Month: December 2012

Categories
Diaries

Controversy of the year

Vasant Dhoble played Bad Cop to the hilt this year, riling Mumbai citizens but gaining popularity with the anti-pub brigade.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 9 of the Yearender Diaries

As policing went, this was a strange year for Mumbai. Crimes against women went through the roof in 2012, but while the police showed ineptitude in preventing these crimes, there were a few notable and quick arrests within days of most of these crimes occurring. Similarly, the police had some success in nabbing certain chain-snatching gangs, house-breaking units, Nigerian drug peddlers, and Bangladeshi immigrants living in Mumbai without valid paperwork.

On the other hand, there was Vasant Dhoble.

Dhoble (57), heading the Social Service Branch (SSB) of the Mumbai Police, made a terrific noise this year, armed with his ‘special’ brand of discipline using a hockey stick and video cameras. He conducted raids at several city hotspots this year, Cafe Zoe and Shiro being the most notable examples, while also allegedly attacking the manager of Amar Juice Centre at Juhu with a hockey stick for conducting his business after midnight.

As far as logic went, Dhoble’s was simple – “We are only enforcing the law. We have not told anybody not to enjoy the nightlife. But nobody, citizens or establishment owners, must break the law,” he said, when we spoke to him earlier this year. “And if I am to be blamed for enforcing archaic laws, what can I do? As a member of the police force, I have to lay down the laws that are framed, I cannot change the laws on my own.”

So the city’s popular night spots witnessed raids on grounds of playing loud music and disturbing the peace, DJs playing music without the licence to do so, establishments admitting more patrons than allowed to, patrons consuming alcohol without valid liquor permits, and so on. On some occasions, patrons were rounded up for questioning, and in one case, two women who were rounded up with several others after a Dhoble raid, later pressed charges for defamation. “The women were soliciting customers at the bar,” Dhoble said, even as protests erupted about the women being wrongly detained and defamed as being prostitutes.

The cop’s seemingly high moral compass – he famously said early this year that it was the police’s job to protect the young from corrupt influences such as drink and drugs – would even have been grudgingly appreciated save for the glaring blemishes on Dhoble’s career. He was suspended from service in 1989 for accepting a bribe while on a posting in Pune. Five years later, his role in a custodial death landed him with seven years in prison and a Rs 1,00,000 fine, but he got away without serving the jail sentence. Dismissed from the force that year, he was reinstated two years later. A few months later, he was also accused of being lax with an important file related with a Dawood Ibrahim investigation.

Most officers in the police force did not agree with Dhoble’s methods, especially the hockey stick he carried on most raids. When asked why he kept a hockey stick in his office, he shrugged and said, “I like to play hockey.” However, then Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik was a staunch supporter of Dhoble, who is also said to be extremely well-connected in political circles. Which was why, despite Mumbai outraging over every successive Dhoble raid, there was no reactive response from the Police or the State Government.

Before the city woke up to the cop’s antics in earnest, Dhoble even gave a few interviews in which he spoke against the youth adopting lifestyles that were against Indian culture, wearing clothes that demeaned their parents and took up habits that corrupted society, and that he would not allow the young to be “influenced” and that they must be “saved”. However, following the backlash to these comments, he quickly adopted a man-of-few-words stance, replying to reporters’ questions in practiced one-liners, not revealing details of raids conducted, and explaining in detail only the laws and sections of the law that he and his team tried to uphold.

Even as protests against him grew, especially on social media, there emerged an equally strong lobby for Dhoble. This largely comprised members of housing associations that have been campaigning for years against the nuisance caused by pubs and bars in residential areas of the city.

Then Patnaik was shunted out following the Azad Maidan riot this year, and the new Police Commissioner, Dr Satyapal Singh, wasted no time in getting Dhoble out of his SSB posting. Dhoble is now ACP of the Vakola Division.

(Picture courtesy mid-day.c0m)

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Look out for Trend of the Year tomorrow.

Categories
Event

Fortis Hospital sets Guinness World Record

Hospital performs highest number of cervical cancer screenings; over 750 women screened in eight hours.

