Should he be allowed to walk away ?

"Come sister come"- he called out to the 23-year-old paramedic student and her friend as the bus reached Munirka bus stop on the night of December 16, 2012. The law may bestow leniency on him. He might walk away free in a few months for being a minor. However, details emerging during the course of police investigation have revealed that this 17-yea-old "minor" and the prime accused Ram Singh were the most of brutal of  the gang of six, who raped and assaulted the girl inside the moving bus. 

The juvenile was one of the six accused who brutally gang raped and indulged in "unnatural sex “ with the victim. Investigation has now revealed that in a bid to murder her Ram Singh and the juvenile took turns to insert iron rods and their hands into her genitalia and in an attempt to damage and pull out her intestines. The victim in her dying declaration has written the names of  all six accused including the juvenile who raped and assaulted her.

Delhi police sleuths investigating the case revealed that the minor was used by the other accused to lure the passengers into the vehicle on the night of December 16.

When the vehicle reached Munirka bus stop, the minor called out for passengers. On spotting the girl and her friend, he reportedly called out- "come sister come," police source said. As the unsuspecting couple got inside the vehicle Akshay Thakur, another accused pretending to be the conductor took Rs 20 as fare from the girl and her friend. When the fight broke out between Ram Singh and the male friend of  the girl, the juvenile and five others joined into assist the prime accused in assaulting him

While two accused kept hitting the male friend and confined him to his seat, the juvenile, Ram Singh and Akshay Thakur dragged the girl away to the back of the bus, investigation revealed. The juvenile then took off his shoes and began hitting the girl, sources said. Police sources said that all three including the juvenile, tore off her clothes and continued hitting and biting her. Then they took turn to rape the victim, investigation revealed. After he allegedly raped the victim, the juvenile kept her pinned to the floor of the bus to "help others to rape the victim," police sources alleged. The juvenile along with all five accused allegedly carried out what the police described as "unnatural sex." Both the juvenile and Ram Singh then allegedly took turns to insert iron rods and hands into the victims private parts in a bid to murder her, sources said.

As the victim fainted, the juvenile and Ram Singh used the torn clothes of the girl to wipe and remove blood and pieces of flesh from their hands. They later used the torn clothes of the girl and her friend to clean the bus.  While sharing the booty the juvenile took one of the mobile phones and Rs 1,100 in cash.

This minor boy apparently belonged to a poor family and had ran way from home at the age of 11.  Police said that he left home to look for a “better life” in Delhi. Speaking to the media his mother said : "Today, the infamy he  earned is eating me up. I can't even sit with two other people in the village because of  the shame that my son has brought to the family." 

The report was filed by our correspondents-Pramod Kumar and Hansa Verma 

The old man.....

Today he touched 100. 

He looks like a little boy, but at the same time he's an old man.  His flesh is wasting away. Bones once covered and concealed by well rounded muscles now stick out offensively.  Once, a man on the move is now confined to the bed.  He lies helplessly on his stained sheets. Impervious to the bites of the bedbugs and mosquitoes. He is nearly blind. Cataract has taken over the retinas. Yesterday someone called. A relative. Wanted to know, how he was doing. He couldn't get the name. But at this stage of life, names, faces do not matter. His memory was also fading. He has an old mobile phone by his side. That's his only contact to the outside world. His relatives call. Now and then. He does not remember their names anymore. Keeps confusing one with the other. Rarely they come to visit him. They have all contributed and kept a servant to attend to his needs-which are now limited to eating, peeing and shitting. He shits more than he eats.  One of the signs of  him being alive.  One night, he heard a woman's voice in the next room. Then he heard her moaning heavily. The servant perhaps had got a whore for the night. Or maybe he imagined, he was not sure.   He  gets irritated, when the phone rings. He does not want to talk. The effort, tires him out. He does not know anything about his disease. He only knows that its time to die. There was a time he was scared of death. He didn't learn to swim for fear of drowning. He didn't fly kites for fear of falling off the roof.  He is tired of shitting on the bed, tired of the bloody servant, trying to force food into him.

The phone began to ring. Then it went on and on…………

The Last Train...

