the economics of justice

This May, i returned to India for a two week holiday. Interestingly, my responses to similar circumstances on this occasion were markedly different than they were the last time i returned from Europe. More specifically, my appreciation of economics had changed.

12,14,19

12 April 2013

It was an overcast and breezy morning in August 2010, when my English flatmate and i set out to bike from the barracks to the city center of Leiden. “Isn’t the weather fantastic”, i exulted, truly enjoying the cool breeze and the absence of the sun. “Sure”, was the Englishman’s sarcastic reaction, which after looking at my truly happy face turned into a look of bewilderment. “You are being sarcastic, I hope!”

From a distance

What an anthem was Bette Middler's rendition of `From a Distance´! Not a family reunion or a road trip was complete without us gleefully singing it. The song began with a wonderful description of an increasingly rare view of the world: From a distance - the world looks blue and green - and the snowcapped mountains white - from a distance the ocean meets the sea - and the eagle takes to flight. Even at its most unutopian, she sang: From a distance - you look like my friend - even though we are at war - from a distance - I just cannot comprehend - what all this fighting is for!

 

Alas from a distance, I have now learnt, the picture is not really pretty.

 

A phenomenon called Sridevi

There are three movies I remember falling in love with as a kid. The undisputed No 1 amongst these was called `Okavango - The Jewel of the Kalahari´ and it did not feature human beings. Fellow bipeds had their work cut out if they were to come any close to the superheroes of this film who survived the incredible place, which was for one part of the year a scorching desert and the other a savage forest! Only a superhuman act – even by Bollywood standards – could come close.

Sunday Musings

I think it was in 1997 that father called to say that he was bringing home our first car - a second hand Premier Padmini numbered MH-01-A-18. It was so unexpected, but such a delight that we had finally climbed up that step of the social ladder. It was also the one step that brought to us the freedom of private and convenient movement before it was usurped by traffic jams and lack of parking space a few years later.  Alas, none of us then knew how to drive!

Supreme but not infallible

“What a slap on the faces of the corrupt” exulted a jubilant journalist friend, reacting to Supreme Court judgment in the 2G public interest litigation. The statement aptly articulates the sentiment of the Indian judiciary. The sentiment is anger. However, the rule of law has never been about slapping faces – a rather passionate reaction for a democratic institution which is required to be dispassionate. The Supreme Court’s decision to cancel the 122 telecom licenses suffers from several fundamental flaws which fly in the teeth of a constitutional democracy.

Cycling, Serendipity & Zemblanity

I had a potentially dangerous, but eventually funny accident last Tuesday while riding to the Leiden Students' Movie Night. At a fairly high speed, I was flung over the handlebars of my bicycle when the dynamo came loose and got stuck in the front wheel. Funnily, I landed on the grass, without a scratch. The front mudguard came loose and a couple of spokes in the front wheel were slightly bent. The bike had dutifully served me for over 2500 kilometers over the past six and a half months, but the time had come to move on - at least as far as recreational riding was concerned.

   

Re: Rocking the kasbah

Karan Thapar in his 'Sunday Sentiments' dated February 6, 2011, revisits the oft-debated issue of the socio-economic disparities in India. He reflects upon what the possible consequences of these injustices could be, against the backdrop of the current turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt. He suggests that India must watch her step, lest she should suffer a similar revolution. While the article does address extremely pertinent issues, the author’s analysis leaves much to be desired and a rather sour aftertaste.

Dhobi Ghat

Given Aamir Khan's recent movies, I expected the film to be melodramatic. I had read that the film was an ode to Bombay and expected it to be an aggrandized portrayal of the city. However, it wasn't either. It was a stitched collage - stories of seemingly parallel lives quirkily intersecting - weaving through the melancholy of Bombay. Incredibly, this movie did not tell what the city does to you or how it does it, rather showed it doing what it does to people. 


I liked the movie very much and was reminded of a line from New York Times' review of Arundhati Roy's The God Of Small Things in which it described the book as is "heartbreaking and indelible". The description could easily befit Dhobi Ghat, I felt.

From Golm, Germany

On Friday last week, Nirumama and I drove from Dossenheim to Luxembourg to Nishithbhai's. The Luxembourg trip has not much to write about, except that I loved the drive to and fro, and that Nishithbhai and I went to the cricket nets to chance our arms at batting and bowling after over a year. And I also discovered my new interest in chess, a game I utterly disliked before.

The realization that my carbon footprint had grown