Fortis Foundation set a Guinness World Record recently, for the highest number of cervical cancer screenings. Fortis Hospital at Vashi, Mumbai, screened over 751 women in an eight hour marathon screening, as part of its ‘Teal To Heal Together’ campaign, beating the earlier record of 350 participants held by Kaiser Permanente, San Diego (USA) achieved on January 29, 2011. More than 50 gynaecologists and oncologists worked together to screen the participants in more than 20 OPD rooms.

Speaking of the record, Varun Khanna, Regional Director (East & West), Fortis Healthcare said, “Although cervical cancer ranks as the number one killer disease in India, it is breast cancer that has received utmost attention. Through the ‘Teal To Heal Together’ campaign, Fortis is aiming to revolutionise the manner in which cervical cancer is perceived and prevented nationwide. The golden rule of prevention being better than cure is the guiding principle that has driven this campaign.”   

Dr. Vandana Gawdi, Senior Consultant, Gynaecologist, Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi, said, “Cervical cancer is both preventable and curable if detected at the HPV virus stage, Oncogenic HPV infection in Indian women varies in different locations. Studies have brought out certain demographic and other lifestyle factors on the development of abnormal cytology in Indian women.  This justifies the need for screening women for cervical cancer including Oncogenic HPV testing (HPV infection among various Indian women).”

Cervical cancer in India accounts for one fifth of the cervical cancer prevalent globally. On an yearly basis, over 1,30,000 new cases are detected and it is estimated that the number of new cervical cancer cases in India will increase to nearly 2,26,000 by 2025. Due to the lack of awareness and social stigma, the mortality rate among patients suffering from cervical cancer has risen from 74,118 reported deaths in 2002 to 2,70,000 reported deaths at present. Over 10 per cent of all cancer deaths annually are attributed to cervical cancer.

These mortality numbers can be partly attributed to the lack of awareness of the prevention techniques and the need for early detection through periodic health check-ups. Although cervical cancer is known to have a higher mortality rate than breast cancer, it is not yet perceived to be a social killer. It is widely and wrongly believed that the disease is transmitted only through consummation. The social perception attached to the disease, therefore, is a common deterrent for many women to come forward for a preventive examination. However, awareness amongst healthcare providers and women for the need of pap screening and preventive services is a must and should go a long way in alleviating the problem.

Improving the nutrition of the girl child, avoiding early marriage, a monogamist lifestyle, engaging in personal hygiene (to prevent HPV infections) and routine checks can prevent the occurrence of the disease to a great extent. For a developing country like India, as per the WHO norm, all women should undergo at least one pap smear test before the age of 40 years and preferably at least once in three years from the time of consummation of marriage or first sexual intercourse. If all the women between 35 and 65 years of age are screened at least once in two or three years, the frequency of cervical cancer can be greatly reduced to 93 per cent.

Categories
Diaries

Heartbreak of the year

Sachin Tendulkar retired from ODI cricket. And the big hole he leaves behind proves that in cricket, Sach is life.
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

Part 8 of the Yearender Diaries

I was not a cricket fan when Sachin Tendulkar started playing international one day cricket. I wasn’t even in the country when he first started receiving a respectable amount of newspaper coverage – we stayed in the Middle East and my parents would read about his exploits in the day’s Maharashtra Times that would arrive on our doorstep later that afternoon. My early impressions of the diminutive, curly-haired boy were ‘Okay, so he plays a bit of cricket, doesn’t everybody?’

We returned to India for good after the Gulf War broke out in 1989, and I began watching cricket when cable TV was installed in my house and the general hysteria over cricket in the country got to me as well. From being somebody who played a bit of cricket to somebody who got cuter the more you saw him and who batted like a dream and actually kept you interested the entire time he was on the field, Sachin Tendulkar absolutely did it for me. I was completely and absolutely in love with Sachin Tendulkar, and as the years passed and his form plummeted, then peaked, as he took long injury layoffs and came back and played with even greater genius, my love for him only deepened. It’s like never forgetting your first love, especially if that first love continues to reside in your neighbourhood though both of you are now married to other people and have children, but as you watch him leave for work every morning, you feel a rising respect for his poise, the first grey hair on his temples, the way he keeps his temper even when his kids are pummeling him with his fists in the throes of a mega tantrum…

But I digress.

