Showing posts with label Delhi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delhi. Show all posts

Friday, 8 April 2022

Air sick...

It was a necessary trip, not a pleasure cruise. It needed to be done. 

Just as the restrictions that kept us within our borders were eased, I made a dash for it. I thought everyone would be excited to fly free as a bird all over again - the passengers would be thrilled to meet with their loved ones overseas, and the flight crew with the licence to serve in the airspace, ecstatic to scale the skies.

How wrong I was! 

The powers that be probably decided to take an excellent last squeeze on travellers one more time, one for the road, before the scare of Covid dwindled away. Out of the blue (not mentioned in any pre-travel requisites), recipients of Sinovac vaccines needed to provide a negative report of their nasal swab for virus detection (PCR-Ag). New directives, it seems. When travellers expressed their dissatisfaction, the staff reassured them that they just happened to have a state-of-the-art laboratory at the airport, by the way, and results could be obtained within two hours, just in time for them to board their flights. How convenient! But the catch was that it cost RM500 when it was done for RM200 outside. Hey, if you could afford a flight ticket...

In my eyes, the flight crew did not display much enthusiasm for their newfound freedom. Maybe it was because they were scheduled on a 'graveyard route' - a route allocated to newbies, as a punishment or demotion, a trip to the Gulag. The flight (KUL-DEL) with the most number of unsettled passengers who are never satisfied and undeservedly feel flight attendants are like slaves on Captain Morgan's pirate ship, fit to be abused. To an outsider, the scene looked like a group of primary school teachers controlling many boisterous students - teachers running away, appearing busy and school whining, asking for this and that.

I remember my first international flight on MAS. Their tagline, service with a smile, was complemented with the secret to capturing a man's heart. I was puffed with a full meal, periodic snacks and free-flowing beverages. No thanks to the democratisation of air travel with the invasion of budget airlines, the flight menu on this regular flight too had been 'plebeianised'! Passing off shrivelled dehydrated chicken pieces for rendang is criminal. And a cake piece which looked like one obtained from a bread vendor? 

The return trip was no better. Two hours of delay in flight take-off but a single breath of apology, but instead, the pilot gave a lethargic description of his flight path and altitude… 33,000 ft above Visakapatnam etc. No one word remotely resembling sorry, delay or beyond control in his wasteful banter. No one was bothered that the passengers may miss their connecting flights or other pressing engagement. Oh, what the heck? They are performing a charity mission...

Follow


Monday, 29 November 2021

Drinking the Kool-Aid?

 House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021)
Netflix, 3-part documentary.
Director: Leena Yadav

Just like a thin line that delineates ingenuity and insanity, there surely must be a fine line separating faith and delusion. There is a constant need to remind ourselves that religion was introduced to mankind to help him to make correct decisions to stay grounded on the most fulfilling path of life. Towards this end, specific do's and don'ts in life were decreed.

At a time when humanity's mental facilities were not fully developed, these rules helped Man make rational life decisions. Along the way, these religious edicts took control over logical thinking and questioning culture. Many things were taken in wholemeal from sensory nerve to somatic nerve bypassing cerebral cortex and higher centres.

When we were growing up, we thought bizarre crimes and UFO sightings were only seen in the USA and newspapers. I remember reading about the Jonestown mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978 under the auspices of Christian-revival plus Marxism priest Jim Jones. In 1983, in Waco, Texas, a massacre took place where zombie-like followers under the leadership of David Koresh of the Branch Davidian group, an offshoot of the 7th Adventist Church, willingly drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid at command. Well, what do you know? Within a generation, we are seeing mass suicides hitting our shores.

On the morning of 30th June 2018, friends realised that the general store belonging to the Chundawat family in the suburb of Burari in Delhi was still not open by mid-morning. Police were summoned when they could not get into their home. What the police found was unsettling. Ten members of the extended family (aged 15 to 60) were seen hanging by the neck to an iron grill roof like extensions of a banyan tree. They had their hands tied behind their backs, gagged and blindfolded. The senior-most member of the family, the grandmother, 80, was found strangled and sprawled under the bed.

It took the neighbourhood by surprise. The Chundawat family was seemingly the perfect family, with everything going well for them. Love was all around within the family members. They had everything going well for them. A fortnight prior to the incident, the family had a lavish engagement party enjoyed by many close friends and relatives. The police had a hard time trying to decide whether it was mass suicide or homicide. All they had were 11 bodies and 11 diaries over a span of 11 years.

With so much extensive investigations, interviews and forensic examination, the police deduced that it was a case of mass psychosis and accidental death. The youngest of the family, Lalit, had been suffering from PTSD following two harrowing experiences with death. He was unable to speak after his second experience but still assumed the role of the patriarch of the family when the father passed away. Lalit was a religious person who guided the family to better conditions. He soon started having dreams about his father, who would tell the family how to do things and about certain rituals that needed to be followed. During one of these religious recitals, Lalit regained his voice. All these were found written in the diaries. He could have also had auditory hallucinations.

Lalit Chundawat
The last few entries before the tragedy suggested that they were to engage in a tantric ritual witnessed by the deceased father from which they were all supposed to come out alive.

