Kunal Singh Speaks

A few days back, activists of a “religious cum social organization” attacked a pub in Mangalore and beat up the girls in the pub. Prima facie it qualifies as an incident of vandalism, and should be condemned. The accused should be put to trial, and punished, if found guilty.

Though the law will take its own course in bringing justice to the  victims of Mangalore attack, a debate has started about the legality of “moral policing” by non-governmental organizations. A section of society feels that this kind of moral policing is totally illegal, whereas another section of society feels that such organizations have rights to fight against the cultural attacks on our society.

I have noticed that people debating on this issue fail to address certain critical issues. I would like to raise these issues here and would request every one to consider these points while forming any opinion (either for or against) on this issue.

(1) About the Right of Moral Policing: Is it totally wrong? What if the State police fails (for whatever reasons) to enforce the state approved (constitutional) moral conduct on its citizens? Every Friday night in Bangalore is a scene to watch. Bangalore Traffic police carries out its campaign against “Drunken Driving”, at certain key spots in the city. Though the drunken drivers manage to get out easy by bribing the police men, innocent people are harassed. Some times I myself have been made to pay up bribe, despite having all the papers right. I fail to understand the intention of Bangalore Traffic Police behind such operations. If they are against the drunken driving, why not have their inspection teams outside the major pubs and bars in Bangalore? More than 90% of the people who come out of the pubs and drive would be offenders. Then why to conduct inspections on those key spots, where more than 90% people are not offenders? I would not explicitly state the unholy nexus between Police and Pub Administration, readers can assume it themselves.
BTW, This is just an example which I have quoted from my day to day life. I can see the state approved bastards, harassing my country-men, while I (and all others) can do nothing more than feeling helpless. In such an atmosphere, moral policing should not be totally condemned.

(2) About the Freedom of adopting a new Culture: Every one of us is a free citizen and as per the Indian Constitution, we have freedom to adopt the cultures and values which we like.

I very much doubt that the “pub hopping crowd” really does it (whatever they do), out of their “fondness for it” and out of the “understanding of their freedom”. Most of the times, the young crowd hopping at the pubs, is doing it either “to figure out what it is” or “out of the peer pressure”. The freedom which we (or the people condemning the moral policing) are talking about does not exist in 99% of the Indian Families. No matter, how urban, how educated, or how modern an Indian Family is, they would not approve of their daughters “drinking, dancing and rubbing their hips with strangers” at the Pubs. I would not say that such families do not exist. But I can say with certainty that more than 90% of the “pub hopping girls” do it by hiding it away from their own families. Those who are condemning the “Mangalore Attack” should also condemn the conduct of that “pub hopping crowds” which is doing it as an act of “Stealing and Lies” rather than as an act of Freedom.

(3) About the Mangalore Pub Attack: Before the Managalore attack is condemned, we need to look in to the kind of activities which happen in the Pubs. The organization which carried out the Mangalore Attack, has been alleging that “Obscene Activities” were being carried out in the Pub Premises. The organization had warned the Pub Administration to put an end to such activities. I would not blindly accept this allegation, but I can see some extent of truth in it. A couple of years back I visited a pub in Bangalore (@GarudaMall to be more precise). There was a college crowd partying at this pub. After about an hour, the girls got heavily drunk and they turned themselves in to a wild uncivilized crowd. Very soon, smooching, and indecent dancing [which would qualify as foreplay even in the Western World] started. The most memorable incident of that day is the sight of a girl who force-ably smooched a bar-boy (not sure if she thought him to be his boy friend or just did it for fun). These kind of activities are punishable under IPC. When the pub (or hotel or bar) administration and the local authorities fail to stop such activities, why does no one complain?

I wanted my device to be without suspension. Sachin suggested me to go for “Hero Thunder”. Unfortunately that model was not available and the shop guy asked me to wait for a couple of days. I wanted to buy the device on the spot and I decided to go for “Here Razorback”. This is a good model - only drawback being the “absence of gears”.

The first one week with the device has been quite cool. It has been a pleasure to cross Traffic signals while the RED is still glowing, and to ride on right side of the road while people on left side are still stuck.

This weekend I would be joining the “Critical Mass”. I also wanted to join the “Bangalore Cycling Workshop”, but would not be getting much time out from office.

Last Saturday (3rd Jan, 2009) I spent early morning shooting at Russel Market. Here are some more pictures from the Weekend Shoot.
….
Friday Night I was wondering what to do for the weekend. My Chitradurga trip was long pending, but I was reluctant to drive alone through the interiors. I pinged my ever enthusiastic friend to know if he has some plans. He suggested me to join the “Bangalore Weekend Shoots” group on Flickr. The group name speaks all about what it does [go to flickr to know more about it].
Next day, I was at Russel Market, 6:30 in the morning. It was a great fun, but greatly limited by the capabilities (or rather incapabilities) of my ultra portable digital camera. It can hardly capture any sharpness in absence of sunlight, the same problem which I had faced during in Hampi. So, is it the high time to upgrade to DSLR? Or shall I wait for the economy to improve

By the way, a few words about BWS - The group is surprisingly quite active, and some shooters are really amazing.

