DADA'S NEW BEGINNINGS.........

Welcome winds of change seem to be blowing through the soiled corridors of both the Cricket Associations of Bengal as well as the BCCI what with the "Prince of Kolkata" Saurav Chandidas (Dada) assuming the reins of power in Kolkata in facile and well managed palace coup........
What is even more heartening and welcome is the fact that an overwhelming majority of 121 voting members whole heartedly endorsed Dada's ascension to the President's post thereby reposing their new fou...nd sense of trust and confidence in the "god off the off side's" redoubtable and repeatedly proven leadership abilities........
I would be the first one to admit to the fact that there is a world of difference between astutely and masterfully leading a world beating cricket team and donning the mantle of the President of a State Cricket Association that has come to be known for it's political intrigues and cricketing shenanigans.........
Messrs Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad learnt this inalienable fact in their less than glorious and creditworthy stints as the President; Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) a few years back and it has been a classic case of once bitten twice shy as far as they are concerned ever since........
But; cometh the hour; cometh the man; Saurav Dada Ganguly has a little more than fourteen months experience as a cricket administrator ever since he donned the mantle of the CAB's Secretary's post at the behest of his late mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya...........
Add to this the five odd years of experience garnered by Dada during his stints on various advisory and such other committees constituted by the BCCI bigwigs from time to time and you have the quint essential Robin Hood all set to do battle with the Ravanas and Kansas proliferating the rank and file of the BCCI........
Here's wishing my beloved DADA all the success he so richly deserves in his newest and latest avatar as the crusader who will once again ensure that both the Bengal cricket board as well as it's wallowing Ranji trophy team will regain it's pride of place within the nation's cricketing echelons and only go on from one glory to the other ever since..........
Dada will rid this cricket crazy nation of all it's or more precisely governing board's ills and maladies and take Indian cricket to unprecedented heights of power and glory; mark my words as all you doubting thomases will soon be eating humble pie..........

TRAGEDY THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED........

My thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to the victims of yesterday's horrendous and utterly avoidable tragedy at Mina (near the holy city of Mecca)........
What is even more galling and reprehensible is the fact that such man made tragedies have become bi-annual if not annual features of a life transforming journey made by millions who throng the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with bowed heads and prayers in their pious hearts.......
And this is how the Saudi royal family; auth...orities; officialdom and medical personnel repay the spirit of hope, trust and piety reposed in them by teeming millions who continue to throng the arid; desolate and seemingly inhospitable regions of this decadently prosperous kingdom in the hope of atoning for their sins and making the long journey back home renewed; refreshed; rejuvenated and replenished.........
Faith can and will continue moving mountains; but the same needs to be tempered with a healthy degree of skepticism; objectivity and rationality; the world community as a whole needs to sit up and take note of the rapidly unfolding human tragedy and exert it's considerable and collective pressure as well as angst about these events that leave us cringing and wondering about what might have been if professional and effective crowd management systems would have been put in place........
There is a lesson all of us need to learn from this horrendous and heart rending human tragedy; firstly let's stop mollycoddling the Saudi royal family and condoning their sins of omission and commission time and again as they hold sway over a considerable portion of the world's oil reserves.........
Secondly; let the annual Haj pilgrimage be monitored by personnel who are equipped with the latest technologies and methods of tackling and facing a gargantuan tragedy efficiently and efficaciously rather than a bunch of novices obsessed with saving their own skin...........
And lastly will some wise man or men impress upon the Saudi rulers the irrefutable fact that the annual pilgrimage needs to be a boon or salve for the teeming millions who throng the desert sands year upon year instead of the sheer torture and pain that it is at present........
Here's hoping that this is the last such tragedy in Mecca and Medina and that such tragedies are never ever repeated.........

IRRFAN KHAN IS ON FACEBOOK........

