paa, progeria, seth cook and the others




We all know about up coming bollywood sensation-Paa, where Amitabh Bacchan becomes "the child" and his son Abhishek Bacchan Becomes the father of "the child". But Paa essentiallly is not about the Big B and the Chota B sharing aq camero again. Paa is about a child turning an old man at a faster rate.

Aamir Khan directoral debut started the trend of making people know about the disorders that make some of us different from us. And also enable us to understand how they make an effort to lead their little life, perhaps much better the mean minded "us" group.

If Amir's Taare Zameen Par was about Dyslexia, Paa is about Progeria...
you can can read about this disorder due to genetic incomplecency, in the trusted wikipedia...I have just come to know of a certain boy or old man who suffers from the same disorder....

http://www.seattlepi.com/specials/seth/190908_progeriamain.asp

India has also the cases of Progeria, a family suffering from and are considered by locals as bad omen:-

http://kraran.com/progeria-cases-in-india/



 
Read this journal and know how even the doctors are perplexed about this disease....
http://www.ijri.org/article.asp?issn=0971-3026;year=2005;volume=15;issue=4;spage=459;epage=462;aulast=Manrai

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/265724

Indeed there is more that meets the eyes and when I say knowlegde is pain...its is truly a painful revelation....

warrior of peace-lord of the rings-AR Rahman


Warriors on Pace- forever more
Warriors in peace - no time for war
Warriors in deed - we know the score
Warriors of heaven & Earth below
From the heavens up above
The only road to peace is love
Trust in your heart, see your dreams unfold
Though you know not how the story goes
Walk with me into the sun
No more battles to be won
Take my hand, you're nearly home again.
Time is gently passing by
Though you weep I ask not why
Searching the emptiness of your soul
Lost in visions of the past
Memories they seldom last
Silence is all that remains the same

Because your life is no disguise, alone you stand
Look at me through my mother's eyes
See who I am forever free
Call me when you need a friend
To be with you until the end
As the mountains crumble to the sea
Share your loneliness with me
Trouble always finds a way
To keep you further everyday
If only the end justified the means
Brothers lost and yet they be
So free, in your eyes tears I see
Courage is reaching your destiny

Because your life is no disguise, alone you stand
Look at me through my mother's eyes
See who I am forever free

Warriors on Pace- forever more
Warriors in peace - no time for war
Warriors in deed - we know the score
Warriors of heaven & Earth below

Ek Mohabhat hai-tribute to Taj by AR Rahman



mausam aate jaate hai
sadiyaan aati jaati hai
kuchh cheeze reh jaati hai yaad mein
woh din woh raat kahaan hai
raajo andaaj kahaan hai
nagamein hai aaj sada ke saath mein
koi kehta hai jeene ka maksad yahaan inaayat mein hain
koi kehta hai jeene ka maksad yahaan daulat mein hain
tujhse jo koi yeh puchhe
kyun na kahoon jindagi ki kara? mein mohabbat mein hai
zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na zoom ek sada dil hai
zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na ek sada rub hai
zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na zoom ek mohabbat hai - 2

raadha-krishna ki mohabbat
aalam-huwa ki mohabbat
heer aur ranjha ki mohabbat ek hai
shaahjahaan-mumtaaz ki mohabbat
laila-majnu ki mohabbat
teri aur meri mohabbat ek hai - 2

deewaane mohabbat ke hain jo, hai unako pehla salaam
(zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na zoom ek sada dil hai
zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na ek sada rub hai
zoom zoom ta na na na zoom ta na na na zoom ek mohabbat hai - 2) - 2
deewaane mohabbat ke hain jo, hai unako pehla salaam
tohfa mohabbat ka hai jo, har dil ka usako salaam



Pray for me brother-A.R. Rahman


Pray For Me Brother

Pray for me brother
Pray for me brother
Pray for me sister
Are you searchin’….
Pray for me brother

Lookin’ for the answers To all the questions In my life
Will I be alone Will you be there By my side
Is it something he said Is it something he did
I wonder why He is searchin’ For the answers
To stay alive

Could you ever listen Could you ever care
To speak your mind
Only for a minute For only one moment
In time

The joy is around us But show me the love
That we must find
Are you searchin’ For a reason to be kind, to be kind…
He said… Pray for me brother

Pray for me brother Pray for me sister
Pray for me brother Say
what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open
Be what you wanna be now
Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother

Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Just let me live
Don’t let me take When you don’t wanna give
Don’t be afraid Say what you wanna say now
But keep your hearts open

Be what you wanna be now Let’s heal the confusion
Pray for me brother Pray for me brother
I’m ashamed ah, brother be dying of poverty
when he down on his knees its only then he prays
And it’s a shame ah, brother be dying of ignorance
cos the world is a trip and everybody’s a hypocrite
Need to stop ah , taking a look at the other
I’m not ashamed of poverty
need to be making his life better
So think about it, think about it once more
cos life is a blessing and it’s not justa show, ah
Round and round the world is spinning around

We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Round and round the world is turning around
We need to be singing a prayer, we need to be singing it now
Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race

Need to be feeling the power, need to be feeling the faith
We need to coming together just to win this race (twice)
Are you searching for a reason to be kind ?

pigeon story-2

Though I did not read this book..yet my brief sting with pigeons pursued me to include it here.




Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon is a 1928 children's novel by Dhan Gopal Mukerji that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1928. It deals with the life of Gay Neck, a prized Indian pigeon. Mukerji wrote that "the message implicit in the book is that man and winged animals are brothers." He stated that much of the book is based on his boyhood experiences with a flock of forty pigeons and their leader, as the boy in the book is Mukerji himself. He did have to draw from the experiences of others for some parts of the book, such as those who trained messenger pigeons in the war. The book offers an insight into the life of a boy of high caste during the early nineteen hundreds and also into the training of pigeons. Several chapters are told from Gay-Neck's perspective, with the pigeon speaking in first person. Elizabeth Seeger writes in a biographical note about Mukerji that, "Gay-Neck was written in Brittany, where every afternoon he read to the children gathered about him on the beach the chapter he had written in the morning." In an article in the children’s literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn, Meena G. Khorana calls the novel one of the few children’s novels from Western or Indian authors to explore the Himalayas in a meaningful way (rather than simply using them as a setting), and notes the way Mukerji recalls their “grandeur and spiritual power”.

A brief glance:-

Gay-Neck, or ‘’Chitra-Griva’’, is born to a young owner in India. Gay-Neck’s parents teach him how to fly, but he soon loses his father in a storm and his mother to a hawk. His master and Ghond the hunter take him out into the wilderness, but he becomes so scared by the hawks that he flees and ends up in a lamasery where the Buddhist monks are able to cure him of his fear. When his young master returns home he finds Gay-neck waiting for him. But Gay-Neck decides to go on other long journeys, much to the boy’s consternation. Then, during World War I, Gay-Neck and Ghond end up journeying to Europe where Gay-Neck serves as a messenger pigeon. He is chased by German machine-eagles (planes) and is severely traumatized when one of his fellow messenger pigeons is shot down. Gay-neck and Ghond barely survive, and Gay-Neck is unable to fly. Ghond, Gay-Neck, and his master return to the lamasery near Singalila, where Ghond and Gay-Neck need to be cleansed of the hate and fear of the war. After that, Ghond succeeds in hunting down a buffalo that killed a villager, but feels remorse for having to kill the buffalo. Gay-Neck disappears once more, but when the other two return home, they find, to their joy, that Gay-Neck had already flown there ahead of them.

pigeon story-1


Pigeons are symbol of PEACE...

Yes I know I know, being a crusader of so called peace in the wake of war and political mayhem..I know that bird quite well...but may be not too well...then a few of its clan members..turned the peace of my house(though sometimes even that gives me the eerie feeling of gas chambers), into a hellish cacophony and a  smelling pit. the story can come later of course..but the prelude is equally important...for I have to tell you the ways in which I tried to think better of these Gaelic brutes and infidel peace keepers.

One of a related books or rather a title that could keep me thinking of not plotting heinous means of capturing or killing the noisy deep throat multitude was the breath taking-FLIGHT OF THE PIGEONS-written by Ruskin Bond. many of my readers might not have read the book, but might have chanced to see the movie-"Junoon"-a famous scene- A blood smeared face of Sashi kapoor, pleads to see the face of his  muse.





Any war or revolution or events like that give birth to lot of stories. This is one such story based around the period of Revolt of 1857 in INDIA.

This one is different among most of Ruskin Bond’s books, though I have not yet read all of his work. Most of his stories are either based on his own life’s experiences, involve nature in one way or the other,  and are concerned mostly with normal people and their normal lives and thats what makes them very realistic. This one is like a chapter from the history of our country, INDIA.

