. It time for us to stop ignoring whats happening to our brothers and sisters out there, and ask for more stringent action from the government. This news were actively reported by many sites and media, based out of the north-east, but none of the main-stream media picked it up.

Following is the mail that i received -

Respected Sir/Madam,
Three unclaimed bodies lie in the morgue of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal since Feb. 17. They have been brutally murdered, hit with spade on head and then smashed with rock. One among them is Dr. Kishan, gold medalist at Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, a civil servant of Manipur government and Sub-divisional officer of a remote village in Manipur. His mistake – he stood against diversion of development fund by the mighty extortionist, the self proclaimed savior of the region, popularly known in common man’s term as inner government and more powerful than the democratically elected government. He did something which no one, not even the Chief Minister of the state, dare to do. The other two were his sub-ordinate staff.

The incident brought already troubled state into complete standstill since last four days because of Bandh, Strikes and curfew. The bodies are not claimed and ex-gratia rejected by families demanding injustice. With no transportation, market, medicine shop etc. the entire state has turned to a hell on earth. Essential commodities are not reaching the state. People are not having enough food to eat now. My brother is sick and my parents could not even step out of the house to buy medicine. Families of vegetable vendors who buy 1-2kg of rice everyday by selling their vegetables are starving now. The schools and colleges in the whole state are closed.

But what is more shocking than the incident and the situation following it, is the fact that the national media, as usual, is ignorant of the situation. Perhaps, Jawaharlal Nehru’s ” Jewel of India” and “the birth place of modern day polo”, is not as important and as valuable as SRK’s shoulder. Dr. Kishan was as Indian as S Manjunath, a sales manager of IOC, who also met the same fate a few years back, which media took up making it an issue for whole nation which is in fact a great thing. He belongs to the state whose people still praise for Indian cricket team, the state whose sportspersons still proudly represent India in all international sports events. But why so much partiality in recognizing a hero? Is it because the state contributes very little TRP of news channels, buys less copies of newspaper and appeal less interest to the sponsors? Is heroism recognized by a place of birth rather than act he does to the Indian media? Doesn’t the situation of 30 lakh population have anything do with anyone in India?

Manipur is turning into a killing field with daily basis killings on the card. In such a situation in Manipur, when the responsibility of media becomes twofold, where are they? They need to look at the reality faced by the people of the state. They made the news of “Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur Break-up” as breaking news but don’t bother to look at the traumatized situation of a whole state. Do the people of state deserve such treatment? It hurts when all these things are happening right in front of our eyes.

The world will laugh hearing the much hyped term “Superpower India” when the people of the country does not even know the boundary of their own country and not aware of what is happening inside their country. Thanks to the responsible Indian media. Hats off to you!!
Regards,
xxxxxxxx

Its indeed sad.

Useful Python Snippets

Posted on by
Reply

My love for Python has indeed grown with the constant usage. Each day i find something that is really interesting with that. By interesting i mean, C will complain and whine if i do that, PERL say ‘lets give it a try‘ and Python is like, ‘C’mon baby, i’m ready!!!’.

My advice to good C/C++ programmers is that, stay the way you are, picking up PERL / Python will screw up you skill. C is like the wife with whom you have to be loyal, Python is like the liberal girlfriend, who lets you flirt with other girls and wouldn’t mind.

Coming back to the purpose of this post, here are some of the snippets that proved useful to me and could also help you out with in your scripts -

File to List – Move the contents of the file in to an list, line by line

list = ([line for line in open ( "names.txt", "r")])

Pattern Matching – the only thing that i miss in Python is the regexp usability that PERL gave me. Some how i feel that using regexp was a lot more easier with Perl, than with Python

# import the regex pacakge
import re
#create the regex object
pattern = re.compile("error")
# search for pattern
re.search(pattern, sampleString)

re.search return TRUE / FALSE depending on the result, so that it can be used along with if <> : clause

Detecting the OS and creating directories – this helps to solve the variation in the Windows directory navigation (..\\..\\) and the Unix style navigation (../../)

# import OS packages and time package
import os, time, sys, os.path
# create a unique directory name based on the time
dirName="Run-"+time.strftime("%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S", time.localtime())
# detect the OS
if os.name == "posix":
    logPath = "../../logs/"
    resultsPath = "../../results/"
else:
    logPath = "..\\..\logs\\"
    resultsPath = "..\\..\\results\\"
# create the directories
os.mkdir(logPath+dirName)
os.mkdir(resultsPath+dirName)

String is like a List – the best part of Python

str = "Hello"
# will print H
print str[0]

Happy scripting, and i hope this will be helpful to some … icon smile Useful Python Snippets

Mallu in Delhi – Part 2

Posted on by
Reply

December 19, 2008 …

I didn’t expect to write this second part the very next day. But something really funny happened that i had to write about day 2.