Due to mounting public and media to wrap up the case, the police came up with a plausible explanation. They blame it on the sad perceptions of mental health. Because of their reluctance to seek mental health help, a person needing was left to go on with life and influence others around him. The liberal members of the civil society were quick to blame toxic masculinity and ancient occult Hindu tantric practices.

I feel that the investigation results did not give a proper explanation for the turn of events. The hallmark of good mental is day-to-day functionality. In all accounts, the family seems to have done that. They had done themselves well from the hard times that befell them when they had to sell their property in Haryana and uproot themselves to Delhi. They had a thriving general store. They had friends and were cordial to the neighbours. Some of the family members got themselves higher education, and wedding bells were in the air. In the closely-knit community with so many find entertainment in playing busy-body and finding dirt amongst other people's households, it is perplexing that none is aware of the Chundawats' darks secrets. It is unbelievable that a 15 year would willingly submit himself to a deathly ritual. All the preparation could not be such a hush-hush. Is it so easy to subjugate educated, confident adults, to automatically accept and obey just because it is stamped with a religious seal? Wouldn't the younger generation, being of rebellious nature, be teeming with scorn at such practices and open up the dark family secrets to his close buddies? Some puzzling questions need to be answered.

P.S. "Drinking the Kool-Aid" is an expression used to refer to a person who believes in a possibly doomed or dangerous idea because of perceived potential high rewards.


Sunday, 31 March 2019

Evil, where does it come?

Delhi Crimes (2019)
Miniseries, Netflix

It is often said that there is goodness in each one of us. Correspondingly, is evil also a permanent resident within us or is there an external force that lures us into creating mayhem and entropy?


Is evil an inborn trait that dwells within us, only to unleash when our guards are down? Is it a learned experience over the generations and is imprinted in our DNA to help us survive? Are we cursed with the original sin committed by our forefathers, and we, as pallbearers of their act, suffer? Are we lured by the charms of prompting by Satan and his helpers?

Others would argue that good and evil are a spectrum of a continuum. One is not mutually exclusive of the other. Everything is a cycle; good and evil are part of an array of an entity. The Universe and its passage in the space of time are not human-centric or animal-centric. We are mere accidental participants in this cosmic accident and collateral damage in the passage of time.

Is there a reason why the Supreme Being, the all-good, the all-knowing, all-powerful force who is capable of repressing evil from our lives failing to do so? Evil and pain make us stronger, hence is it necessary? Maybe at a macro level, it makes sense, but to an individual who is brutally traumatised and in the cusp of death, all these do not make sense. Nature has the capacity to perform miracles but why is it sporadic?

Does it all boil down to us? That we should utilise our intellect, which is said to be part of the higher intelligence which controls 'the theory and functionality' of everything. The same metallic device called knife slices bread to satiate our hunger is the same one that carves an aesthetically pleasing figurine or pierces through the vital organs fatally wounding someone in that fit of rage. It is all how we use it. It is like fire and water too.

This Netflix miniseries is all-Indian production of retelling of the infamous 2012 Delhi rape-murder case of Nibarya, a physiotherapist student. It was told from the viewpoint of the police team that investigated and caught the six perpetrators in record time. This police procedural drama is so compelling that no episode of 'Law and Order SVU' can ever do. The setting, lighting (lack of), the close camera shots, the weaving of lens through of the Indian streets and countrysides really highlight the near-impossible situation that the Indian Police (Delhi Police in this case) seems to be working under. It is difficult to stay dedicated. 

Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police, Vartika, is tasked or rather takes it upon herself to investigate a gruesome gang rape aboard a moving bus. The police, with the reputation that they have, get brickbats from all quarters for apathy, lethargy and incompetence. There had an earlier complain by a member of the public about robbery aboard the same bus but was ignored. The concerned general public, NGOs, media, politicians and leaders are all breathing down on the police for blood. Some also have self-interest on their agenda for their outbursts. Using mobile phone call tracking methods and informants trace their suspects all the way to Rajasthan, Delhi slumps and to the fringe of the country ruled by Naxalites where even police officers need protection.

With 245 million people watching online video monthly, India is shaking up the global entertainment business. And if filmmakers can make such gripping no frills dramas like this, with no flashy props, big actors' names or pyrotechnics and unnecessary exposure of flesh to captivate the audience, the sky is the limit where the Indian dream merchants are going.

[N.B. This offering is a gem of sorts for students of psychology, philosophy and drama. Some may be drawn to the field of existentialism as well, as every frame peels more and more the chaos in which the people in the story lead their lives, albeit, as a matter-of-factly. One particular scene that moved me was how the accused was boasting and detailing to the investigating officer his heinous crime. One could see the glee in his eyes as he recounted the events when he exerted his toxic masculinity. In another scene, as he is placed in custody, he was cursed by the wardens for his deeds and was told that his mother had committed suicide at the shame of giving birth to such a son. The accused was so taken aback by this that he attempted suicide himself. Surprising to see how the charged viewed the victim, a woman, with disdain for 'talking back' and being 'promiscuous' in his definition. He, however, placed his mother (another woman) so high up on a pedestal that he cannot imagine hurting her! It goes on to say that rules and regulations only apply to others. When it comes to our own flesh and blood, the bar is changed.]



https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 


“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*