Many of us who read newspapers would have seen the furore when B.Lenin, editor of ‘Dinamalar’ was arrested in Chennai a few weeks back, after film actress Bhuvaneshwari’s prostitution racket was busted. Bhuvaneshwari it seems had mentioned the names of a few very prominent film actresses who were involved with prostitution rackets. The next day B.Lenin’s ‘Dinamalar’ newspaper ran a strory with photos and rates of all the women mentioned. Even when one forgets the fact that these women are established artists with a social reputation, the very fact that they live in a society and has families, and has not committed any verifiable crime (except allegations by another actress) should have put some sense into the head of these third rate journalists. I was more outraged when “The Madras Union of Journalists condemned B.Lenin’s arrest and blocked traffic in Marina”. If these protests meant their creed is like (only), then civil society has an immediate enemy at hand – Media. The Third Rate Media.

Yesterday’s News9 sting operation in Bangalore is no better, if any SOB with a camera and a satellite uplink can be media, we have a bigger issue at hand.

After confirming that she was indeed in the business of selling sex, the team returned with a camera. They broke open the apartment and started recording. Apparently she was with a customer. What followed reminded me of what happened on a New Year Eve in Mumbai and what happened in the Mangalore pub.

What gives these journalists the right, to violate the rights of a woman, even if she were a sex worker. She was wearing a two piece suit, when they broke open and the channel had the audacity to force her to reveal her body. She was trying to cover her breasts and her face with her hands. Two men pulled open her hands to reveal her body and face on camera. WTF!!!!!

Bombay Dosti guest posts on News 9 outrage in Bangalore -

Yesterday, I lost it. Another WTF moment. If it was just another ‘third rate journalism’ as a friend calls it, I would not have bothered so much. But this was the limit. The trouble is, if not curtailed now, I am not sure, what it would turn into, in the future.
News9 is a bangalore based English ‘News’ Channel and of course, it is a 24 hr channel. This channel does give a lot of local news which may be useful to the city residents. This channel often has programs which shows a highly biased moral stand. When possibly half the population has such a point of view, it is possible that a channel could thrive on that. After all, our soaps are not different.
But, what made me angry, was the latest bit of breaking news that the channel released yesterday.
News9 made a sting operation and found that a service apartment in Bengalooru was being used for prostituition by a Russian lady. The channel team member posed as a prospective customer discovered this fact. Had they stopped with that, I would have not bothered, thinking it was another sting operation. But what followed was a gross violation of human rights.
After confirming that she was indeed in the business of selling sex, the team returned with a camera. They broke open the apartment and started recording. Apparently she was with a customer. What followed reminded me of what happened on a New Year Eve in Mumbai and what happened in the Mangalore pub.
What gives these journalists the right, to violate the rights of a woman, even if she were a sex worker. She was wearing a two piece suit, when they broke open and the channel had the audacity to force her to reveal her body. She was trying to cover her breasts and her face with her hands. Two men pulled open her hands to reveal her body and face on camera. WTF!!!!!
Later, the police was called to take action and probably take her into custody.
By what limit of imagination, can we accept this?
Even if I were the worst criminal in this world, and even if I was of the loosest character possible, you have no right to violate my body , without my consent. PERIOD.
There has always been a debate about this moral judgement even in the case of rape. In some countries, even the law mandates that a rape victim’s sexual habits should not be questioned. Her sexual habit, should not come in the way, of delivering justice to her.
Its similar in this case as well. Does her, being a sex worker(that too alleged) deny her the right to human dignity? And who decides? News9??????????
To put it simply, the channel must be taken to task for having abused her physically and for having tortured her mentally. This is Violence instigated against a woman. Whether she is a sex worker or not is not a matter of consideration. This channel had obviously no right to do to her what they did. By the way, why am i talking about their rights?
They were doing things against the law. How else should I describe a man forcing a woman to reveal her body on camera? If this is not violation, what is?
Sorry, an apology will not do. The channel was violating the law and they should be answerable. Now, it would be great to see them report that! Would be a good dose of local news!
The sad part is, even a local news channel has a lot of influencing power. It they shout stupidities for an hour and show the same stuff, people watching it will be programed to think in that direction as well. It was a live phone in program, and many people calling in, were talking about how the Police is not taking action and how the Police is involved in such sex rackets.
Oh ya, blame the system.
But in that process, we are letting this mind poisoning devil into our living room. I really need some air!

P.S: What do you think? Should the Government step in here? I need Free-media for free news, not a free-turn on along with my evening news.

