Interesting webcomic Link...

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Priyanka Bhotmange... Status Update

As per the latest news, the govt has ordered a CID investigation into the incident. Hope that the guilty are punished as soon as possible. Also, hope that the administration officers like the Police (who were slow in issuing an FIR) and the hospital authorities (who gave a medical report that the women were NOT raped) are also punished for dereliction of duty. If anything, their crime is much worse than that of the perpetrators!

Roadtrip in Mumbai

7:00 PM – At last! time to leave. Another day spent in pretending to work. Now to head back home. Wait – let me bark a few “last minute to-dos” at my people.

7:03 PM – Shutting off the laptop; Damn thing has decided to install some updates before dying – will take an extra 5 minutes to shut down

7:09 PM – the laptop took an extra 6 minutes!

7:15 PM – out of the office, in the corridor now, waiting for the elevator. Oh no! – here comes P. P, with his Indian-culture-and-Hinduism-rocks attitude, has to be avoided. Where is the goddamn elevator when you need it?

7: 20 PM – Elevator 1 comes, stops, leaves without opening door. Curses on you, Otis! Meanwhile P is now talking about how Ayurveda cured his father’s bronchitis. Nod genially, fervently hoping that Ayurveda finds a cure for verbal diarrhea too!

7:27 PM – Elevator 2 comes, stops. I jump in before the doors decide to close. Bump into Partner coming out of the lift. “Hey Hey B, in a hurry to go home? Half day today?”, he says. Sheepish smile. P smiles next to me and then takes off on “karmanye vaadikarasthe…etc”

7:28 PM – Finally enter the elevator. On the brighter side, P has been summoned by partner. P leaves. Feeling of elation.

7:31 PM – reach parking lot, search for driver – he is not to be seen. Curse driver, kicks self for not calling him up before leaving.

7:35 PM – finally locate driver. Car parked on the other side of the street, will have to walk there.

7:40 PM – car behind me honks as I am walking towards MY car. These idiotic drivers – they think they own the road. Turn around and show him the finger.

7:45 PM – get into car, starts moving towards the main road – pedestrian in front, car honks. These idiotic pedestrians – they think they own the road. Car gets on the road to home.

8:00 PM – Stuck in Mahim

8:15 PM – Stuck in Mahim

8:30 PM – Stuck in Mahim

8:45 PM – Stuck somewhere between Mahim and Home

9:15 PM – Reach home, finally! Note to self – next time, will take the train! At least, the agony is over in 30 minutes.

So what was Krishnaswami thinking when he said yes to her?

Ammani has an interesting series of questions, where readers (writers????) are encouraged to write a short story around the question.

In this case, the question was: So what was Krishnaswami thinking when he said yes to her?

My story below:

Krishnaswami had spent a sleepless night.

In an unnatural act of parental responsibility - he had agreed to help his daughter with her homework. Solving multiple variable linear equations and identifying the capitals of various sub-saharan countries had given him a bruised ego, as he realized that he really did not know much. But, the real brain scrambler came when his daughter asked him, "Appa, how do you spell bo'sun?" When he gave the logical response - B-O-S-U-N, she replied - "No Appa, our teacher said that is not the correct spelling - and we have to find the correct spelling by tomorrow!"

He was still thinking about this the next morning as he boarded the bus to T Nagar. He was already late for office, but his mind was pre-occupied with the possible spelling of bo'sun (B-O-T-S-O-N-E). "These english idiots - why do they not make their words spell the way they sound!", he thought to himself.

He saw the lady in the seat next to him get up. He eagerly jumped into the vacant seat.

He was thinking,"Let me try again - "Bee - Wow - Eay - Tee..."

The girl standing next to him gave him a hard prod and said - "Excuse me! You are sitting on a seat reserved for Ladies. Do you think I am an idiot standing here?"

"...Yess...ouch!" he screamed, pained at the prod that the girl had given him.

"What? You think I am an idiot?", The girl screamed!

As the good samaritans bundled Krishnaswamy out of the bus (presumably as punishment for usurping the ladies seat and calling her an idiot), he was still trying to figure out the way bo'sun was spelt, not knowing that it was B-O-A-T-S-W-A-I-N!

Priyanka Bhotmange

Priyanka Bhotmange and her mother were brutally raped and her brothers were killed - in yet another example of the lawlessness that prevails in some parts of this country.

Krish has raised a very interesting question. I think the incident has not got the due publicity it deserves. Nobody is outraged at this gross injustice - most probably because the incident happened in a "relatively" remote area. We need to put sufficient pressure to ensure that justice is done in this case.

In fact, this is probably not an isolated case. There are probably many more unreported incidents of such injustice. This is yet another example of how the so called privliged sections are able to use the powers in their authority to brutally suppress the underprivliged sections.

I am ashamed to see that on one hand we claim to be the "next superpower" while indulging in such medieval acts of suppression. We cannot claim to be a democracy if we cannot implement basic law and order in each and every district in our country. In fact, the best way to ensure that such incidents do not occur again, is to ensure that the perpetrators are caught and punished as soon as possible.

I hope this is done before the politicians jump into the act, offering their "sympathies"!

You can get more details about the incident here and pictures of the incident here.

Update: Extreme uproar over the pictures... but wait a minute! they are not condemning the incident, only the fact that the pictures have been posted! Wow - talk about "missing the point"! Stupidity, it seems, is not restricted to the main stream media, but also afflicts the blogosphere denizens.