Sachin Tendulkar also did it for me because of the absolute class he exhibited, especially off the field. There was no pushy trophy wife tailing him all over the world as he toured and played, there were no hints of inappropriate dalliances with film actresses. No politically incorrect, flippant comments. No comments at all in the face of unrelenting criticism. No sign of his phenomenal success going to his head, no sign of his frequent failures pulling him down. In time, Sachin became the gold standard for all that was expected of role models around the world – so much so, that when the world crashed all around Tiger Woods, I heard several people remark, “Not everyone can handle success. Not everyone is Sachin Tendulkar.”

I never realised how strong my attraction for Sachin Tendulkar was, till I got the chance to see him in person at a book release event. I am still disconcerted by the fact that Sachin is not as portly as he appears on screen or in pictures. And while everybody chased him at the end of the event for an autograph or a picture, my awe of the great man prevented me from doing more than shoot a video and click several pictures from afar; I didn’t have the courage to ask him for an autograph. It even pained me a little to see how patient the guy was with the swarms of reporters around him, smiling at all those he made eye contact with, never refusing to sign the notepads brought to him by shy, wide-eyed little boys and girls who could only stare.

It took me very long to realise that Sachin Tendulkar had always been a role model for me, long before I had vocalised the thought that I didn’t have any role models who were also celebrities. I probably thought my only sporting role model was Roger Federer, but as I clapped till I couldn’t feel my hands any more every time Federer won another Grand Slam, I dimly recalled losing the feeling in my hands in similar fashion every time Sachin gave us a century.

What links me for eternity to somebody like Sachin Tendulkar is the confidence that he will never let me down. That if he does, I will still forgive him because he’s been such a definitive part of my growing up years. For being a standout role model in a land otherwise littered with Bollywood types, whose sole claim to any fame is that they make extraordinary amounts of money for not much work or talent. For being the reason why noobs such as I began watching cricket in earnest, and learnt the various tricks of the game while he delighted the nation.

Sachin Tendulkar finally called it quits last week. An expected end, but this may have been the first time he’s let anyone down with his timing. Call me selfish, but I would have liked to see him hang about for the Pakistan tour, and yet, I felt a quiet pride over a career that was beyond sterling. Despite all the respect I feel for him, I’m not a sycophantic, blind believer – I felt his new hairstyle was the stupidest thing I saw all year, and he shouldn’t have postponed his retirement despite a dip in form, occupying space that was precious to those waiting impatiently in the wings – so I truly believe that he should have gone in happier circumstances.

And yet, though I knew this was coming, this was truly the heartbreak of the year. And my heart will remain broken all through this lifetime.

Now if only I can do something about getting that autograph…

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Look out for Controversy of the year tomorrow.

 

Categories
Diaries

Idea of the year

Two Mumbai men on a mission to plant trees across the country, and involve the nation’s young while doing so. This was the best green idea this year.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Part 7 of the Yearender Diaries

On October 10, two Mumbai men started out on a cross-country tour, armed with basic essentials and a simple idea – travel the length and breadth of the country, visit educational institutions and plant trees with a lot of youngsters watching and participating.

They call it ‘Project 35 Trees’.

We interviewed Hari Chakyar (26) – one half of the duo, the other is freelance filmmaker Anthony Karbhari – a few days before they started out from Mumbai, and till date, they’ve been to several places, from Chandigarh to Puri, from Jamshedpur to Bhilai; the tour is planned for all the States and Union Territories and will be complete in four months. When we spoke to Hari last, the duo was packing to leave and was tremendously excited to be going.

Since then, the duo has met with several youngsters in the places they’ve been to, held interactive sessions to illustrate their point, and yes, planted trees wherever they’ve been. “Project 35 Trees is about planting trees in all 35 states and union territories of India. It is also about educating students about the need to plant trees and other environmental problems that the world faces,” Hari said, and he’d been quick to point out that though Anthony and he were the initiators of the idea, “…this is a community project that belongs to everybody.”

A typical session starts with a documentary screening about degradation of natural resources, a talk about Project 35 Trees and a Q & A session where students can ask questions. This is followed by a tree planting programme.

Prior to leaving, Hari and Anthony had drawn up a list of schools and colleges where they would be visiting, a list that would grow as the trip progressed. Such a trip also necessitated finding hosts to stay with in almost all the places they would visit. “We are and will be collecting funds for the trip. People can contribute via the Wishberry.in page,” said Hari.