Yet another tragic incident.

When will we start to understand the limits: of Indian Roads, and of the Automobile.

Heard that “Voices from The Waters” is planning to arrange its third film festival later this year. Stay tuned.

Bangalore Royal Challengers have continued their loosing streak. For a change, last two matches were a little close and could have gone either way. Being an optimist one will surely feel that BRC is improving. But, being a realist one will not see too much hope.

There are too many problems with BRC. To name a few:

(1) Pathetic bowling (2) Old legs (3) Zero game plan (4) Out of Form Dravid

Pathetic bowling: The main stream bowlers have failed to deliver the goods. Great jumbo would have changed the match with his presence. Not sure why he is still out the team. Still injured? Zaheer has once again shown his age old problem of straying on the leg side. I can never forget his first over in 2003 world cup final which set the tone of entire match. Some bowlers do have this problem of indiscipline - Zaheer, Agarkar, Sreesanth. Not that they are not great bowlers. On their day, they can decide a match single handedly. But such days are few and even fewer in a 20-20 match. Bowlers like Akhil and Joshi have no clue about what they are doing. I am not sure what Venkatesh Prasad is doing as a coach. Is he the same guy who is Bowling coach for our National team? Guess, Mallya is not taking enough care of him

Old Legs: Fielding is too lethargic and erratic. In every match, they have dropped the catches and given too many unfair boundaries.

Zero Game Plan: Sorry Dravid. I do not know what you are doing as a captain. I see either both the batsman trying to hit the ball for boundaries or all of a sudden both will turn so defensive. You need to have a game plan and make your team follow it. Co-ordination is the key to success in a team game.

Out of form Dravid: Dravid is an introvert who believes in making his actions speak than words. In Cricket you can not do great in every match. But, if you are a captain, your team looks for directions at each single moment of every match. You need to make your words speak. Actions can only supplement them. Something which Dravid will never do. At least he seems to coming back in to action.

Hope they will win next time and I will not feel disappointed one more time.

I just saw this piece of news China will be reconstructing the Bangalore and Bubaneswar railway stations.

There is lot of Halla-Gulla going on in world in wake of recent “Chine-Tibet” clashes. Many people world wide are suggesting that one should boycott the Olympics games at Beijing. Well, thats a great thought, but how does it help the Tibetan cause?

Coming back to India, many people have been criticizing Aamir Khan for not refusing to carry the Olympic Torch. Though I respect the feelings of such people, but I find their thinking irrational. And I totally agree with Aamir that Olympic Games do not belong to China.

Rather than thinking of how India could possibly boycott the Olympic games, our energies as an Indian should be focussed on how we can do better in Olympics. After all our presence in Olympics is almost negligible. We hardly win any medals. And probably no one will notice if our athletes miss Olympics. Should we not be focusing our energies on some positive causes?

Let me come back to the topic which I wanted to discuss. Boycotting Olympic games (whether it is a refusal to carry the Olympic Torch or refusal to play at Olympics) does not impact China in any way. They do not give a damn. Probably they will continue with the event (which they should actually do) and end up winning all Golds, Silvers and Bronzes (they are going to grab a big share of that even if no one boycotts the event). W

What could possibly affect China is some sort of “Economic Boycott”. We are aware that the USA markets are flooded with stuff “made in China”. It is not only helping china to emerge as a global economical power, but to a great extent is also responsible for economic crises in USA. Look at Europe, how they have managed to keep their economies under control by promoting local brands and products (they are the one who have really understood and implemented the Gandhian philosophy).

Is there anyone who is going to protest against Chinese companies developing infrastructure in India? Does building a railway station requires such a great technology expertise that we can not do it in house? If yes, I find it funny.

Yesterday I visited Lepakshi and Penukonda. These towns are a house to rich remains of 16th century constructions by Vijaynagara Emperors.

About Lepakshi:
Lepakshi is famous for its (partially finished) Stone Carvings and Frescoes. Frescoes mainly depict Images from Ramayana. This link provides more information about Lepakshi. Photos from Lepakshi.

About Penukonda:
It was a summer-resort for Krishana Deva. Most of the constructions have been demolished, and now you see newly constructed houses all around the city. However, most of the temple premises have survived encroachments. You can also see a few remains of fort parapet. Follow this link for more information on Penukonda. Photos from Penukonda.

Getting There
* Follow NH-7 from Bangalore.
* For Lepakshi: Take a detour towards Hindupur (after Bagepalli). This diversion is after 100 km from Mekhri circle. Lepakshi is 20 Km down this road.
* For Penukonda: Proceed on NH-7 (no detour). Penukonda is locate on NH-7, about 135 km from Mekhri circle.

We first visited Lepakshi and then Penukonda. We followed NH-7. Penukonda is located on NH-7. However, for Lepakshi, we had to take a detour a detour from NH-7 (after Bagepalli).