Facebook never ever ceases to surprise and astound what with the seemingly reticent and reserved actor of actors Irrfan Khan becoming the latest Hindi film industry superstar to jump onto the bandwagon..........
According to sources close to the renowned actor; Irrfan has taken to facebook in an effort to connect with his millions of fawning fans and supporters and also to keep them updated about every current as well as forthcoming event in his professional life.........
An enthused and overwhelmed Irrfan shared the news about his being on facebook by tweeting about it in this manner: surprise; surprise !!!! come and be a part of my life and journey here: facebook.com/Irrfan Khan ‪#‎Finally‬ on Facebook!!! the "Life of Pi and Lunchbox" actor tweeted..........
In his first post on the social networking site Irrfan shared a few illuminating and intriguing details about his forthcoming film "Piku" co starring the "queen of hearts" Deepika Padukone and iconic superstar Amitabh Bachchan..........
"Waiting for May 8 with bated breath and a growing sense of anticipation as I have great expectations from this Shoojit Sircar helmed modern day parable about a cantakerous and somewhat eccentric father and his doting daughter; I too play an integral part on the on screen proceedings and want you all to wish me luck and success for this one" Irrfan said in his post dated May 5; 2014..........

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES........

The heinous; barbaric and hedonistic ritual of rape claimed it's latest victim in the form of a 13 year old minor who ended her budding life by hanging herself from the ceiling after being brutalised by a 22 year old man from the same village..........
According to Rajasthan Police Sources; this diabolic crime occurred on the late evening of May 3;2015 when the accused 22 year old Aatma Ram (who is currently behind bars) surreptitiously made his way into the girl's humble and nondescript abode when she was home alone and forced himself upon her with savage intensity and demonic intent.........
He then made good his escape from the crime scene following which the 13 year old girl who had fallen prey to his lust and avarice hanged herself to death from a hook protruding from the ceiling with the help of a dupatta...........
Her shocked; bewildered and befuddled parents then proceeded to cremate her mortal remains a little after sunset on the following morning May 4; 2015 and then made their way to the local police thana and registered a complaint against the infamous Aatma Ram who was seem making his way out of their home by an alert and inquisitive neighbour...........
Taking due cognisance of the complaint registered by the seemingly inconsolable parents; the local police sleuths immediately swung into action and managed to apprehend the accused from his friend's abode in a neighbouring village of Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district..........
A suitably chastened and petrified Aatma Ram is now pleading for mercy and pondering over the vagaries of a future that in all likelihood involves a lengthy and arduous jail sentence.........

JUVENILES WITH RAGING LIBIDOS.........

One now knows why the cabinet gave it's assent to proposed amendments to the existing juvenile act as well as the framing of new laws that will enable the system to try and prosecute so called juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 in a manner befitting the severity and barbarity of the crime committed by them..........
Three teenagers allegedly sexually ravaged a heavily pregnant 18 year old woman and even recorded their vile act on their respective mobile phones in a village within Andhra Pradesh's West Godavari district early on Sunday morning..........
According to the investigating officer; the three accused who are supposedly between 15 and 17 years of age broke into the woman's dwelling located in the district's Ramachandrapuram Village in the wee hours of Sunday morning and one of them forced himself upon her while the second subdued her and the third proceeded to record the vile and despicable deed on his mobile phone.........
They then proceeded to switch roles and positions until all three of them had satiated their engorged and enraged sexual appetite and had their fill of the object of their lust and sexual desires.........
The thoroughly disturbed; dishevelled and grievously injured victim who was bleeding from numerous injuries inflicted on various parts of her persona by her tormentors and torturers somehow or the other managed to gather her wits and composure and proceeded to file a police complaint against the three accused who still remain at large at around 11:30 am or so on the very same fateful morning..........
Currently undergoing treatment at the district government hospital; the young woman's only wish is to see the three monsters who defiled her being punished with utmost severity and in a manner that forces others to consider the fate that might ultimately befall them before they proceed to commit any such crime that can ruin a blossoming human life for eternity and beyond..........

CRYING AND TELLING SHAME.........