What is the duo’s expectation of the Project? “I would love it if even a few students I speak to decide to take up initiatives to know more and act for the conservation of the environment. We will be ready to help these schools set up a nature club in their schools or colleges, like for a class assignment. It’ll also be awesome if people could plant trees on their own,” Hari said. “For us, Project 35 Trees is also about understanding what environmental problems the country faces. Meeting people who are doing good work in conservation will also help.

Awareness programmes must be included in the scholastic syllabus. Students must be encouraged to participate in awareness and conservation programmes. This will help them make informed, sensitive choices as adults.

A lot of simple human actions affect the environment adversely. When you purchase shells and conches from Kanyakumari, you don’t realise that those creatures are caught live in the waters and boiled in the hundreds to ‘clean’ and beautify them for your showcase. Some women want ivory jewellery made from the tusks of painfully-slaughtered elephants. Did you know that sharks will soon join the ranks of endangered creatures because some of us want shark fin soup for dinner? It’s time to stop taking the world around for granted and finding out which of our actions are causing great distress elsewhere.”

The duo aims to collect Rs 5,00,000 via donations. Till date, they’ve got close to Rs 1,45,000 through 80 donors.

Follow the duo’s progress through the country on www.facebook.com/35trees. You can contribute to the cause at http://www.wishberry.in/Support-Project-35-Trees–14320

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Look out for Heartbreak of the year tomorrow.

 

Categories
Soft Coroner

Un-justification

Prashant Shankarnarayan is stunned to discover that seemingly educated, modern Indians still have a million justifications for why rapes happen.

The situation – My colleague trying to decipher the reasons behind the Delhi rape case.

The observation – The Delhi rape case has shaken everybody who possesses even an iota of conscience. But my colleague’s reasoning for the rape shocked me as much as the news of the rape.

This is his take on the Delhi rape case:

“What happened was completely wrong, but such incidents happen because of the general attitude of Delhi women. The average Delhi girl is a nymphomaniac, unlike other Indian women and hence, Delhi guys are used to getting action.” (He even gave an example about how a schoolgirl used to approach his colleague in Delhi for sex. How all that Delhi women want is sex, sex and more sex!) Hence men, who are used to an environment where they are usually guaranteed regular sex, go wild when they are deprived of it. This, in turn, affects innocent women.”

Now this is his take on the recent Mumbai rape case of a foreigner:

“Well, that too happened for a simple reason. The government shut down the dance bars. There were many men who used to throng these dance bars to satiate their lust but now that they don’t have this outlet, they are targeting any woman they come across.”

Sadly and wrongly, my colleague conveniently put the burden of rape on women, but what shocked me is the scale of reasoning. So far we have heard the usual justifications for atrocities on women; that they wear short clothes and incite men, they have no business walking alone at night, they shouldn’t have ventured in that notorious locality in the first place, and they have become too independent and hence irreverent. But this is a whole new level.

The first statement shamelessly supports rape, and the second one supports trafficking and prostitution. In this case, the Delhi rape victim was not alone and it wasn’t late at night when the incident occurred. Hence, when you can’t blame the rape victim with the usual justifications, you must blame other women in general for bringing such a fate upon themselves, right? Else blame the institution for stopping women from becoming dancing objects of lust. And just like him, many other men have their own pet justifications for the existence of rape in society. So what is this fuzzy logic?

That just because we knew about one or two promiscuous women, it gives us a right to justify an innocent girl’s heinous rape? Or just because the government shut our dance bars we have a right to feel wronged and punish innocent women for the same?

The notable part is that my colleague is a decent guy, faithful to his wife, a loving father to his daughter, and I don’t remember him ever being a letch. This is exactly why women feel helpless, because sometimes, even the most educated men with liberal upbringing nurture certain reservations about women when it comes to such extreme cases.

There were many cases of women, including reporters, being molested outside India Gate during the mass protest against rape. Not so long ago, Mumbai’s policewomen were molested and their rifles were snatched by a mob that was protesting against the Bodo atrocities on Muslims. These are just two incidents that show women’s vulnerability, which is a slap on our face.