After taking the session to a crowd, that enrolled itself for the advanced training, for something that they didn’t know, i was quite exhausted. Every time i finish a slide i’d ask them, “Did u guys understand that?”. They all will then have that look like Katrina Kaif just asked them out. Interestingly the only girl in the session, was trying out the student exercises and was cursing big time – “Yeh, kitna ghatiya system hai…”. With all that, i needed a break.

I decided to walk it up to the guest house. After all it was just a 15 min walk from the office. Got out to the main road and got on to a cycle rickshaw. I was told by my friend from Delhi that one of things to try out in Delhi was to take a ride in one of the cycle rickshaws. Hopped on to one of them and as i was nearing my guest house, i changed my plan.

(translation of my conversation with the rickshaw guy)

“Do you know any shopping malls near by..”

“Yes sir”

“Can you take me there?”

“Ok”

So he started peddling. On and on and on. On the way i see one Grand Mall, he didn’t stop there. Then i see a Mega Mall. he didnt stop there either. I asked him why he didn’t stop any where there? He replied that he will take me to a better place. 20 minutes into the ride i end up in a place like the BDA Complex in Bangalore and there was a big red board on top of that building and on it was written in white Arial Bold font – “DLF Shopping Mall”. Yes! he took me to a building named shopping mall. I just couldn’t stop laughing at myself. Paid the rickshaw guy and walked back to Mega Mall. All the way laughing at myself.

So if u ever end up in Delhi/Gurgaon/any NCR region, dont ask for shopping malls. Just ask for ‘malls’. I must warn you, if u cant say ‘mall’ with the ‘o’, and can only say that with an ‘a’; Oops! My advice – stay at home, Delhi is not the place for you. Or may be if you are lucky enough the mall can get you to a place full of ‘mall’.

Wedding Bells!!! Uhh What? Where’s my BFG?

Posted on by
8

(Still wondering what a BFG is? read on…)

I was there, standing at a railway crossing. I can walk across the rails and go ahead on the road, on my way, where ever it can take me. But, No! I park my bike and start walking on the railway line. Minutes and hours pass by. I come across green meadows, houses, hills; it was a timeless journey. No thirst, no hunger, no pain, nothing. It was me, the railway line and the view. I don’t know how far i was walking. The sun was there shining high up in the sky. He never moved. I was lost in my thoughts.

It has been quite sometime that I’ve started hearing some strange sounds. It sounded like the ringing bell of an old steam-locomotive. Ting…. Ting…. Ting….

I was high on my spirits. After a long walk, i have a train to go forward. This was like the ultimate dream. Or am i dreaming? I stop to turn around. What the…. my legs are glued to the ground. I cant move!!!. I was struggling like hell to free myself. Behind me i could see the dust and smoke rising up in the horizon. What ever it may be, the dream was just about to turn ugly. My heart’s beating a 1000 beats per minute.

I look behind. I see a shining far behind. Its small, its fast and its coming my way. I’m struggling like hell. I hear the bell ringing even closer. I turn behind… What the #$#%^&^(*(&)(*_)… a pandit with neatly shaved head, big pony tail flying behind him, ringing his bell with one hand and a ‘portable’-fireplace (might be some new 21st century invention).. running towards me. What on heaven’s sake is that?

“Son”, holy crap!!! its my dad, standing to my right.

“What… How… Why…”

“Son”, jeeezzzz, its my mom, standing to my left.

“What… What are you guys doing here?”

“Tie the knot my son!!!”, they both say that with absolute precision that can even leave the most meticulously synchronized systems to shame.

“Tie what?”, i look in front of me and i almost faint. I’m holding a ‘mangalsuthru’ and there is this girl standing in front of me. I don’t know jack shit about her. Is this a right time to at least ask her name?. What am i doing …

Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting …….

