Saturday 7 March 2015

Yes, I did Watch It (India's Daughter-Nirbhaya, the fearless)

I am probably as guiltier as hundreds of thousands of my fellow Indians of committing an offence by watching a controversial and banned (in India) documentary film in which an unrepentant criminal heart, convict Mukesh Singh (awaiting decision on his appeal to stay execution) and his defenders bares all.

For Leslee Udwin, the director of “India’s Daughter” documentary took nearly 2 years. It was produced for one of UK TV channel, BBC Four. It directed by Leslee Udwin was to have its worldwide premiere on the International Women's Day i.e. on Sunday March 8, 2015. However, after the Indian governments ban, which was also held up by Delhi’s high court (on air as well as on the internet), BBC decided to air the film 3 days prior i.e. on night of Wednesday, March 5, 2015 in the UK.

If one is brutally honest and self-critical with own self, one has to admit that despite the dreary pace and bland storytelling, the film based on the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang-rape, did manage to highlight some of the societal ugliness in its own mirror through the interviews of the convict, his defending counsels, victims parents and few others. It was also successful in making us think up on the hard hitting realities about how the minds of young generation is getting shaped in the new surging but deprived of basic education, amenities and opportunities India. To me, it was extremely successful in managing to kicked up a storm kick up a countrywide storm of controversies (helped enormously by governments ban) and in wetting eyes if not pouring out waters through the eyes of most viewers.

One major controversy was about the Indian bureaucracy’s role in granting permission for allowing to film in prison by a foreigner and the BBC. It’s known that Ms. Udwin’s application to Tihar prison officials was submitted on July 22, 2013 seeking permission to "interview convicts of cases related to atrocities against women". Home ministry officials granted the permission on their own in some kind of haste without taking officials from I&B and foreign ministries in the loop as per the protocol. This haste element is apparent the home ministry officials ignored its own 2012 circular mandating background security checks on foreigners (media persons as well as researchers, criminologists, researchers, NGO officials engaged in prison welfare activities, prisoner’s country embassy staffs, and those wishing to celebrate Christmas and other festivals) visiting Indian prisons. This all was done prior to the installation of Modi-led NDA government came into being.

The real saga began after HM Mr. Rajnath Singh banned the telecast of the film in India and requested BBC for a worldwide and internet ban on its telecast. Having failed to achieve cooperation hours before the telecast of the film in the UK, the governments standing counsel served a notice to the BBC on behalf of DG Tihar prison, claiming 1. That filmmaker Udwin had consented to the condition that the documentary would not be used for commercial purposes accusing her for selling films commercial rights to the channel BBC Four, and thus breached her contract, and 2. That the final print shall be sent to the prison authorities before screening. Tihar officials also claim to have sent a request to her for vetting of the documentary on November 2014.

Ms. Udwin however, contest this and claims that she got permission for the interview, from home ministry, Tihar prison authorities and the convict Mukesh Singh and followed all the instructions, and even shown the raw footage to the prison authorities. Prison The home ministry, in its haste to approve British filmmaker Leslee Udwin's application to shoot interviews of gender crime convicts inside Tihar jail, ignored its own 2012 circular mandating background security checks to be run on foreigners seeking to visit Indian prisons.

According to home ministry sources, a set of guidelines was issued in December 2012 to regulate movement/visits of foreign visitors inside Indian jails. These norms specifically state that background checks should be done on all foreigners applying for prior permission to visit jail premises.

READ ALSO:
Nirbhaya revisited, but not this way, please

The foreigners visiting Indian jails may not only include mediapersons or filmmakers, but also criminologists, researchers, embassy staff, workers of NGOs engaged in prisoners' welfare, or those seeking to just celebrate festivals like Christmas on jail premises. "Their applications are received from time to time ... the guidelines were issued to standardize the parameters for their access to Indian prisons, and one of the key conditions laid down was to verify the antecedents of the foreign visitor before giving the permission," said a home ministry official.
READ ALSO:
Ban only made video go viral

The official added that the background check could have been done by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of R&AW, or even Delhi Police in Udwin's case. "Though the decision on Udwin's application may well have been positive after the background check, the fact that this parameter was not fulfilled by either the home ministry or the Tihar jail authorities, is a lapse," said the official.