Ashes to ashes dust to dust.
The journey came to an end. he was lowered into the ditch.
A grave to be  precise.  He opened his eyes.
It was dark and damp. Silence all around.
What will remain with him is smell of  death. Stench of decay.
Slowly his flesh will peel off. Life will be rendered in bones.
Butterflies will give away to worms and maggots.
It was only yesterday. He was waiting in the platform. For the train to arrive. The place
was filled with figures floating around. All waiting for the last train. He looked up. Shroud of death had
covered the sun.
The train arrived. Like a mammoth serpent, it arrived silently.
They all boarded the train. No one rushed. None carried any  luggage. The berths had
names. Not numbers.
Like a giant anaconda, the train started crawling. No one spoke. No one smiled.
The platforms were empty.
He was trying to think. Faces appeared and then disappeared. A small child was running
all around. His mother with food in her hand chasing him. He could hear the child's
laughter. Not the mother's voice, who perhaps was pleading with the child to eat his food.
The child suddenly turned and started running towards him. He extended his arms to hold
him. He could not. The child ran through him and so did the mother with food in her
hand.
The train had gathered speed. He closed his eyes. Sleep, heavy on his eyelids. He was in
the hills. It was misty. He was walking with her. hand in hand. It was the first time he had
ever travelled with a woman. They checked into a hotel. An old lady, the proprietor,
welcomed them. It had started raining. They got into the bed, slid under the quilt. The
room heater, glowing in a  corner of  the room. The train rattled. He woke up. He could
still hear the child's laughter. The shadowy figures sat motionless. No one spoke. He fell
asleep again. A dark cloud had gathered. He had lost his way. It became dark. He could
not see a thing. Someone held his hand. He could not see the face. It was too dark. He
surrendered to the unknown guide. He travelled a long way. Holding hands. Suddenly the
figure started screaming. Her long dark hair coiled around him like hundred serpents.
Jumping, jolting, jarring of the train  broke his sleep yet again. "Life is a tale told by a
harami"...a figure, sitting quietly all this while, screamed. "Man is a dog," another figure
shouted. All men began to bark.
There was a sudden frenzy inside the coach.  The figures were running across the narrow
corridor of  the speeding train. A giant figure leaped out from nowhere. "Hail Lucifer," he
raised both his arms and looked up.
"The mind is its own place and in it self can make a Heaven  of Hell, a Hell of  
Heaven.What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less then 
he Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free the Almighty hath 
not built. Here for his envy, will not drive us hence.Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To 
reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven,"  
his voice echoed.
Suddenly silence was back. No one spoke. No one moved.
All were looking at this floating, translucent giant.The train moved gently.
Once again lulled by the movement of the train he fell asleep.

Woh Bhi Ek Daur Tha.......