I was still sweating and breathing heavily as i jumped out of my bed. Checked around me and all round my flat just to make sure that i didn’t really wake up after my first-night… or worse 20 years after my marriage. So why do i get the feeling that this is what is going to happen to me????

Parental-pressure is high! By parental-pressure i mean damn crazy pressure that can cause you to go sleepless for days at end. If i thought that could only be the only one which can cause unrest in my serene life, i was wrong. There was… No… there IS a far more greater pressure that will eventually get happy bachelors to get married. Its scientifically called Peer-Pressure a.k.a Friends.

Celibacy is not my way of life. But Yes, face it! Its your FRIENDS who will eventually get you married. They will all be there. They are the greatest treasure that u can have. Even long after you are gone, you will live within your friends. ‘Gone’ as in not like you are dead. ‘Gone’ as in, you go on-site and they will still talk about you as, ‘Kaminaa Saala!!! On-site se kuch nahi leke aayega. Fakeeerrrr…’. You live now, not after you’re dead.

They are there. But have you ever though about what happens when they all eventually face the running-pandit, gets run over by him, never gets a chance to wake up and lives the ‘dream’. Oops you’re in trouble.

They all get married and start their family. They no longer enjoy the jokes that you shared. Even worse they even reach a point where they tell you, “Dude don’t talk about all that, she doesn’t like all that”. Worse still, his wife hates you and more worse, her husband starts having feelings for you.

Oops! your friend will change. They all change eventually and you are left alone. You just cant go and make more friends because, the ‘make-great-friends’ list gets shorter with age. Soon you will find yourself without the great friends that you used to hand out with, no new friends and you are being treated like an adult where ever you go. And i believe the later stage is definitely not where i want to find myself at.

So now there is even more pressure on you to get married…

Whats that… Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting… Where is that BFG (Big Fucking Gun), i’m gonna kill that pandit…

WTF… its full platoon of relatives and friends marching towards me. Dad and Mom holding a garland each, friends with kids and its then i realize that the pandit was just a side-kick.

I just stand there like a scapegoat as they dance around me… Ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting…

Writer’s Block : WTF !!!! Fuck it, I’m back

Posted on by
Reply

Writers Block : WTF !!!! Fuck it, Im backI was there. It didn’t feel great.

I was scared, i was lost, i was wandering in the dark.

I hit the Writer’s Block.

Trust me its a damn scary place. Felt good when i reached there, mainly due to the fact that i was busy at work and i was in no way even getting time to pee. Forced into the dark the force grew weaker in me. Two days back i faced the bitter reality that i had hit the block, i shouldn’t have taken the left turn at the T-junction at the dead-end, for what joy?, i have no idea.

Goddess Wikipedia (a.k.a. Goddess Saraswathi in Hindu Mythology), describes Writer’s Block as :

Writer’s block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.

Naah!!! Nothing of these caused my condition. I had inspiration(lots of it) and i had lots to write but i didn’t. Why? I needed a reason and today i have a reason to write. Breaking the door, like Rajani, i’m out with the reason i needed (I wish it was more like a girl that i walked out with).

20th Sept, 15th Oct and this one on the 30th of Oct, that was the frequency of my posts in the last 2 months.

Looking back i ponder what made me stop, was it the work or was it something more noir. Yes, work was one of the reasons, undeniably. 20+ hrs of working on a single day, my friends began referring me as IBM‘s bitch. Getting adjusted to the new life was one definite factor. But when i search deep it was something more than that. One that pains me still, tried shrugging it off, but couldn’t, it still lingers in the darkest thoughts. It can be described as one that is scariest for a writer. I was never credited for something that i wrote. Even my closest friends didnt acknowledge the fact that it was me. Bang! i got a “500 Internal Server Error” when i was expecting a “200 OK” with “Connection: Keep-Alive”.

Any way its all behind me, and i at least think that i’m back.

BTW my lingo has now been reduced into the results of an aftermath of heavy AS2/AS3 testing, with heavy dosage of XML and Development team that doesnt consent to bugs.

Taken this opportunity, if u would like anyone who is coming across this post to share, what made them hit writer’s block and how they did eventually overcome it….

icon smile Writers Block : WTF !!!! Fuck it, Im back