READ ALSO:
India's Daughter neither vulgar nor offensive

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry is also verifying how Nirbhaya rape convict appeared for the interview in normal clothes and not in jail uniform. As per prison rules, a convict must only wear prison uniform on jail premises.The home ministry, in its haste to approve British filmmaker Leslee Udwin's application to shoot interviews of gender crime convicts inside Tihar jail, ignored its own 2012 circular mandating background security checks to be run on foreigners seeking to visit Indian prisons.

According to home ministry sources, a set of guidelines was issued in December 2012 to regulate movement/visits of foreign visitors inside Indian jails. These norms specifically state that background checks should be done on all foreigners applying for prior permission to visit jail premises.

READ ALSO:
Nirbhaya revisited, but not this way, please

The foreigners visiting Indian jails may not only include mediapersons or filmmakers, but also criminologists, researchers, embassy staff, workers of NGOs engaged in prisoners' welfare, or those seeking to just celebrate festivals like Christmas on jail premises. "Their applications are received from time to time ... the guidelines were issued to standardize the parameters for their access to Indian prisons, and one of the key conditions laid down was to verify the antecedents of the foreign visitor before giving the permission," said a home ministry official.
READ ALSO:
Ban only made video go viral

The official added that the background check could have been done by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of R&AW, or even Delhi Police in Udwin's case. "Though the decision on Udwin's application may well have been positive after the background check, the fact that this parameter was not fulfilled by either the home ministry or the Tihar jail authorities, is a lapse," said the official.

READ ALSO:
India's Daughter neither vulgar nor offensive

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry is also verifying how Nirbhaya rape convict appeared for the interview in normal clothes and not in jail uniform. As per prison rules, a convict must only wear prison uniform on jail premises. The home ministry, in its haste to approve British filmmaker Leslee Udwin's application to shoot interviews of gender crime convicts inside Tihar jail, ignored its own 2012 circular mandating background security checks to be run on foreigners seeking to visit Indian prisons.

According to home ministry sources, a set of guidelines was issued in December 2012 to regulate movement/visits of foreign visitors inside Indian jails. These norms specifically state that background checks should be done on all foreigners applying for prior permission to visit jail premises.

READ ALSO:
Nirbhaya revisited, but not this way, please

The foreigners visiting Indian jails may not only include mediapersons or filmmakers, but also criminologists, researchers, embassy staff, workers of NGOs engaged in prisoners' welfare, or those seeking to just celebrate festivals like Christmas on jail premises. "Their applications are received from time to time ... the guidelines were issued to standardize the parameters for their access to Indian prisons, and one of the key conditions laid down was to verify the antecedents of the foreign visitor before giving the permission," said a home ministry official.
READ ALSO:
Ban only made video go viral

The official added that the background check could have been done by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of R&AW, or even Delhi Police in Udwin's case. "Though the decision on Udwin's application may well have been positive after the background check, the fact that this parameter was not fulfilled by either the home ministry or the Tihar jail authorities, is a lapse," said the official.

READ ALSO:
India's Daughter neither vulgar nor offensive

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry is also verifying how Nirbhaya rape convict appeared for the interview in normal clothes and not in jail uniform. As per prison rules, a convict must only wear prison uniform on jail premises. The home ministry, in its haste to approve British filmmaker Leslee Udwin's application to shoot interviews of gender crime convicts inside Tihar jail, ignored its own 2012 circular mandating background security checks to be run on foreigners seeking to visit Indian prisons.

According to home ministry sources, a set of guidelines was issued in December 2012 to regulate movement/visits of foreign visitors inside Indian jails. These norms specifically state that background checks should be done on all foreigners applying for prior permission to visit jail premises.