STORY: The story starts with the capture of Shahjahanpur, a small town village in U. P., from english army by Indian Freedom fighters. With that


starts killing and looting of english people settled over there with burning out their houses and capturing and imprisioning of their women, if there were any. Ruth,  her mother (Mariam) and rest of her family , all women, were one such group. First they take refugee in the house Lala Ramjimal, a friend of her father, but soon people around find out that there is  group of english women’s hiding in his house. Then a Pathan named Javed Khan, one of the man of then Nawab of that area, takes them to his house. He puts the proposal of marrying Ruth before her mother, though he can have her forcibly, but he wants to do so with the will of the girl. Well, its hard to know he loves her not, but surely he like her very much and is kaayal of her beauty. Mariam being a captive under Javed didnt have much options but somehow manages ot save her daughter for the Pathan using one excuse or th other. In the backdrop of this story the events of the Revolt of 1857 is presented beautifully in bits and pieces. Finally story ends with english army once again taking over the city almost after an year in 1858.
a bit about the movie:-
'A flight of Pigeons'.-the story by Ruskin Bond was transformed into Junoon by Shyam Benegal. Produced by Shashi Kapoor, the film was set against the backdrop of unrest of 1857 in the country. Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Jennifer (Kendal) Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah starred in the film. Nafisa Ali (then a national swimming champion) was introduced in this film. Vanraj Bhatia scored the music for the film. "Ishq Ne Todi, Sar Pe Qayamat..." sung by Mohd. Rafi and "Ghir Aayee Kaari Ghata Matwaari......" sung by Preeti Sagar became popular hits. "Khusro Rain Piya Ki Jaagi Pee Ke Sang...." a qawwali sung by Jamil Ahmad was also a highlight of the film. Made in 1978, Junoon went on to bag the National Awards for the Best Film, Best Cinematography (Govind Nihalani) and Best Audiography (Hitendra Ghosh) in 1979. A year later it captured eight Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Recording (audiography) Best Dialogues (Pandit Satyadev Dubey), Best Editing (Bhanudas Diwakar), Best Supporting Actor (Naseerudin Shah) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Kendal Kapoor).

Drop---inspired by eloquence redefined

A draught of life
a pint of wine
a vision of the holy grail
a breathe sublime..
a drop of lime..
the sizzling touch
a drop of tear
a crying heart
a drop of rain
at the summer end
a drop of life
to start from again...

“Magic and reality collide from midnight”: a brief glance at Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children


It is difficult to deny the burden on the back, it’s prickly and heavy and how much we try to shrug it off, it sticks on harder….it’s the historical burden of the past. The language I am writing in right now, is essentially not mine, but borrowed from another land, my ways are not those of my people but an amalgamation of what I have and what I have borrowed. Thus it was never very difficult to understand this lingering sense of borrowed past, this impossible burden of past as I flipped through the first few pages of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.
Salman Rushdie, has a made a name for himself as a controversial novel writer. All his novels are characterized by an epic sweep of narration, a plethora of allusions to real events, real people, mythological and literary characters, and hilarious, often ribald humour reminiscent of Tristram Shady.
Rushdie has written eleven fictions- Grimus(1975), Midnight’s Children(1981), Shame(1983), The Satanic Verses (1988), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), The Wizard of Oz (1992),  East, West (1994), The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999),  Fury (2001),Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992 - 2002 (2002),Shalimar the Clown (2005) and The Enchantress of Florence (2008). And most of them speaks of good overcoming the evil force, or at least survives. Perhaps for this one might be forced to agree that Rushdie is a romantic who uses the medium of satire, much like his Indian counterparts and in his own way presents a story where past and present overlap to give a blurred future.
Midnight Children expresses an historical connection through the literary journey. This journey is again not singular; it is the journey of self and a nation. Born at the dawn of Indian independence and destined, upon his death, to break into as many pieces as there are citizens of India, Saleem Sinai manages to represent the entirety of India within his individual self. His is the writer-protagonist, a son of an Englishman who has seduced the wife of a Hindu street singer. He is educated at the Cathedral and John Connon’s Boy’s School in Bombay. He is the ‘Snotnose, Stainface, Baldy, Sniffer, Buddha and Piece-of-the-Moon’, who rise and fall is linked miraculously to the faith of a new born country.
The Mexican critic Luis Leal has said, "Without thinking of the concept of magical realism, each writer gives expression to a reality he observes in the people. To me, magical realism is an attitude on the part of the characters in the novel toward the world," or toward nature. He adds, "If you can explain it, then it's not magical realism."
Writers like García Márquez, who use magical realism, don't create new worlds, but suggest the magical in our world. And Marquez’s A Hundred years of Solitude had a great influence on Rushdie’s take on Midnight Children, especially in the context of the theme.
The theme of magic reality, the combination of the two heavy words makes its presence felt almost in every page of the novel, a sense of overlapping entities that further tries to invade the identity of the reader itself. Saleem Sanai talks of 365 voices jostling and shoving each other inside him. And as the reader travels along the course of the story, he finds himself becoming a part of those persistently chattering voice. This is magical, yet an undistinguished reality. For, even if a reader is born much after the main events supporting the novel, has occurred, its sweeping history has become his own history; an important identity that cannot be considered a ganglion and amputated right away. The above observation lies true when we are to recall the gory Jalianwala barg massacre, the pains of the Emergency period, the terrorist attacks and the Bangladesh war. At one point, in Midnight’s Children, Saleem, makes use of the metaphor of a cinema to explain his peculiar business of perception. The same can be used to understand the profound use of magic realism.
‘Suppose yourself in a large cinema, sitting at the first in the back row, and gradually moving up,… until your nose is almost pressed against the screen. Gradually the stars’ faces dissolve in the dancing grain; tiny details assume grotesque proportions; … it becomes clear that the illusion itself is reality.’
The movement towards the cinema screen is the metaphor for the narrative’s movement through time towards the present.
Thus Salaam Sinai is handcuffed to history. Rushdie has carefully drawn numerous parallels between the protagonist and his country, right from his face which resembles “the whole map of India” to his fortune which is “indissolubly chained to those of my country.  Soothsayers had prophesied me, newspapers celebrated my arrival, politicos ratified my authenticity. I was left entirely without a say in the matter.”
This is exactly the problem of modern man who is driven by the whirling chaos around him. Salaam is just one such victim who stands in the middle of disturbance and turmoil and like a speechless witness chronologically tries to reproduce history. But his memory fails to maintain the accurate dateline. And factual errors are prominent symptoms. He frets over the accuracy of his story and worries about future errors he might make. Yet again continues in his own rhythm adding metaphors and images that increase the authenticity of the notion, India is a land of illusion, where magic and reality reside side by side, and quite often intermingle to give a renewed identity to the mundane existence.

