This is my investigative project (IP)... I will be publishing each story in detail but had to put this unreadable version up cause I really like "the look"... :)
During college we were suppose to do an IP and I decided to do it on the Polavaram dam being built on the Godavari, in Andhra Pradesh. It is a huge multi purpose dam and is located in the Tribal areas of the Eastern Ghats and is going to effect 3 states once it is built.
Godavari is known for its Flash floods and many claim, is only second to the Brahmaputra River in the intensity and frequency of the floods.
And most villages are already facing the brunt of what is to come once the construction is complete... as the construction of the spill-ways was started earlier this year and of course without the required sanctions from the various ministry including the Forest ministry, because the dam is going to submerge a large part of the reserved forest cover in the area...
A story was published on the plight people living in the area, in the frontline recently.
Me because of my bias and snobbery of having researched and worked on the issue before the reporter did not appreciate it too much...
But then at least someone tried to get this into the public discourse.
But not to worry we are progressing and developing, the SEZs to be established along the coast of AP especially Vishakapatnam etc are to gain the most out of the Dam... :)

Something more that makes little sense and is part of the all round growing madness:

Monday, October 16, 2006 (Aurangabad): BJP President Rajnath Singh has said that India should rethink its diplomatic relations with Pakistan. Moreover, he has also suggested that India should ask the international community to declare that country as a "rogue" state for its continuous fomenting of cross border terrorism. The inquiry report of July 11 blasts has clearly pointed towards Pakistan's role in helping the terrorists, said Singh. He said India should take diplomatic steps to bring the terrorist activities of Pakistan under international watch and persuade the world community to declare it as a "rogue" country. There is no question of holding dialogue with Pakistan unless that
country stops cross-border terrorism, Singh said. The BJP chief alleged that after UPA government assumed power, both the internal as well as external security of the country were in danger. About North Korean nuclear tests, Singh said it was necessary to check whether ISI and disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan passed on the nuclear technology to that country and whether
al-Qaida or terrorist organizations had also got hold of the recipe for making atomic bombs. (PTI)

Since when have we got the right to decide what other countries should be called or not... How can we decide which country needs to be under surveillance and what "threat" it poses to the world???
Well, if we do then maybe, we also need to look into what exactly are we doing within our country and to our neighbors!
We are responsible to a large extent for the violence in Sri Lanka, and our decision to remain passive commentators and supple arms to Nepal ha caused enough trouble already.
Pakistan is 1/3 rd the size of our country and has half the support we do so why and how can we behave threatened unless we have a hand to play in the whole issue?
And after Afghanistan and Iraq can't we see the 'world' seems to stand only for United States of America?!!!
And after resolving not to be part of the arms race, soon after our independence, as a show of power we did conduct nuclear tests in early 90s that led to Pakistan's need to show its nuclear capabilities...
Of course all that was justified cause our majority religious identity (Hindu) does not automatically define us as a threat or a terrorist; forgetting LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) is the biggest terrorist organization in the world...
But after WTC the 'world' would of course have us believe otherwise and we are more than happy to comply...
I don't understand how can we (the media) even give space to such statements on public platforms without any criticism or alternate perspective... When it is an explanation for the innocence of *Gilani we cannot present it without the other side, but this we can let pass under the garb of balanced objective "reporting"!!!

*A Lawyer Activist of the Supreme Court wrote a detailed article on the Gilani case. She presented only the facts and discrepancies in the evidence as brought out during the trial… while keeping her personal judgment or statements out and stating only the facts of the case. But the article was not published because by then we had become a part of the ‘global war on terror’ and could not go back on our assumption of all Muslims being terrorists. The article was published after much debate in one of the more popular national newspapers on the condition that another article on Gilani’s guilt be published along side. One must thank god that Gilani was acquitted although a large part of the country’s population still believes he was guilty. They believe so because we the media had enough interest and time to prove him guilty but not to show his Court declared innocence.

I am really getting scared with the frenzy we are building over supposed terror threats...
All market places, public parks are filled with the sounds of POlice informing citizens of "their duty towards the natuion and their own security". The Loud speakers keep pouring out venom (according to me) against anything that is different. They tell you how, every little out of the ordinary object, person or occurance has to be reported.
In the west this is bringing in interesting results like the left over jelly found on the roadside in England that brought in the special forces, forensic people, police and special inteligence and whoever else was available.... Soon we should reach that level of paranoia... Then I am sure we will all be safe, scared out of our witts to even pick up a coin by the roadside but SAFE!!!
As if the newspapers, news channels and fims were not loud enough to inform us about the great threat we are under, even the police and other government agencies have joined in. Although such things happened earlier I am sure the intensity and blatency has increased...
The American's dicussed the media-governement strategies after the 9/11 attacks a couple of months later, we will probably take longer but I am sure we will get theer soon. Articles and writeups and documentary movies were brought out by the "intelligentia", philosophers, thinkers, writers, techers and actiovists on how the news was presented through a color code- playing on the people's psyche about the urgency of the threat. The sounds, font size, coulors, words all used before the 'war on terror' tarted with the bombing of Afghanistan and then Iraq and now I wonder who!!!

PS its all typed in a bit of hurry... but with some feed back might flesh it out better. :)

A story I did now presented with much modification...

The shouts of "jai mata di, share-wali ki jai", seem to have caught up with "bolo bolo durga mai ki jai, asche bouchor aabar aashbe" (she'll come again next year). The number of non-Bengali Pujas is increasing every year and on Geeta Ghat near ISBT one saw a marked difference in the ceremonies and mannerism in the immersion of the same goddess.
The most visible part was the protective manner adopted by the bong men towards their women, as soon as they saw the non-bong men around. The Bengali snobbery is quite interesting to watch when in full action... Both the parties, bong and non-bong, seem to indulge in the similar activities of dancing, shouting and drooling... But of course the bongs do it with style and sophistication and some tradition in the ceremonies.
While the Bengali Durga was drowned in the noise of Dhak (traditional drums from bong land) the Share wali was enveloped in the Dhol (drums with Punjabi roots and beats).
The traditional aspect and symbolic meanings seem to be missing from the share wali's departure...
(Or maybe I am just biased, being half bong myself etc). Plus the rowdies and aggressiveness is more apparent in the non bong crowds at the Ghats than the bong crowds... Sometimes its very encouraging watching different interpretations and reflections of the same religion... at times it is distressing to see the homogenizing of heterogeneous myths and legends.
:)


A very important feature of the Durga Puja is the community involvement and very encouragingly the lack of saffronisation of the whole event despite its essentially being 'Hindu'. In Durga Puja all participate the believers, non-believers and even atheists- it is celebrated more as a social community event rather than a religious one.
There are around 400 registered Durga Puja samities in Delhi. "Mahadashmi" the last day of Durga Puja, symbolizes the victory of Good over evil, after which Durga, Shiva's wife is sent back through the river to her husband, by the devotees. The day begins with the priest releasing the soul of Durga, brought in to the mud-straw idol at the beginning of Puja. This is followed by smaller rituals of 'shindur khala' (similar to Holi, but dry and played with sindoor- a symbol of marital status) by the women of the community to celebrate their 'matrimonial bliss'.
And after the immersion ceremony is over each Puja locality congregates to receive the blessings of the priest and stinking Yamuna through 'shanti jal' and hug each other and touch elders’ feet. Thing hugging and touching of feet continues for around 15 days to symbolize 'shobho bijoya'- happy victory/ congratulating each other over the victory of good (embodied by Durga) over Evil (embodied by the demon-mahishasur).