Bhoomi Malayalam – is a movie made strictly for malayalis, and I doubt whether this film will speak intensely to any one else. (yeah there were 10 malayalis in Sree yesterday J , Sathyan selling “the family” with Bhagyadevatha had a full-house next door in Kairali). The movie, though without a pattern, and without the burden of solving every issue in 90 minutes (which many a movie do), turns our attention towards a diverse set of issues ranging from treasury shutdown in Trivandrum to the ubiquitous career-family questions to the endosulfan tragedy in Kasaragod. Though some of these issues are period (endosulfan and treasury shutdown is 2001, not 2009), this movie can serve as a reminder in later years.

The story deals with 7 women, and their private fears, tragedies and disappointments. Yes it is a movie centered on women, but not exclusively on women’s isssues but on a diverse set of issues where women find themselves at the receiving end. The movie starts in Trivandrum where a case of police atrocity leaves a woman without her brother, then the movie shifts to Kannur where Nirmala (Samvrutha in one of her significant roles) loses a younger brother to political violence, then to Kottayam where an affluent industrialist’s daughter gets influenced by communist literature from the late 40s and sees the tyrannical bourgeoisie in her own father, and then still within the latex belt we see a struggling athlete fighting both poverty (around the sounds of farmer suicides) and prejudice. We come to know about most of the above stories through the eyes of Fausiya (Padmapriya) who is a television reporter. Fausiya fights her own demons in conservative in-laws and an out of tune husband. The last two stories are from 1948 – about a revolutionary’s wife and her fears, and an often repeated story of a girl pushed into quick sand during an attempted rape.

The movie does end on a positive message for some of the protagonists (mind you there are 7 of them). They assert themselves, but surely around the sounds of families breaking and couples separating. Pretty much the same sad solutions of yester years (even Chandran’s Alicinte Anweshanam and K G George’s Aadhaminte Variyellu from the 80s had similar issues and solutions), but yeah, the fact that western Europe just crossed the threshold of more than 50% single mothers, we indeed have some sad ground to cover.

Bhoomi Malayalam is good, fast, at times a little too ‘painkili’ emotional(that would be there, frickin women! ), but highly watchable. It is not much of a thought provoking movie, but one those ‘reminding’ movies which reminds us of things. Then, atleast the ten people who watched “Bhoomi Malayalam” wouldn’t go home complaining about the sorry state of Malayalam cinema.

When a woman does ascend through the glass ceiling into the White House, it will be, in part, because of the race of 2008, when Hillary Clinton broke through the glass floor and got down with the boys.  (link to Full article below)

Do you remember the final scene in Wolfgang Petersen’s classic Air Force One, when they haul Harrison Ford over and the pilot quips “Liberty Two Four is changing call signs – Liberty Two Four is now Air Force One!”. Was I thrilled?

All of us (me in plural) continued to stay away from a US election campaign which has no chance of delivering a handsome white male in Pennsylvania avenue. Doesn’t every US president we’ve seen look a bit like Harrison Ford, say things like “The dead remember our indifference. The dead remember our silence.”

And now there seems to be a winner, atleast one person made the Time Cover

While everybody is writing volumes on where Clinton went wrong, there is this interesting piece in NYT which answers a lot of chauvinists including me. Hillary’s Achilles heel was the White male vote which never favoured her. The last few primaries saw a reversal of the trend. Why would white males vote for her? 

Susan Faludi’s interesting and revealing take on Hillary’s stepping across an unstated gender divide, transforming herself and breaking the glass floor,

While the populace might concede the merits of the female reformers’ cause, it found them repellent on a more glandular level. In that visceral subbasement of the national imagination — the one that underlies all the blood-and-guts sports imagery our culture holds so dear — the laurels go to the slugger who ignores the censors, the outrider who navigates the frontier without a chaperone.

Full article here

Now the trouble part – she faces a 65 million fine, blacklisting by the industry and an unconditional public apology to Nana Patekar. The terms have been set by Raj Thackeray, yeah my man.

Tanushree’s allegations could be true or contorted. If its true (going by her statement below in Mid Day), it is a clear case of sexual harassment.

What awaited Tanushree on the set was four days of horror. “From the start, I wasn’t comfortable with Nana Patekar’s presence. Nana had just three words O yara re in the song. Still he insisted on being around throughout. That was fine. He’s the film’s hero and it’s his prerogative. But then, instead of the choreographer, Nana started showing me the steps.”

Tanushree made her displeasure at this very clear. “A couple of times, I pushed his hands away when he got too close. But it didn’t seem to make a difference. He continued to direct my steps roughly and aggressively. Things got really out of hand when Ganesh incorporated steps where Nana could get physically close to me.” That’s when the actress chose to walk off the set and lock herself up in her van.  full story

Tanushree the “item girl”, doing an “item number” – these are the phrases used by several media outlets covering the issue. Despite this, if her part of the story is true – it is a clear case of organized sexual harassment because neither I nor the legal system in India understand the term “item girl”.  She’s a girl who had the caliber to win Miss India, item or not. Its time we understand the spin.