break....


Hearts breaks
only to be mended
faiths are losts
to be only reconciled again
Beings are made to'fall' again.

Empty, but...


All is empty, but my eyes..
They keep on dreaming..
Of gorgeous sunrise...
rest is lost among your words...
like twirling stars around my world...



all is empty, but my eyes..
they keep on dreaming..
of gorgeous sunrise...
rest is lost among your words...
like twirling stars around my world...

a little exchange by two heads

Part-1
Icche dana melte mana
Ichche dana bhabte mana
Ichche dana sunno kone

Ichche danar sunne ora....

Part-2
Ichye holei jabe ure,
Shob periye onek dure,
Bishyotake obak kore...

Mitmitiye dekhbi tora!



(This poem was a late night endeavor by two friends.)

Comte de Lautréamont -'maldoror'-surreal poetry translation

FIRST CANTO
Stanza 1: The Reader Forewarned
God grant that the reader, emboldened and having become at present as fierce as what he is reading, find, without loss of bearings, his way, his wild and treacherous passage through the desolate swamps of these sombre, poison-soaked pages; for, unless he should bring to his reading a rigorous logic and a sustained mental effort at least as strong as his distrust, the lethal fumes of this book shall dissolve his soul as water does sugar. It is not right that everyone read the pages that follow: a sole few will savour this bitter fruit without danger. As a result, wavering soul, before penetrating further into such uncharted barrens, draw back, step no deeper. Mark my words: draw back, step no deeper, like the eyes of a son respectfully flinching away from his mother's august contemplation, or rather, like an acute angle formation of cold-sensitive cranes stretching beyond the eye can reach, soaring through the winter silence in deep meditation, under tight sail towards a focal point on the horizon, from where there suddenly rises a peculiar gust of wind, omen of a storm. The oldest crane, alone at the forefront, on seeing this, shakes his head like a rational person and consequently his beak too, which he clicks, as he is uneasy (and so would I be, in his shoes); whilst his old, feather-stripped neck, contemporary of three generations of cranes, sways in irritated undulations that foreshadow the oncoming thunderstorm. After looking with composure several times in every direction with eyes that bespeak experience, the first crane (for he is the privileged one to show his tail feathers to the other, intellectually inferior cranes) vigilantly cries out like a melancholy sentinel driving back the common enemy, and then carefully steers the nose of the geometric figure (it would be a triangle, but the third side, formed in space by these curious avian wayfarers, is invisible), be it to port, or to starboard, like a skilful captain; and, manoeuvring with wings that seem no larger than those of a sparrow, he thus adopts, since he is no dumb creature, a different and safer philosophical course.

Selected Poems from

MALDOROR

by Lautréamont (1868)

Translated by Sonja Elen Kisa (1998)
Illustrated by François Aubéron

surreal poems:courtesy-www.demonrobber.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk



Masked Angels

The angels with masks
Have been taken to task
They have something to hide
The Devil is by their side
In a surreal landscape
They plan their escape
To another kingdom
In search of freedom
Tired of doing good
Their deeds are misunderstood
A black silhouette
Performs a deadly pirouette
They dance in time
To the beat of the chime
They are in search of survival
The chimes announce their arrival
In the Kingdom of The Beast
He has laid on a handsome feast
Their black spirits fester
As they meet the evil jester
In heaven innocent souls moan
As the Devil sits proudly on his throne

midnight's children


It is difficult to deny the burden on the back, it’s prickly and heavy and how much we try to shrug it off, it sticks on harder….it’s the historical burden of the past. The language I am writing in right now, is essentially not mine, but borrowed from another land, my ways are not those of my people but an amalgamation of what I have and what I have borrowed. Thus it was never very difficult to understand this lingering sense of borrowed past, this impossible burden of past as I flipped through the first few pages of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children.