I was six years old, when I went to see  Akhri Khat (The Last Letter) with my mother in
Kolkata. Akhri Khat by Chetan Anand  was the debut film of  Rajesh Khanna. The film is
a story of  a little child lost and wandering around the city after his mother dies. I started
howling in the hall and my mother kept saying  "kedo na, or ma chole aashbe (don’t cry,
his mother will come ).
The movie was all about the child and Rajesh Khanna hardly made any impact. Years
passed and before I stepped into my teens, India had already found it’s superstar.
Aradhana catapulted Rajesh Khanna to superstardom.  Incidentally Aradhana not only
marked the arrival of Rajesh Khanna but witnessed the resurgence of Kishore
Kumar..who went on to become his voice.
I remember Rajesh Khanna for Anand, Safar,  Ittefaq , Namak Haram, Prem Nagar. And
his memorable and outstanding portrayal of a Bengali bhadrolok in Amar Prem. To me,
his most acclaimed performance was in Basu Bhattacharya's Avishkaar.
I am an unabashed fan of Amitabh Bachchan. I grew up with Bachchan films. And I grew
up on the legacy of  Rajesh Khanna's stardom. My generation identified with Amitabh
Bachchan.. The rage, the frustration, a man taking on 10 people all by himself captured
the imagination of Indian masses. Romance was a passé... Ye bekar, benaam ki cheez
hain..was the mantra...and Rajesh Khanna with movies like Chhaila Babu, Red Rose,
Fifty Fifty, Mehbooba, Insaaf Main Karoonga..faded into oblivion. What remained were
memories of  a superstar. What remained was the memory of a phenomenon.
Yes Amitabh took over the mantle of  the superstar. He reigned, like no star had ever
reigned. He became the emperor-the Shahenshah of Bollywood. Yet, the mass hysteria
triggered by Rajesh Khanna, when he was at his peak, remains unparallel to date. Dilip
Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and even Amitabh - could never create the kind of
hysteria, the magic, Rajesh Khanna induced.
Amitabh wrote in his blog : " The frenzy and the following he garnered was a sight to
behold. In the 1970 era his fans came from Spain to meet him - a most unheard of
occurrence then."
Sushmita, a friend once said :  " I was mentally married to Rajesh Khanna. I used to keep
his photograph in my drawer. The day he married Dimple, I smashed his picture."
Women wrote letters to him in blood. Such craze, such hysteria, India had never
seen..will never see. Rajesh khanna, Kishore and the Burmans- the combination swept the
country like a tsunami..
Someone tried to compare the Khans (Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman) to the legends of
Indian cinema. Despite their popularity, they seem to be the lilliputs in the land, once
stalked by giants.
Compare Shah Rukh Khan to Dilip Kumar in Bimal Roy's Devdas (1955). Less said
about Sanjay Leela Bhansali's bizzare depiction of  Sharat Chandra's Devdas (2002) is
better. It was simply grotesque. Shah Rukh again tried to do a Bachchan in Don. In
Bengal he earned the nickname-- "bete Bachchan (dwarfed Bachchan)."  No need even to
draw any comparison.
I don't know much about Salman Khan...sure he has his fan following..but will he ever be
a legend ? Well.....
Aamir of course stands out for his performances as an actor who is not scared to
experiment.
But even then..all these stars, the Khans, the Roshans, Kapoors and perhaps many more,
come nowhere near the legends of  Indian Cinema. And among the legends..Rajesh
Khanna stood out as the Pasha of passion..
Decades after..it was sad to see the man, who rewrote the history of Indian commercial
cinema, doing a C grade movie with the starlet, Laila Khan (Waafa). It was sad to see, the
man standing in front of  ceiling fans, table fans and saying- mera fan mujhse koi nahi
chheen sakta.
Amitabh Bachchan, while presenting IIFA Lifetime achievement award to Rajesh Khanna
said : " This young man became such an influence in all our lives that the word like
superstar for the first time in the Indian film industry was coined after him."
Rajesh Khanna after receiving the award thundered : " Izzate, shohrate, ulfate, chahate,
sab kuchch is duniya mein raheta nahi, aaj jahan main hun, kal koi aur tha, yeh bhi ek
daur hain, woh bhi ek daur tha.."


--

Disgrace

Amar Prem (1971)

Wafaa (2012)