Now assuming her allegations are false, even then the treatment meted out to her at the studio (shown on Tv) was despicable. And the story gets more interesting as Raj Thackeray steps in.

Nana Patekar being a true Maratha, or as Raj calls him “Pride of Maharashtra”, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has taken strong exception to allegations of “indecent behaviour” levelled against Bollywood actor Nana Patekar by upcoming star Tanushree Datta. MNS has demanded a public apology from Tanushree, failing which MNS will launch an agitation against her. They have also asked the industry to blacklist her. On top of this, she has to pay 65 million in defamation fine.

The sad part of this whole thing is – these threats will work! Tanushree Dutta is no Amitabh Bachchan, and everyone knows what MNS is capable of. I would that our Tv news channels shift their zoom from her “item” bits to an individual’s helplessness. And perhaps give a minute of airtime to think how this incident will play out in the minds of several hundreds of girls who work in the movie industry.

The sheer helplessness of an individual against an organized regional outfit with complete disregard for law ought to be our problem, and calling her an “item girl” at this point is a bit too much of insensitivity. If Raj is ’proud’ of Nana for what the maratha did to Tanushree, it goes a long way to prove what “maharashtrian” culture he wants in Mumbai.

Nana is not convicted, nor do we know what happened. But what is happening now is harassment of another kind. Then I wasn’t surprised when Raj came out in support of Nana because I was surprised a few weeks back when Nana came out in support of Raj.

So thats pretty much it. Next time Raj sets Mumbai on fire – support him! Then all those chicks are yours, if they resist he’ll agitate.

that must be the Maximum city!

Then something comes along and I’m ear to ear

Ammani writes (link via BB)

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t object to motherhood per se. I certainly don’t have a problem with all-sacrificing, 100% unadulterated love-incarnate, earth mother type motherhood either. My struggle is that that is the only kind of mothers I ever read about. The ones who spend their waking hours worrying about little Johnny’s milk intolerance and blogging about how much poo little Sweety has deposited. I mean, where are all the real mothers? The ones who plonk their little ones in front of the telly so they may check out ex-boyfriends on orkut? The kind that sedate their non-coughing infant with Benadryl so that they can watch Sivaji in peace?

I’m not a regular reader of Ammani, but this piece was…hell…forget it …the cult is here btw

I’m laughing too much.

Thank God its Friday!

P.S: Do you read, Reader’s words. I would say, you should.

they read the Vagina Monologues aloud and then they were suspended

So sad. What about those men who were fired for using the “V” word at work.

and back in India on this Women’s day,

‘A study on all aspects related to women officers in the armed forces, including induction in combat roles was conducted under the aegis of the Chiefs of Staff Committee -,’ Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. ‘The study has recommended exclusion of women officers for the present in close combat roles where chances of physical contact with the enemy are high,’ Antony added.

Neihal, says Women’s right activists have “slammed the findings of the study as the height of male chauvinism”

What is with this male chauvinist (but armed) pigs, this is the height of discrimination, that too in the land of the great and “highly successful in battle” Jhansi Rani. And whats with this “Physical contact” , haven’t these morons heard about this thingy called “Guns” which other armed forces in the rest of the world have successfully put into use. Don’t tell me we settle disputes with Pakis by playing kabaddi and wrestling (extreme physical contact conditions) – Indian army had decommisioned those weapons after the Chinese routed us.

Does anyone remember those rape cases, remember Jaffna of 87 ? Having women in the army*provided they have guns* will arguably reduce the chance of sexual abuse – well who knows. Now about winnability and compromising national security, when was the last time we fought a full fledged war – 1971 ? did we actually see the enemy in Kargil, let alone physical contact. So let these women be, give them whatever they want. Do whatever is needed to shut those feminists up. Oh those shrill voices.

According to me, all our Jhansi Ranis in short skirts must be given the freedom to go to hell in any frickin way they want. Say NO to discrimination in combat roles in Indian Armed Forces !!

Elissa B. Terris, 59, of Marietta, Ga., divorced in 2005 after being married for 34 years and raising a daughter, who is now an adult.

NYTimes story citing Census Bureau figures looks like a close follow up to the Time story on Women in affluent Western Europe.

Read the full story here :

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse

Excerpts :

“For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one”

“Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom”

“The benefits were completely unforeseen for me,” Ms. Fidler said, “the free time, the amount of time I get to spend with friends, the time I have alone, which I value tremendously, the flexibility in terms of work, travel and cultural events.”

Blogger’s : Indian media is all praise for Abhishek Bachan who inspite of all odds decided to save Aishwarya Rai though she is a Manglik. For all my readers from Madagascar, Abhishek and Aishwarya are stars and Manglik is something about planets – if that is of any help.

Western Europe and now the US , do we see any light in Asia . I’ve maintained throughout, its this simple and see – it works !