Rogues!

All set for the Olympics' Football this evening? Blown away by Bolt? Amused by the Lion King's view?

Saturday Nite Live is looking amazing! I have a date with my youngest - Gangs of Wasseypur - and then on to a veggie dinner. My last SHRAVAN SOMWAR on Monday... the month has whizzed past, just like Bolt at the finishing line. I like his irreverence and attitude. That's how champions should be... Bolt in victory is anything but robotic.

While on vegetarian food, I had two interesting meals - one in Pune, at a tiny Bong place called Rice and Curry, run by Dipto, who urged me to try his eggplant cooked in curds speciality. It was yummy!

Next, a meal at The Lalit's redone Baluchi restaurant, which has spectacular vistas of Old and New Delhi. Imagine demanding vegetarian dishes at a resturant that specialises in North West Frontier kebab-heavy cuisine! But thanks to Mr.Vivek Shukla, the dynamic G.M. I got to sample bran phulkas and palak so green, I was on a chlorophyll high! This was right after the elegant soiree hosted by the Alliance Francaise as a part of their Writers' series. I was really happy to meet a couple of Blogdosts at the venue.

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This appeared in the Asian Age today....

Rogues’ Gallery in Haryana…

Whether or not Anna Hazare’s rag tag army can actually make the difference to the nation’s moral compass, the rather obvious truth of the matter is, things on every level seem to be falling apart. Corruption rules. And women are the worst hit . Take what happened in Haryana. Today, men in power are safe in the knowledge that nobody can touch them, even if they are responsible for exploiting and killing women they have no further use for. A person like Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, for example. He must not be allowed to get away with his crime… and a crime , it is … only because that has become the culture of our abjectly conscienceless society. Driving a woman to suicide after prolonged intimidation and harassment, is so routine, so shockingly ‘accepted’, nobody reacts with the level of outrage that such a terrible act warrants Unless Geetika Sharma’s family finds influential supporters in high places, chances are, her tragic death will go unpunished, and the brazen Minister will go on with his dissipated life, treating Geetika’s suicide as just another slightly annoying inconvenience which the media is wasting its time on. The same goes for the fiery Fiza, who met an equally grim end in Mohali, after her well publicized and very dramatic ‘marriage’ to another rogue-politician called Chander Mohan, a former Deputy Chief Minister of a State that produces arch villains. It makes one wonder what it is about Haryana and its men ? Is it their diet? What do these nasty men eat and drink that turns them into beasts? Where were their own mothers and sisters during those formative years when good values are supposed to be imparted to children? Or their fathers? Grand parents? Teachers? Friends?What has created this brutal climate of violence against women in the State? Booze? Murgi? Or just the narcotic called unbridled power?

Geetika was clearly a victim in the relationship, going by the evidence provided to the police. Kanda stalked and blackmailed a beautiful woman – an employee, and was willing to go to any length to destroy her subsequently.What was her crime? She had dared to move on with her life and wasn’t interested in continuing the relationship with her old boss. That was enough of an ‘insult’ for Kanda, to hound her relentlessly… get her fired from a new job… attack her character… accuse her of committing a financial fraud . To make matters worse, Kanda involved Aruna Chaddha, another female employee, to threaten and bully Geetika into submission. That Geetika preferred death over surrender to such a tormentor, shows the extent of her despair. Fiza’s case is equally pathetic. But unlike Geetika, Fiza ( originally Anuradha Bali) was an ambitious, go- getter, ready to switch religions and loyalties to ‘marry’ the much married Chandermohan ( Chand Mohammed, post-conversion to Islam), and launch a political party. That nobody around her realized she’d killed herself till her body was discovered four days later, is an even sadder comment on how we devalue women’s lives. And how easily the men who drive them to these extremes, generally get away with the crime, only because society at large has no sympathy for ‘such’ women. The operative word, of course, is ‘such’. If the woman happens to be clever AND gorgeous, God help her! She gets instantly branded .Finger pointing follows - the standard put downs (“ she must be conniving, calculating, cheap …she must have trapped that poor fellow…”) pile up. And when a tragedy does take place, most agree the woman had it coming. Or that ‘she asked for it.’ Even family members lack understanding and sympathy. They sound pretty relieved!They are often the very people who may have profited from the woman’s proximity to power and all the trappings that go with it. Geetika’s parents have released telling photographs taken on family holidays with Kanda. Were they that naïve as to not be aware of the nature of their daughter’s relationship with the Minister? Or, were they passive witnesses to the liaison? Happy to look the other way while the going was good? Now, her brother claims their lives are under threat and has asked for police protection. But why didn’t these same family members protect poor Geetika from this sadistic man and his cohort when she was being mentally tortured?

It is rather ironic that on the same day as newspapers were filled with stories about Geetika and Fiza, another sensational society story in Mumbai took an unexpected turn. Sheetal Mafatlal who had been fighting a very public and bitter battle with her husband Atulya and his family, received an unconditional apology from him and her step daughter. This could well be the first time any ‘wronged’ woman has had the bitter-sweet pleasure of tasting victory in such a manner. As of now, Sheetal stands vindicated. All those vicious charges against her have been dropped by three family members, leaving just a very hostile, unbending mother-in-law and two others, to continue the fight. Sheetal must have really good karma for this to happen, and , of course, excellent lawyers. It is indeed unusual that a sexy socialite’s pricy lingerie gets washed in public, and she emerges smiling for the cameras, with a sheepish husband swearing eternal love, by her side. Sheetal is clearly made of reinforced steel. She fought long and hard to secure herself on her own terms. Geetika and Fiza obviously lacked what it takes to survive multiple assaults on their respective characters. Today, both women are dead. As for the men – is it a wonder that they have distanced themselves from the tragedy claiming they were not ‘in touch’ with the victims. While Fiza’s family has not blamed anybody so far, the Sharma’s are trying to drum up support by insisting they are afraid Kanda will now hurt them. In both cases, two well connected men from Haryana have destroyed the lives of their one-time lovers. Will the men pay for their crimes? Why not refer to the Ruchika Gehlot case? There we have the answer…