READ ALSO:
Nirbhaya revisited, but not this way, please

The foreigners visiting Indian jails may not only include mediapersons or filmmakers, but also criminologists, researchers, embassy staff, workers of NGOs engaged in prisoners' welfare, or those seeking to just celebrate festivals like Christmas on jail premises. "Their applications are received from time to time ... the guidelines were issued to standardize the parameters for their access to Indian prisons, and one of the key conditions laid down was to verify the antecedents of the foreign visitor before giving the permission," said a home ministry official.
READ ALSO:
Ban only made video go viral

The official added that the background check could have been done by the Intelligence Bureau, with the help of R&AW, or even Delhi Police in Udwin's case. "Though the decision on Udwin's application may well have been positive after the background check, the fact that this parameter was not fulfilled by either the home ministry or the Tihar jail authorities, is a lapse," said the official.

READ ALSO:
India's Daughter neither vulgar nor offensive

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry is also verifying how Nirbhaya rape convict appeared for the interview in normal clothes and not in jail uniform. As per prison rules, a convict must only wear prison uniform on jail premises.
officials wanted to question Ms. Udwin but she left the country late on Wednesday March 3, 2015 without joining the probe on her contest and official claim of why only one convict interview was in the documentary whereas to interviewed half-a-dozen other convicts of gender violence. Another noteworthy fact that the convict Mukesh in film was not wearing regular jail uniform but normal cloths also needs an investigation. In any case, whatever may be truth behind the India’s government position or Ms. Udwin’s claim would eventually come out but would hardly serve any purpose because by then brass-earners would have made enough out of the razing likely long-term controversy.

After I began watching through a web link sent to me by a friend on Whatsapp messenger. I was literally shaken and shell-shocked to know, as to what goes on in the mind of a death convict awaiting decision for stay on execution. Then a surge of question filled my mind raising serious doubts on the effectiveness of justice and centuries old reprimand systems of term-confinement in jails or even death penalty, has any lasting reparative effect on the mind of a convict. I felt that it’s time that we seriously put our heads together to redefine our age old definition of human-rights to allow us to incorporate new and freshly conceptualised, developed and employ, techno-savvy psycho-social tools to treat these sick-social psychopaths endangering the lives of many innocent? We must come to terms with the reality that some of these social-psychopaths, who are found to be incurably sick at the time of their trials or identified during the course of their confinement are given the mercy of relieving their suffering souls from the world that they have not chosen to come but have been (mis)placed and (mal)developed to suffer.

My second shock came when I watched legal but evil misogynists and offensive defenders; ML Sharma and AP Singh the defending counsels who seemed to be sermonising on the Indian value system and culture.

The icing on the cake in the documentary was with typical British subtlety that worked around the subject of extreme gender violence as an eye opener to a self-critical and analytical viewer and at the same time kicked up in the most soft spot of a so called contemporary nationalists with oxymoron statement by counsel M L Sharma; "We have the best culture. In our culture, there is no place for a woman.”

I’m certain that BBC team is well aware of typical emotional sensitivities and arrogantly unthinking political outfits (within or outside the Indian government) and thus chose Dr. Maria Misra, probably the only face to provide the British perspective, albeit with subtle mildness. Unlike most, BBC documentaries, this one puts more facts without much personal or British interpretation but rather leaving it to the viewers, probably intentionally. Fact that is noteworthy about the documentary that it has vividly exemplified the contradictions between India’s new women asserting against the gender discrimination and her long suppresed quest of societal independence and deeply entrenched views of law keepers, who are unquestionably narrow minded patriarchal men self proclaimed law keepers of the indian value system. However, it never attempts to touch up on providing or pointing towards a solution.