Investigative Reporting

Investigative reporting is distinctive in that it publicizes information about wrongdoing that affects the public interest. Denunciations result from the work of reporters rather than from information leaked to newsrooms.

While investigative journalism used to be associated with lone reporters working on their own with little, if any, support from their news organizations, recent examples attest that teamwork is fundamental. Differing kinds of expertise are needed to produce well-documented and comprehensive stories. Reporters, editors, legal specialists, statistical analysts, librarians, and news researchers are needed to collaborate on investigations. Knowledge of public information access laws is crucial to find what information is potentially available under "freedom of information" laws, and what legal problems might arise when damaging information is published. New technologies are extremely valuable to find facts and to make reporters familiar with the complexities of any given story. Thanks to the computerization of government records and the availability of extraordinary amounts of information online, computer-assisted reporting (CAR) is of great assistance.
Democracy and Investigative Journalism
Investigative journalism matters because of its many contributions to democratic governance. Its role can be understood in keeping with the Fourth Estate model of the press. According to this model, the press should make government accountable by publishing information about matters of public interest even if such information reveals abuses or crimes perpetrated by those in authority. From this perspective, investigative reporting is one of the most important contributions that the press makes to democracy. It is linked to the logic of checks and balances in democratic systems. It provides a valuable mechanism for monitoring the performance of democratic institutions as they are most broadly defined to include governmental bodies, civic organizations and publicly held corporations.

The centrality of the media in contemporary democracies makes political elites sensitive to news, particularly to "bad" news that often causes a public commotion. The publication of news about political and economic wrongdoing can trigger congressional and judicial investigations.
In cases when government institutions fail to conduct further inquiries, or investigations are plagued with problems and suspicions, journalism can contribute to accountability by monitoring the functioning of these institutions. It can examine how well these institutions actually fulfill their constitutional mandate to govern responsibly in the face of press reports that reveal dysfunction, dishonesty, or wrongdoing in government and society. At minimum, investigative reporting retains important agenda-setting powers to remind citizens and political elites about the existence of certain issues. There are no guarantees, however, that continuous press attention will result in congressional and judicial actions to investigate and prosecute those responsible for wrongdoing.

Investigative journalism also contributes to democracy by nurturing an informed citizenry. Information is a vital resource to empower a vigilant public that ultimately holds government accountable through voting and participation. With the ascent of media-centered politics in contemporary democracies, the media have eclipsed other social institutions as the main source of information about issues and processes that affect citizens' lives.
Public access
Access to public records and laws ensuring that public business will be conducted in open sessions are indispensable to the work of an investigative journalist. When prior censorship or defamation laws loom on the horizon, news organizations are unlikely to take up controversial subjects because of potentially expensive lawsuits. Consequently, democracies must meet certain requirements for investigative journalism to be effective and to provide diverse and comprehensive information.

Definition:

The standard definition of investigative reporting, as agreed upon by such bodies as
The Society for Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors is this:
The information reported has to be of importance to the public.
The information has to be original work.
The reportage has to uncover something not previously known that someone is trying to keep hidden.
Investigative journalism is when reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or some other scandal.
De Burgh (2000) states  "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity".
An investigative journalist may spend a considerable period researching and preparing a report, sometimes months or years, whereas a typical daily or weekly news reporter writes items concerning immediately available news. Most investigative journalism is done by newspapers, wire services and freelance journalists. An investigative journalist's final report may take the form of an exposé.
There is no more important contribution that we can make to society than strong, publicly-spirited investigative journalism.
Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News
The Ethics of Investigative Journalism
Every team of investigative reporters pursues a story under different circumstances, so creating an all-purpose ethical rulebook is problematic, though certain standards have become generally accepted. The legal implications of reporters' actions are, by far, more clear-cut than ethical issues. Ethics, instead, deals with how to distinguish between right and wrong, with philosophical principles used to justify a particular course of action. Any decision can be judged ethical, depending on what ethical framework is used to justify it, and what values are prioritized. What journalists and editors need to determine is who will benefit as a result of the reporting.