Depraved and desperate Indian men seem to be willing to go to any extent to fulfil their sexual urges and not so normal proclivities..........
In the latest instance of a deplorable; deviant; condemnable and gruesome sexual crime involving a mentally challenged woman; a 32 year old Vadodara based woman was allegedly debauched and desecrated by her 55 year old neighbour on Sunday.........
According to the mentally challenged woman's neighbours; Raju Bhavsar (55) a long term resident of Vadodara's Patrakar Colony successfully managed to lure the rape survivor into his home and hearth on Sunday morning on some pretext or the other.........
He then proceeded to lock his doors and windows from within and subsequently forced himself upon the unsuspecting and gullible woman who knew no better and had his fill of her before forsaking her in a dishevelled; incoherent and pitiable condition.........
Concerned family members who had taken to the streets of the locality on being unable to locate the rape survivor for the best part of three hours and more were informed that their supposedly missing family member was last seen in Bhavasar's house in his company.........
They somehow managed to barge into the accused's house and rescue the piteously weeping mentally challenged woman who somehow managed to muster up the wherewithal to describe the heinous fate that had befallen her..........
Based upon her version of events; the rape survivors sister-in-law made a beeline towards the area's police thana and registered a formal complaint against the 55 year old accused who still remains at large even after 48 hours and more as the police are awaiting the results of the medical tests that were carried out on the mentally challenged woman at a government run medical facility..........
What more can one say about a seemingly callous; indifferent and reprehensible system that forsakes the version of events narrated by a mentally challenged woman who was sexually ravaged and instead prefers to take action only when a report that can be suitably amended or altered depending on the political connections or clout of the accused conclusively establishes the occurrence of the alleged crime........
Shame India shame; thousands of your women are being defiled and desecrated with utter disdain and growing impunity and yet you continue to look on with shuttered eyes; zipped mouth and closed ears that only function when it suits their narrow and sectarian interests.........

ON WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON.......

Matters only seem to be getting worse for the women of this so called "progressive and enlightened" country with every passing day or then should I say hour and minute.........
A Punjab based teenaged girl tragically lost her life late on Wednesday night as she and her 38 year old mother jumped off a rapidly moving bus in an effort to save themselves the ignominy and humiliation of being molested and groped by one of the so called helpers manning the bus.,.........
According to an aged woman passenger aboard the same bus; the mother daughter duo had boarded the bus bearing the registration number PB 10C 1813 from a designated stop a few kilometres ahead of Moga and taking advantage of the fact that very few passengers were aboard the bus at the time; the said helper and conductor wasted little time in passing lewd sexual remarks and shamelessly groping the horrified and distraught duo............
Matters however came to a head when the mother daughter duo jumped off the running bus near village Gill on the Moga-Abohar stretch a passing police jeep which happened to spot the profusely bleeding and near comatose duo rushed them to the nearby Baghapurana Civil Hospital where the doctors pronounced the 16 year old teenaged girl dead on arrival..........
To make matters worse for the mother who is battling for her life with near critical head injuries; the said bus in which she and her now deceased apple of her eye were sadistically molested belongs to the Orbit Group (in which Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has a considerable personal stake) and operation "cover up" seems to be well and truly underway if this statement emanating from a senior police functionary is any yardstick or parameter to go by...........
"A police team has been despatched to the said hospital to record the statement of the critically injured woman; and a FIR will be recorded in due course after registering the due facts and claims made by the woman; she has alleged that both she and her daughter were molested in the presence of the other 8-10 passengers who were aboard the bus at the time and we are indeed verifying her claims and sparing no efforts to trace the whereabouts of the driver; conductor and helper of the said bus who are untraceable at the present time"..............
As far as I am concerned; the writing on the wall is there for all to see; the Punjab Police is going to do precious little to bring the culprit/s to book as they happen to be employees of a concern co-owned by none other than his "esteemed highness" the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and his business and other pecuniary interests over ride the sordid fate that has befallen a hapless and destitute mother who has just lost her beloved teenaged daughter and is currently hanging between life and death..........