After I finished watching my mind had several questions lurking; if the defence lawyer solemn duty is to defend the accused by shining light on evidences that may have been overlooked or intentionally twisted by the victim’s lawyers, or is it that they must also be convinced of the explanations for which the crime was committed by the accused/convict. If latter is the case, than I can’t help but shiver with the prospect of frightfully harrowing beginning in some of the legal eagles minds. I am so far shocked to see the abject silence (except Delhi bar council meeting late last night) of “our so called judicial honchos, law-makers and even enlightened socialites against these defenders of the law on various platforms and mediums. This one documentary should be watched by everyone to learn how the minds of serious offenders and their defenders work. Imagine if these men can speak like that to an international audience what they might be thinking and doing in their social spaces.

I am totally at a loss with what I saw and heard from parents of Nirbhaya in the documentary what is reported in the media reports. But I express my most sincere solidarity with one of Nirbhaya’s mother comment on the raging debate in media and even in the parliament. She said; Talking in Parliament does not help. Why are the convicts not been hanged yet? How will the campaign 'Beti Padao, Beti Bachao' (educate, save our daughters) work, if the daughters are not safe enough to be alive?" It was sad to note that she had only expressed her helplessness at those outrageous comments of the defence lawyers and that says it all of her faith in the government, judiciary and society at large.

My harshest criticism of Udwin’s documentary is that four other men, who violated Nirbhaya didn’t get to face the camera and her questioning leaving a lot in her editing studio for us to know about the mind actors in  don't get a word in even though they were reportedly interviewed.) Yet, by the end of the film, all we have is a superficial understanding of these men. Ms. Udwin in her documentary ignores to highlight and explore the reasons and its effect of custodial death of convict Ram Singh which could have been revealing.

It also doesn’t touches up on effects of torture of social isolation and shame, which is perhaps more painful to the victim and her family then even the death penalty to the accused and his family in this country.

In the end, if nothing else this entire saga shall and must forever serve as a testimony to the short-sightedness of lawmakers on one hand and futility of ban on its telecast in the age of social media. In fact the governments ban only served to create an atmosphere any film or book producer / writer/ publisher would want. It made it to go viral! I am looking for one who could find anything in this film that is either vulgar or glorifies rape.

Monday 2 March 2015

A blog with its title at the end and a question.