If journalism is committed to democratic accountability, then the question that needs to be asked is whether the public benefits as a result of investigative reports. Whose interest does investigative journalism serve by publishing a given story? Does the press fulfill its social responsibility in revealing wrongdoing? Whose interests are being affected? Whose rights are being invaded? Is the issue at stake a matter of legitimate public interest? Or is individual privacy being invaded when no crucial public issue is at stake?
Most discussions about ethics in investigative journalism have focused on methodology, namely, is any method valid to reveal wrongdoing? Is deception legitimate when journalists aim to tell the truth? Is any method justifiable no matter the working conditions and the difficulties in getting information? Can television reporters use hidden cameras to get a story? Can journalists use false identities to gain access to information?
On this point, an important factor to consider is that the public seems less willing than journalists to accept any method to reveal wrongdoing. Surveys show that the public is suspicious of invasion of privacy, no matter the public relevance of a story. The public generally seems less inclined to accept that journalists should use any method to get a story. Such an attitude is significantly revealing in times when, in many countries, the credibility of the press is low. The press needs to be trustworthy in the eyes of the public. That is its main capital, but too often its actions further undermine its credibility. Therefore, the fact that citizens generally believe that journalists would get any story at any cost needs to be an important consideration. Exposes that rely on questionable methods to get information can further diminish the legitimacy and public standing of the reporting and the journalists.
Ethical issues are not limited to methods. Corruption is also another important ethical issue in investigative journalism. Corruption includes a variety of practices, ranging from journalists who accept bribes, or quash exposes, or pay sources for information. The harm to private citizens that might result from what's reported also needs to be considered. Issues of privacy usually come to the forefront, as investigative journalism often walks a fine line between the right to privacy and the public's right to know. It is usually assumed that privacy applies differently to public figures than to average citizens.

There are no easy, ready-made answers to ethical issues. Codes of ethics, despite some merits, do not offer clear-cut solutions that can be applied in all cases. Most analysts agree that journalists must remain sensitive to issues such as fairness, balance, and accuracy. Reporters continuously need to ask ethical questions throughout different stages of the investigations, and be ready to justify their decisions to their editors, colleagues, and the public. They need to be sensitive to whose interests are being affected, and operate according to professional standards.

Some of the means reporters can use for their fact-finding:

* studying neglected sources, such as archives, phone records, address books, tax records and license records
talking to neighbors
* using subscription research sources such as LexisNexis
anonymous sources (for example whistleblowers)
going undercover
Investigative journalism can be contrasted with analytical reporting. According to De Burgh (2000) analytical journalism takes the data available and reconfigures it, helping us to ask questions about the situation or statement or see it in a different way, whereas investigative journalists go further and also want to know whether the situation presented to us is the reality.