When I read about Rajesh Khanna, India's first superstar, an icon, a phenomenon, doing
a film with Laila Khan, a starlet with terror links ( now murdered), it immediately
reminded me  of  James Coetzee's book- Disgrace.
Rajesh Khanna came at a time, when Indian cinema was being ruled by the big studios.
Like a meteor, a supernova, he broke into the film industry. His fans lined roads, kissed
his cars, the mere sight of him made women faint, women wrote letters to him in blood.
His hair style, his  kurtas were imitated by the generation of his time. His predecessors
Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar were stars but could never create the kind of  mass hysteria,
Rajesh Khanna did.
Then came his rapid fall in the late 80s. The man who performed to packed houses started
giving successive flops. He dabbled in politics, controversies plagued his personal life.
Amitabh Bachchan came, saw and conquered. Yet for Indian movie viewers Rajesh
Khanna continued to be a phenomenon.
I recently  saw a TV commercial of Rajesh Khanna. It shows Rajesh Khanna recalling the
thrill that a star feels when thousands of fans run towards him. The visuals show Rajesh
Khanna being mobbed by  frenzied fans and signing  autographs. His voice booms in the
background-- "hawa badal sakti hain, lekin fans hamesha mere rahenge..." A slight pause.
His voice returns- "Babumoshai, mere fans, mujhse koi nahin chchin sakta..." The
superstar is now standing in front of fans (including ceiling, table and exhaust fans).
I recently  read about his movie with this Laila Khan a  starlet. It immediately took me
back to the days when this superstar serenaded legendary beauties and established
actresses like Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Asha Parekh among others. It reminded me of
the days of the powerful troika- Rajesh Khanna-R.D. Burman-Kishore, who changed the
course of the Bollywood music industry. I thought of  Rajesh Khanna starrers- Amar
Prem, Anand, Avishkar, Bawarchi, Namak Haram. I remembered him for the songs- yeh
kya hua, chingari koi bhadke, main shayar badnam, zindagi kaisi hai paheli, jeevan se
bhari teri aankhe from the movie Safar....Yes that was Rajesh Khanna.
When I read about the murder of the starlet with terror links, I went through some
of  the clips of  the B grade movie-Wafaa (made by Rajesh Sawant, brother of Rakhi
Sawant).  I believe the role was offered to Amitabh Bachchan, who refused, but, Rajesh
Khanna jumped for it. There is a long duration scene picturized on henna haired Rajesh
Khanna romping in bed with Laila Khan. In an interview he said : " it's a powerful script
and a powerful role. It's a dynamic role, which is not every actor's cup of tea and so I
chose that role" Certainly acting in a movie by Rakhi Sawant's brother's is not every
actor's cup of tea.Certainly not Amitabh's.
Despite his  bravado, I have no idea, what forced or compelled Rajesh Khanna to act in
this particular film...but whatever may be the reason,  his going in for such a crude, B-
grade film is hard to justify.  Why would Rajesh Khanna try so hard to embarrass
himself ? It's difficult to understand.
In Coetzee's Disgrace- when the protagonist, David Lurie makes love to Bev Shaw, a
black woman with freckles and cropped hair, he thinks -- "  After the sweet young flesh of
Melanie Isaacs, this is what I have come to. This is what I will have to get used to, this
and even less than this."  As Coetzee says--this is when his (David's) "self image is
beginning to crumble."
Rajesh Khanna's journey from Aradhana to Wafaa  also resembles a Greek Tragedy. The
downfall of a noble hero  through a combination of  hubris, fate, and the will of the gods.
Some say, Rajesh Khanna could not handle fame and became arrogant on sets. Today he
is ailing and lonely. Yet, his acting in a movie like Wafaa has stunned his fans.  A review
on Wafaa read - " Yes, this has got to be an imposter. Rajesh Khanna once lived in our
cinema. RIP."
So  true.

Survival....

The tube light kept flickering in his cabin. He had removed all his personal things including the mask, a colleague got him from Nepal. The walls in his cabin were stripped of all the frills. Only the nails remained. He was ready . There were no memories. No tears. No regrets. People around him had already started looking like strangers. There was a spiral staircase. Going up. He had stopped using that. Stopped going up. Last time he did, noxious fumes hanging in the air nearly killed him. As he gasped for breath, he saw shapeless figures floating around. Some of them lay on the ground, coiled up like snakes. The place was crawling with snakes and cockroaches-hissing together. Within minutes, they were all over him. He was dying. As he tried to fight back, he saw the laughing hyenas slowly surrounding him. Waiting for him to die. Waiting to pounce on the dead caracas. Feast on his rotten flesh. . A huge vulture was pecking furiously at his stomach, trying to dig out the entrails. And then suddenly he slipped down the spiral staircase. He was bleeding. Stings of cockroaches and snakebites had nearly disfigured him.

That was sometime ago. He had managed go survive. But the scars remained. He touched them. They didn't hurt anymore. Wounds had healed. He picked up his bag. His car keys. Opened the glass door. Stepped out of the building. Turned around to see it for one last time. It had disappeared. He started walking......

Finally I faced the demon, ,

it had been stalking me..for days now,

could hear the footsteps,

felt its hot, rancid breath in the room,

I would get up, look under the bed,

pull down the curtains,

run all around...

Wanted to confront it, wanted to see its face.

And finally I met my demon...

this time I did not hear the footsteps,

it had tiptoed in and stood in front of me,

I gripped the broken lampshade,

flung at it...

I smashed the mirror...