Many a time, I feel ashamed to be an Indian but sometimes I feel ashamed to be an Indian male. In a country where even educated men who don’t hail from a feudal society harbour such notions about rape victims, then what does the future hold for us?

To finish off rape we need to stop justifying rape. Candle light protests and banning tinted glasses on buses won’t change anything. Fast track courts for rape and even imposing capital punishment will punish the rapists faster, but not necessarily end the very gory concept of rape. The sick mentality to rape a woman is a condition.

And this condition could be curbed by identifying certain symptoms. Symptoms like a father abusing his wife in front of their child, an elder brother proudly indulging in eve teasing, a mother admonishing the daughter for being harassed instead of slapping the harasser. Nipping these innocuous looking things in the bud will go a long way in tackling rape.

Rape will be curbed by imposing strict laws, but it will be neutralised only by imposing strict discipline. It’s disheartening to see how a few men go to such wild extremes to justify rape. Not that they support the rapist, but they always manage to find a reason to justify rape’s existence in society.

Why is it so difficult to know that rape has no justifications? Nay, Na, Illai, Nahin, Naahi, Illa….

Prashant Shankarnarayan is a media person who is constantly on the lookout for content and auto rickshaws in Mumbai. ‘Soft Coroner’ tries to dissect situations that look innocuous at the surface but reveal uncomfortable complexities after a thorough post mortem.

(Picture courtesy 965malls.com)

Categories
Diaries

Issue of the year

There was a dramatic increase in crimes against women this year. Jatin Sharma explores the psyche behind these terrible crimes.

Part 6 of the Yearender Diaries

Did you ever hear a man say, “Kya maal hai,” and he was not referring to some object that he saw?

Did you ever hear a man say, “Kya item hai, boss!” and both were missing, the item and the boss?

Were you ever a part of a discussion where people talked about bosoms and butts?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, I would like to congratulate you, as you have just become a member of the ICBART. For the uninitiated, ICBART stands for I Can Be A Rapist Too.

The main problem with the whole rape issue is that most of the rapists have not done it because of a sexual urge. It’s mainly because they wanted to punish someone or humiliate them. Rape is an attitude of a mind that says that girls are not worth anything. And they have seen girls always as an object, or someone who doesn’t have a right to even walk on the road freely.  Most rapists have had an upbringing that mainly speaks about girls as victims. They have been brought up in an atmosphere that has given them to understand that boys can do whatever they want, because ‘Ladka hai na,’ and that girls can do only a few things in life, because ‘Ladki hai, zyaada mat udd’.

But the main question is, why do we as a society fail to respect women? I think it’s because of something called ‘raw power’.

This raw power makes a man feel that women are inferior to them. And stop right there before you think that this is just a rural mindset. Wherever we may be, in cities or in villages, directly or indirectly, we are all guilty of passing on these messages to our generation. Even the learned have set different behavioural mores for their sons and daughters.

Ladka hai, night out maar sakta hai.

Ladki hai, dus baje tak ghar pe aa jaana.

These biases are so strongly instilled in us, our ideas of what a boy should be like and what a girl should be like are so entrenched, that even when we are proud of our girl child, we appreciate her by saying, “Yeh toh mera beta hi hai!” It speaks volumes of us a society if our pride in our women is measured in terms of success parameters that are defined by men.

Isn’t it the very foundation of the whole debate that speaks about the superiority of men over women?

The entire nation is boiling with shame, and everybody’s blaming the rapists. But all of us are responsible for this rape, and many more that are happening around the country. We have clapped when Duryodhan molested Draupadi in front of everyone, and we listen, thrilled, when a colleague comes to us and tells us about what kind of an butt or bosom a girl in the office has.

All of us are rapists. It cannot be stressed enough that if we want to stop crimes against women, then we should stop demeaning them, even if we’re doing it in our minds. The next time you hear people discussing women as objects, stop them from doing so. It’s all about becoming more responsible for the women who give you love and respect in your life.

Start respecting the womb that bore you for nine months. Start respecting the womb that will let you prove your manhood by giving you a child. Start respecting women.

Jatin Sharma is a media professional.

(Picture courtesy futurity.org)

‘Diaries’ is a series of stories on one theme. The Yearender Diaries seek to capture the most telling moments, happenings and people in the city this year. Watch out for Idea of the Year tomorrow.

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