Consequences

Some of the potential consequences for the subjects of successful investigative journalism include:
indictment and conviction
loss of job
loss of professional accreditation
payment of fines
loss of personal and professional reputation
domino consequences for family members/associates involved in unrelated criminal acts discovered through the process of investigation
Consequences for society as a whole include:
revision of institutional policies
changes in the law
Professional references.
In
The Reporter’s Handbook: An Investigator’s Guide to Documents and Techniques, Steve Weinberg defined investigative journalism as:
Reporting, through one’s own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers or listeners. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed.
India and investigative journalism
India has witnessed series of investigations carried out separately by the press and media. We rejoice at the robustness of our democracy. We celebrate the vibrancy of the sparkling free press of India. But we know that the constitutional instruments to make the establishment accountable are weakening or failing. The parallel democratic institutions, which are supposed to nourish these instruments, are not fully evolved. Leave alone the ordinary citizen, neither our political leaders nor the academicians and intellectuals have fully cultivated a democratic mindset and culture which should involve transparency, professional commitment and accountability. To that extent, our democracy is fragile and -- to use an unpleasant word -- underdeveloped.
The importance of the “organic” relationship, as described by Walter Lippman, between a healthy democracy and the free press must be considered. One cannot sustain without the other. Indian media is so intoxicated with its so-called freedom (freest press in the world, one might say) that it fails to understand that it is also equally underdeveloped and fragile, that freedom carries certain grave responsibilities and that as upholder of democratic values and freedom (not just another profit-making industry) it has some specific obligations and duties towards the society. It is so obsessed with itself that it does not realize that it is throwing to winds its credibility, respectability and power by not attending to its basic obligations.
The so-called investigative reporting in India in the Bofors case, Fodder scam, Best Bakery Case, Jain Diary Case, Petrol Pumps largesse scandal and even Satyendra Dubey’s murder case have been either rankly partisan political exercises or half-hearted attempts to show off the fearlessness of those media units. Has anyone followed Satyendra Dubey’s case to the end? Who are the murderers? Are they arrested? Who leaked Satyendra’s confidential letter from the PMO? Is that person booked? And the mafia contractors of the Golden Quadrilateral? Was the Godhra riot victims given proper justice? Has the government forgotten the lingering plight of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims? Has any paper or channel pursued them? One remembers the sensation caused by Arun Shourie’s series of ‘investigative’ stories on the then chief minister AR Antulay of Maharashtra in early 1980’s.Recently, we have the Jessica lal case remanded by the supreme court, and in the state the Rizwanur case, the Nandigram massacre _in fact all incomplete information that are so sensational that become news demand the reporters’ continuous investigation.
For investigative reporting to flourish, what is required is: an independent and pluralistic media which is fearless, committed to democracy, universal human values, journalists with commitment who can identify problems and have the grit, perseverance, patience and skills to do research and owners and editors professionally non-partisan and without vested interests.
Political expedience
Bofors, St.Kitts, Fodder Scam, Satyendra Dubey -- none of these stories were followed thoroughly and with the rigour that investigative journalism demands. The pursuit was half-hearted; the stories tapered off occasionally, but were revived vigorously whenever a political occasion demanded.
No doubt, there have been laudable attempts at exposing some major scandals at local or state levels. But, often, the exposure is made in one sensational burst and then the press loses interest. The story tapers off or is not followed at all. Clearly, the Indian media has not nourished the discipline of classic investigative reporting. The political, economic and social scenario of India is so complex and rotten and the media’s credibility, despite its enormous power, is so low that even conscientious bureaucrats do not dare to blow the whistle. One whistle-blower who dared was murdered. And the press has nearly forgotten him.
What investigative reporting really needs!
For investigative reporting to flourish, what is required is: an independent and pluralistic media which is fearless, committed to democracy, universal human values, journalists with commitment who can identify problems and have the grit, perseverance, patience and skills to do research and owners and editors professionally non-partisan and without vested interests.
We have a fantastically free press, so free that it does not have a professional self-regulatory mechanism to monitor fundamental ethics of the press. Not even the journalists’ associations, which are more interested in begging for more perks from the government and corporate bodies than in the health of their own profession. Many journalists may have the aptitude and skills for investigative journalism. But their owners and editors do not have the will, even if they have the resources, to encourage them. The owners and the editors too have multiple vested interests -- in political parties, individual leaders, corporate bodies and so on.
Indian bureaucracy, notorious for its red-tapism, does not easily part with even ordinary information, never mind the information acts on the book, and, as mentioned earlier, those who really want expose the malefascence do not trust the press.
Why sting operations?
In such circumstances, what does a restless committed journalist do? He takes a hidden camera with him and broadcasts countrywide bulletins of responsible people accepting bribes. If documents, receipts, accounts, papers or files are not forthcoming as proof, here’s how the journalist furnishes the proof. Live on screen. Tarun Tejpal and Tehelka’s sting operation and subsequent imitations by others have raised a hornet’s nest questioning the ethical propriety of this kind of journalism. It is a positive outcome indeed. At last, ethics in journalism is being discussed, albeit half-heartedly.
How credible is the media?
 We do not seem have culture and discipline to carry effective investigative journalism. The press is losing credibility because of its blatant partisanship and rank commercialism. So take the camera and expose. Never mind, it is one-time exposure of a part. But the proof is there, clearly visible on the screen to make an impact on the minds of the people. The Dehli based schoolteacher’s allegation against the tv journalists can be taken under consideration ,where there are possible chances of preparing a false sting operation. This will at least shake the people and those who are concerned out of their slumber. No, this is not investigative journalism. But it is the sting. An occasional sting operation made with professional commitment may serve the cause for the time being. But that is no alternative to investigative journalism.
To build its credibility and ensure its freedom under democracy, the media in India will have to turn to serious investigative reporting.  The good news is that press is shaking of the age old shackles of inhibitions and intending to carry on responsible investigative reporting to provide the public its greatest power-the strength of decision making.
SOME OPINIONS THAT CHALLENGE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
According to Lord Scarman, investigative journalism has proved its social value and he does not wish to put any curb on it, other than”…the curbs I have mentioned on the right of physical privacy, to which I attach great importance. The other curb I would impose is respect for criminal law.
There are matters which really should be left to the police to investigate and investigative journalists should keep out of it. If ,in the course of investigation, the journalists come across matters which have a strong criminal flavour ,Scarman thinks, their immediate duty is to go to the police and put the facts in front of them and ask the police whether they think it would be appropriate for the newspaper investigation to continue or whether they should put up the shutters. He tactfully adds on that he would not regulate this by law.”Of course, investigative journalism is very much subject  to the risks of contempt of the court in some circumstances. They have got to watch out for what is subjudice  and for what might prejudice a necessary criminal prosecution.”, he remarks.
                                                                                                         11/26/2007 12:30:58 AM

NIROB TORJONI


Nirob Torjoni

Ekti kore phool chuye dekhlo nirob torjoni
Ekti kore pakhi uriyedilo nirob torjoni

Ekti ekti photar sporshe shojag nirob torjoni
Muchlona kichui, na rokto, na chokher jol…
Nirob torjoni
Ajibon cheyeroilo nirob torjoni
Jiboner spondon bujheo bujhlona
Nirob torjoni….