What do you generally do over weekend? If you are not sure how your time flies away, without doing anything useful, you might want to visit the Rangashankara.

Rangashankara hosts English and Kannada plays (performed by different groups) on regular basis. You can catch a few good plays every week. You can even get a chance to meet Girish Karnad, as he is a regular visitor to Ragashankara.

Next week, Rangashankara is also hosting its Annual Fest.

Recently, I came across this interesting news article - A hospital has been asked to pay Rs 20 lacs to one of its patients. The patient had to forgo both her legs, because of the infection she contracted during a surgery at the Hospital.

In India most people (I am talking of the India which I have seen) look upon the doctors as an incarnation of God. If they get better, they are grateful to the doctor. And if they do not get better, they blame their own fate. I think that this attitude has its roots in India of last century, where most hospitals were set up by charitable trusts and the treatment was given free of cost. The sole objective of these medical institutes was to serve the people. Even Doctors serving at such institutes were dedicated to the same cause. Though the state of medical institutes have drastically changed with time, but people continue to have the older perception about Medical Institutes. In today’s capitalistic environment, most Hospitals are run by commercial bodies, and “Profit” (not the Charity) remains their primary objective.

A couple of years ago, one of my friend (we were sharing the same apartment) was admitted to Manipal Hospital (Bangalore) after meeting with an accident. For first couple of days, his condition was quite stable and things looked promising. But after a few days, all of a sudden, his condition deteriorated. He was rushed to ICU and it was discovered that his lungs were damaged. After a long treatment my friend survived.

After about six months (of above incident), my another friend went to Manipal Hospital (OPD) to get his ears cleaned up (I am not sure of the Medical Term used for this cleaning process). During the cleaning process he suffered an injury to his ear, for which he had to undergo an operation (This was a big joke of the year).

Recently, one of my friend’s friend was admitted to Manipal hospital after he met with an accident. For initial couple of days, he was treated by a general surgeon in general ward, where his condition was quite stable. But, later a lung injury was discovered and he got shifted to ICU. He lost his life after struggling for a couple of weeks.

Manipal is a super specialty hospital. They conduct all possible medical tests (which cost a Handsome money) on a patient, as soon as he is admitted in to the hospital. Then what is the reason that they take a few days to discover the such injuries? Since I am a no medical expert, I can be forced to believe that these kind of injuries can not be discovered with the medical tests. But, I will be always skeptical about it, having witnessed the way Manipal Authorities approach a new incoming patient. The first thing they are interested to know (when you are admitted) is if you are medically insured or not (rather than trying to know what problem has brought you here). If you are medically insured, the next effort is to see how they can make you utilize maximum money out of your insurance limit. I have always got a feeling that rather than operating you (and charging your for the operation), Doctors are more interested in Charging you (and do some operation based on how much they are going to charge).

If you buy a refrigerator, which develops a fault after some time, you really get angry at the manufactures (despite the fact that manufacture will give you a free replacement). But, a similar anger is generally not shown towards Medical Industry (may be we have failed to realize that there is some thing called as medical industry). It is good to realize that Doctors are not magicians, and they can only try their best. But, to keep the economic (and human and social) balance, in the current commercial environment, it is necessary that we as consumers, ensure that doctors have put their best efforts. Obviously there is no absolute scale to measure this effort - which makes the things more complicated. However we need a three-fold effort to ensure a fair treatment towards consumers -
(1) Consumer Awareness: When you are not given the correct treatment, or you suffer injuries due to negligence of doctors, do not forgive them - ask them for compensation. Approach legal authorities (like consumer court) if Authorities are defiant to accept their mistake. You are also need to be a little careful with how you spend your insurance money - If you are suggested a costly treatment, take a second opinion from some other institute. Also, do not be very generous to disclose to the hospital authorities about your insurance policy (why should you tell them about it if you are just an OPD patient?).
(2) A vigil by Insurance Companies - The companies need to make sure that Hospitals are not taking them for a ride. They need to have regular inspections and audits to ensure that insurance claims are for the correct treatment. They should also maintain a healthy relation with the policy holders and keep taking their feedback on the kind of treatment they receive at Hospitals.
(3) A vigil by law enforcing authorities - This will ensure that Hospitals do not form a nexus with some of the Insurance Authorities - in this case only sufferer will be the patients who loose their health.
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PS -

(1) This blog is not intended to defame, the Manipal Hospital. This is just a natural outcome of my experience with this Hospital. I have not mentioned of any other Hospital here, because incidentally I have never been involved with any other Hospitals in Bangalore.

(2)For an average student, it is really tough to get admission in to a Medical Institute through merit. Such an average student has to pay up Lacs of Rs in donation for getting an entry in to MBBS (or similar courses) - this money is considered as an initial investment (which one has by buying a medical career). The high educational cost, adds to this initial investment for next few years. You can imagine that such an average student will have a heavy loan on his head and pretty average medical skills, at end of his course-work. On one side he has a heavy pressure to pay off his debt quickly, on other side he suffers from lack of great skills. If such a person resorts to unethical tactics, whom will you blame?