the brook

The Pakistani leader was shot dead just before a suicide bomber blew himself up at an election rally she was holding in Rawalpindi.

I liked to think that she was working to restore sanity in Pakistan. Obviously, there were people who did not agree. But what is clear is that whatever she was doing, it was with the full knowledge that this could happen at any time. This wasn’t a totally unexpected happening; this wasn’t even the first time she has been attacked. Yet she continued her campaign fearlessly. Much to admire, respect and learn. Working in the face of death at any moment is the bravest of all states, one I can only imagine.

May her soul rest in peace. Although we can hope otherwise, it seems clear that peace will elude her country for a while.

Went and watched Aamir Khan’s brainchild today. Nothing that I can say will do it justice – so let me just say three things – everything about it was perfect, from dialogue to direction to end credits; it is easily the best movie I have ever seen; and lastly, at the end of the movie there was clapping throughout the theatre; and I can’t recall the last time I experienced that for a Hindi movie.

One the one hand, I’d say Great Britain owes Bill Bryson a ton for this amazing book and travelogue across Britain. On the other, the book is so well written that it’s a toss up to say whether an actual trip would be more enjoyable.

Kidding, of course, but not too much. Bryson captures more than just the scenery or culture of Britain – having lived there for a long time, his writing captures the essence of the people, the history, and the stories that define the place.

The book is a commentary as Bryson traveled around Britain just before he was moving back to the USA. What I loved about the book is that it’s not merely a summary of the high points of Britain – Bryson writes about every situation he found himself in, whether good or bad, and makes it interesting using a wonderful sense of humour and his signature dry wit. One can’t help but appreciate and connect with a book in which the boring conversations on trains make you laugh as much as the descriptions of grand views and cathedrals make you daydream in wonder.

The personality of the writing (and writer) is charming as well. Self-deprecating at many occasions, and very human, the Bryson isn’t afraid to admit that his opinion about a particular county changed overnight – for three nights running. And some of the personal incidents he narrates are hilarious. Here’s a gem:

Eventually, a voice annouced that because of faults further up the line this train would terminate at Stockport, which elicited a general groan. At each station the voice apologized for the delay and announced anew that the train would terminate at Stockport. When at last we reached Stockport, ninety minutes late, I expected everyone to get off, but no-one moved, so neither did I. Only one passenger, a Japanese fellow, dutifully disembarked, then watched in dismay as the train proceeded on, without explanation and without him, to Manchester.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you – this book will make you laugh out loud. An absolutely delightful read.

The upper echelons of the Indian judiciary have long been active in public affairs. Recently, however, they realized that they may have gone a bit too far. This has sparked a lively debate on whether the Supreme Court of India has interfered too much or too little with socio-political affairs in India.

Indira Jaising has a very interesting column about the issue:

Let us remember that in the Supreme Court, the discussion is confined to a handful of Constitutional ‘experts’, making it very undemocratic. While this is acceptable for matters of legitimacy in the domain of the judiciary, it is not acceptable for larger social justice and policy issues.

While Justice A K Mathur and Justice Markandey Katju commented that there have to be limits to judicial activism, Justice S B Sinha retaliates the following day refusing to decide the issue whether women prisoners in jail are being denied their rights. Further, the high court retaliates by refusing to decide a petition relating to beggars, for being chastised by the Supreme Court in entertaining all petitions in public interest.

And while the judges fight it out, justice suffers.

The other side of this debate may be summarized by viewing the comments on the above article; however, being the usual Rediff comments, they are couched in language and attitude too abysmal to quote. Essentially, the Supreme court has the status of a hero with many people (including, to some extent, me) – with its popular stance on many issues such as reservations, ragging and human rights. And of course, all Indians complain that the legislature of this country does absolutely nothing. Scarce a week in session passes by without near violence in Parliament, and recent reports of of MPs slacking don’t help. There’s long been a feeling of tiredness with our elected representatives; and we can’t help but applaud when an institution with a semblance of matched power steps in firmly and seemingly on our behalf. The people of India would like someone, anyone, to fix their problems, while they focus on how much money they can make now that the Sensex has gone above the 20,000 mark; and the judiciary seems a not wholly inaccurate approximation to what we need.

Nevertheless, Ms. Jaising’s argument and the judiciary’s self-reproach must be taken seriously. The judiciary isn’t there to do the dishes and clean up Parliament’s mess. Multiple branches of government exist to provide checks and balances, not backups. The parliament being lousy isn’t enough reason to have the judiciary start making national policy.

The scary thing about democracy is we get the government that we deserve. While I’d like for someone, maybe even myself, to just go in and fix some glaring issues in this country, I wouldn’t trade it for living in a democracy. At the end of the day, it’s the voters who must do the hard work for progress. As they say, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

I hit the road last weekend with a few friends to travel to Melaka for a couple of days. It’s been quite a while since I travelled anywhere just for the sake of travel – so even though it was a short trip, it was a good one.

The moment you cross the border from Singapore to Malaysia, you somehow get a sense that life is more chaotic, more unpredictable, more spontaneous, more free. These guys at the Larkin bus terminal saw me with my camera and had enthusiastically asked me to capture the moment. At the time, I said I’d try and make it to the front page with the photograph :) but this will have to do.

Singapore being a small country, I really miss the endless landscapes one gets to see while traveling in India – the highways in Malaysia though offer ample amounts of the same.

Melaka has had very strong cultural influences over the years – both Islamic and European and it served as a very important port for a long time. This is reflected in a disproportionate number of buildings being architecturally aesthetic (I’m no critique, but they’re better than boxes).

St. Paul’s Church in Melaka has a very interesting history. The guy in the picture was doing an amazing job singing Knocking on Heaven’s Door – an appropriate song in more ways than one – the Church is at a high vantage point and overlooks the city.

There are some really good museums in the city – hosting art, literature and historical knowledge and artifacts. One of them, a naval museum, is inside a ship; unfortunately, it was closed for renovations when we were there.

The streets of Melaka can be very colourful and lively.

The river which runs through Melaka is a great place to enjoy a quiet evening at sunset.

Chinatown in Melaka was a really busy place on Saturday night.

The river I mentioned earlier runs throughout the city. There were lot of activities around the river on the weekend from fairs to kayaking to performances. There are also a number of houses along the river and there were families having a barbecues just outside.

Great place to go, even if only for a day.

From Corbin Simpsons essay in Wikipedia entitled “TINC“:

Wikipedia is socialist. Not Socialist, and certainly not Communist, but undeniably socialist. All of its content originates from the community. To deny this social aspect is to deny the entire philosophy of Wiki in its myriad forms. Our voices, no matter how small, quiet, and hopelessly opinionated they may be, nonetheless come together to form a single sound. Remember Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha? The river’s gentle roar comes from many quiet drops of water. In the same way, we can think of Wikipedia as being the Aum of the Internet.

Found it very interesting.