UNDER THE WATERFALL


Under the Waterfall



By Thomas Hardy


'Whenever I plunge my arm, like this,
In a basin of
water, I never miss
The sweet sharp sense of a fugitive day
Fetched back from its thickening shroud of gray.
Hence the only prime
And real love-rhyme
That I know by heart,
And that leaves no smart,
Is the purl of a little valley fall
About three spans wide and two spans tall
Over a table of solid rock,
And into a scoop of the self-same block;
The purl of a runlet that never ceases
In stir of kingdoms, in wars, in peace;
With a hollow boiling voice it speaks
And has spoken since hills were turfless peaks.'

'And why gives this the only prime
Idea to you of a real love-rhyme?
And why does plunging your arm in a bowl
Full of spring water, bring throbs to your soul?'

'Well, under the fall, in a crease of the stone,
Though precisely where none ever has known,
Jammed darkly, nothing to show how prized,
And by now with its smoothness opalized,
Is a grinking
glass

:
For, down that pass
My lover and I
Walked under a sky
Of blue with a leaf-wove awning of green,
In the burn of August, to paint the scene,
And we placed our basket of fruit and
wine
By the runlet's rim, where we sat to dine;
And when we had drunk from the glass together,
Arched by the oak-copse from the weather,
I held the vessel to rinse in the fall,
Where it slipped, and it sank, and was past recall,
Though we stooped and plumbed the little abyss
With long bared arms. There the glass still is.
And, as said, if I thrust my arm below
Cold water in a basin or bowl, a throe
From the past awakens a sense of that time,
And the glass we used, and the
cascade's rhyme.
The basin seems the pool, and its edge
The hard smooth face of the brook-side ledge,
And the leafy pattern of china-ware
The hanging plants that were bathing there.

'By night, by day, when it shines or lours,
There lies intact that chalice of ours,
And its presence adds to the rhyme of love
Persistently sung by the fall above.
No lip has touched it since his and mine
In turns there from sipped lovers' wine.'


like The Water



Like The Water  
by Wendell Berry
Like the water
of a deep stream,
love is always too much.
We did not make it.
Though we drink till we burst,
we cannot have it all,
or want it all.
In its abundance
it survives our thirst.

In the evening we come down to the shore
to drink our fill,
and sleep,
while it flows
through the regions of the dark.
It does not hold us,
except we keep returning to its rich waters
thirsty.

We enter,
willing to die,
into the commonwealth of its joy.

Morning Rain

Morning Rain  
by Tu Fu

A slight rain comes, bathed in dawn light.
I hear it among treetop leaves before mist
Arrives. Soon it sprinkles the soil and,
Windblown, follows clouds away. Deepened

Colors grace thatch homes for a moment.
Flocks and herds of things wild glisten
Faintly. Then the scent of musk opens across
Half a mountain -- and lingers on past noon.

Spring Rain

Spring Rain  

by Sara Teasdale
I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

I remembered a darkened doorway
Where we stood while the storm swept by,
Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky.

The passing motor busses swayed,
For the street was a river of rain,
Lashed into little golden waves
In the lamp light's stain.

With the wild spring rain and thunder
My heart was wild and gay;
Your eyes said more to me that night
Than your lips would ever say. . . .

I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain.

THE RAIN

The Rain 

by William Henry Davies
I hear leaves drinking rain;
I hear rich leaves on top
Giving the poor beneath
Drop after drop;
'Tis a sweet noise to hear
These green leaves drinking near.

And when the Sun comes out,
After this Rain shall stop,
A wondrous Light will fill
Each dark, round drop;
I hope the Sun shines bright;
'Twill be a lovely sight.

life in a Metro -Kar Salaam



Kyun zindagi se ho shikava gila ,
yeh hasati hai roti hai, jo bhi hai jaisi hai
jo bhi yeh deti hai woh hai tera.
kar salaam….
Nakhre utha isake nakhre utha,
haan dhoop bhi hai yeh, chhaanv bhi hai yeh
jo bhi yeh deti hai, tu maan ja
kar salaam…..
Kho jaana, pa jaana, na paana, hai jindagi jaane le
bik jaana, loot jaana, bass jaana hai jindagi maan le
karle yakin, jo kal gaya woh phir se aata nahin
gujra huva jo waqt hai woh dastak lagaata nahin
jo aaj hai bass wahi hai tera
Kya teri hasti hai, mitti ki basti hai
pal mein hi ho jaati hai yeh fanaa
kar salaam

LEISURE



Leisure

William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.