Don’t we all live in a world that is moving a very fast pace? Earth itself moves at an incredibly fast speed of 1,600 km per hour roughly (460 meters per second) at the equator. Therefore, when it comes to living anywhere on the planet Earth, none have a choice but live in fast paced world. But that’s about our bodies and physical matters around us.
If someone had asked the question with regards to the pace of our minds? Well then, it would be practically impossible for the science (that we know) to answer this question because everyone’s mind is busy at a different speed.
Isn’t that we often notice some are with slower and some have a very fast mentation? But again, we are aren’t talking about mentation. Here, I’m talking about a very silent but amazingly powerful activity (both in creative and destructive sense) that takes place in our minds that we seldom care to notice about. Our minds pace is often frantic. It is always busy doing something, not allowing itself to take a moment of rest, not even during sleep (because it likes to dream). And what are we doing to help this busy companion mind of ours? Nothing, and nothing at all. In fact we are fighting stillness every step of the way. We are all, thinking, writing, marching, shouting, sermoning all the time----Keep Moving. Hahaha.
Several amongst us read books and newspapers in the bathroom, in trains and flights, even while walking on the office corridors, pavements and streets. They were paper books and newspapers earlier, now these books and newspapers are on our smart phones, tabs and pads.  The bottom-line is that we are all clamoring for more information, data and facts to extract more juice and fun for life.
Every movement of ours in this modern world is centered on our connectivity, its human being instinctual need. It could be physical, optical or electronic. Initially modes of faster connectivity (through land, water and air and now electronic) brought us all together by shrinking the world into a global village. However, before we could realize these modes of faster connectivity, which broke our physical limitations of boundaries have already shattered traditional joint family systems.  In the past villages and communities were formed by a dozen or even less numbers of family clans, each with 3-4 generations living together, but not anymore. Now sons and grandsons live either in separate house or in different place and our neighbor is an unknown similarly dislocated son or a grandson of a different village or city.
Real-time visual and voice connectivity at lightning speeds are taking this toll even further, where nuclear families have started getting disconnected to living and working apart and coming together only on weekends or whilst holidaying. To be happy, peaceful and to feel secure, every living creature needs proximity of its loved and related being; be it a human or an animal of land, underground, water or air.  Modern connectivity has failed to deliver “togetherness” -great necessity in today’s hyperlinked world, where we can know anything, at any time in several different ways and formats.
Most of us think that meditation is all about stopping/ controlling and even crushing our thoughts, in order to get rid of emotions. On the contrary it is not about controlling the mind or thoughts. It is something very different from it. It’s more like taking a pause in our fast paced lives, take step backwards, and trying to observe our endless thought process as calmly as possible. It’s about taking a role of an unattached witness, who observes thoughts coming and going — without judgment, attachment, joy or pain but with a fully relaxed but an alert mind.
The facts is distractions are everywhere. Many question, as seeker and some as skeptics; if meditation can improve ones creativity and focus? Maybe, but it depends on what kind of meditation one is engaged in. Some scientific explorations   have been undertaken in to various types of meditation methods; c.f. (a) focused-attention (in which ones focuses on own breathing) and (b) open-monitoring or Zen meditation (where participants observes internal thoughts as they come and go and external or bodily effects) and (c) Loving-kindness meditation. Researchers at Leiden University at Netherlands have obeserved that creative thinking can be positively influenced by two of the widely practiced methods; focused attention and open-monitoring meditation techniques. Meditating subjects after practicing mindful stillness demonstrated increased ability to generate new ideas and solutions to given experimental problems in the study1.
There are many achievers who have found or enhanced their creativity in mindful stillness. John Lennon, George Harrison, Yehudi Menuhin and many other prolific singers, writers and fortune 500 company owners, CEO’s, celebrities and world leaders admitted to have gained in their artistic, literary and societal pursuits with less tension and resistance and with a more effective application of mind and aptitude. Acclaimed Rock n' Roll artist Leonard Cohen and Travel writer Iyer, chose stillness in their lives going nowhere for their creations and adventures. Obviously, in the stillness of No-where they could find something that they could not have found Any-where.
Obviously in “No-where of meditative stillness” they found a heightened state of consciousness of their mind, which was beyond their reach “Any-where”. Many proclaim that perform meditation but the fact is that “meditation is not an activity that one can perform, it’s a state  of mind that one has to be in”.
Unfortunately although meditation is very popular few know what meditation actually is. Most consider meditation as an exercise of mental concentration on a object, outside or within our mind or something. Rest feel that during meditation we need to imagine something to achieve a state of peace or satisfaction. In reality, it is a state of vivid awareness, where the mind is alert and aware, and yet thoughtless. For an uninitiated not practicing individual It is difficult to have no thought in one's mind, but Energy Chakra’s (Kundalini) in our autonomic system helps us to achieve this state, once awakened through Self Realization.
All methods of meditation have one goal in common to slow down with an near impossible aim to completely stop the unending thoughts coming and going through our minds. Thus meditation is a state of thoughtless awareness. It is not an act of doing - it is a state of mindful awareness. We either are in this state or we are not, regardless of the activity we are doing. In fact, one can be in the state of meditation while performing routine worldly activities as another can be very far from meditative stillness even when sitting with eyes closed for hours or days in a jungle or on the top of a mountain.
Many saints, prophets and enlightened souls have described the state of meditation. But the actual process of achieving it is still a mystery, the great unknown secret to the happiness and peace in life.
Reference:
1: Focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation: effects on attention, conflict monitoring ,and creativity–A review Dominique P. Lippelt, Bernhard Hommel and Lorenza S. Colzato September 2014 | Volume5 | Article 1083 | Pages 1-5 |
Before I conclude, if I may ask-

What Do You Think Of Making Efforts To Be In Meditation At Least for 10 minutes, Everyday?