Peter Mukherjea arrested in the Sheena murder case - 20th November 2015

Peter Mukherjea, the owner of 9X group of channels, was arrested by the CBI Mumbai police in the wee hours today. The CBI was grilling him continously for the past three days and reportedly had been questioning him till 1 am today. Peter Mukherjea the now husband of Indrani Mukherjea, was one of the witness in the  sensational Sheena Bora murder case.

Indrani Mukherjea is already behind the bars for the alleged murder of her own daughter Sheena, the motive for which is yet not clear. Peter Mukherjea's arrest was nailed by his driver Rai, who testified that Sheena was discussed in length and in great detail by Indrani and Peter in his presence. If these discussions also included Sheena's murder plan is still not clear.

Peter Mukherjea who feigned ignorance was earlier caught giving contradicting statements on television to a popular news channel, Times Now. The anchor of the show Arnab Goswami had in an earlier interview got out from Peter Mukherjea that he did not know about Sheena Bora and that she was introduced to him as Indrani 's sister. But, in a similar interview after a few days, Peter was found saying that in fact he had met Sheena Bora many times and was aware that she was Indrani's daughter.

This high profile case was nearly dusted under the carpet by these high profile page 3 celebrities but came dramatically into the limelight when Mukherjea's driver Rai was pulled up by the cops for some petty crime. During interrogation, Rai blurted out his misdeeds and to the Mukherjea's horror also told about the body which was abandoned in Raigad, Maharashtra.

The police put the jigsaw pieces together and framed the Mukherjea's nearly a year after the crime was committed. There were reports of pressure tactics by influential people to slow down the investigations and also the then police commissioner, Rakesh Maria's closeness to Peter Mukherjea. The chief minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, under immense pressure from the media, decided to give a prior retirement to the police commissioner, Rakesh Maria and in due course even handed over the investigation to the CBI.

The CBI - Central Bureau of Investigation - is an exclusive crime investigation team set up by the Central Government of India for handling high profile cases and cases where witnesses are scattered around the country. The cases where the state government's jurisdiction may prove a hurdle or the force strength may prove inefficient.

The case is still being pursued with startling revelations day after day. But one thing is for sure - a crime has happened and the authorities are keen to get to the bottom of it and bring the guilty to book 

All the world leaders please unite against terror - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - 19th November 2015

In the backdrop of the gruesome terrorist attacks in France, the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has urged the world leaders to come together and fight the common enemy of humanity. In the on going G20 summit in Turkey, Mr. Modi called upon the G20 nations leaders to forget all the alliances and trade treaties with other nations and vow to eradicate terror from its roots.

He called upon ways to stop funding which these terror outfits somehow manage to get easily. If the funding is stopped then their activities will also go down. Earlier, in his addresses he was very vocal about the world perceiving terrorism as something like good terrorism and bad terrorism. He had slammed those seeing terrorists from different viewpoints according to their vested interests. Terrorism is something which is the biggest enemy of humanity and it must be dealt with strongly without making any discrimination about its origin or target groups.

He also urged the United Nations to give a formal definition for the word 'terrorist' which will help nations know what exactly is terrorism and help them in combating and framing laws against them. He insisted that terrorism of all forms must be treated and dealt with equally if the world were to eradicate one of its biggest threats to humanity.

France and Russia pound ISIS camps in Syria as a revenge - 18th November 2015

In what can be termed as a revenge, France has joined hands with Russia in destroying the supposed ISIS terror camps in Syria. Russia has been carrying out similar attacks since the last few months and there were reports of Russia bombing some extremists training camps which were supported by the United States of America.

This is a major turn of events where a European nation in a revengeful mood over ISIS attacks in the heart of France, Paris has vowed to bring the perpetrators of 7 serial bombing in their home soil to book. France has promised to their own countrymen as well as to the world that they would be merciless against the terror groups.

In disturbing images late last night, French airplanes were seen pounding the ISIS base in Syria demolishing buildings and camps in a span of seconds. French officials have confirmed that it is a very well planned and precision attack on the terror colonies only and that no civilians would be affected by these air strikes.

The French joining hands with the Russians is seen as a surprise as well as turning point by experts which believe that the United States is in a fix on whom to give alliance to. Earlier, the American president Barrack Obama had categorically ruled out any ground based incursion into Syria. With French joining the Russians, experts believe, it to be only a matter of time before the entire European Union standing by France and becoming Russia's allies. Russian president Vladimir Putin is very vocal about his stand on Syria and has ruffled some feathers at the G-20 summit that some G-20 members are openly funding the ISIS camps.

These disturbing allegations have done little in support for the United States who is clearly in two minds about their approach in the given situation. They don't seem to get in the good books of many nations due to their current stand. What happens next in this diplomatic mess is to be seen, but one thing is for sure the world Muslims are under great stress due to the wrong doings of a few terror minded people who are giving a bad name to the entire community.

The world is watching and it is high time that all type of support - financial or otherwise - need to be cut off from these terror outfits. Their source of income need to be destroyed and countries encouraging them in their home soil need to be given a stern warning - get it line or face it!

Be yourself - Come what may - 17th November 2015

You must have come across many people who want to please others at any cost. Our society is built in such a way that constant comparison with others is the way of life. One is always aspiring for the things which his or her friends or neighbour possesses. People will go to any lengths to buy something better that their peers and will feel very good about it.

If the person is well off and can afford it, then it's no problem. But even the not so better offs are also in this mad race to out-smart their peers in the number of material possessions which they have. And to achieve them they may even beg, borrow or steal. Being better off is anybody's dream, but following unfair or self inflicting practices to achieve that is certainly wrong. It may cause more harm than otherwise.

One may buy an exquisite car and be the entire neighbourhood's envy, but if it has been bought on an exorbitant loan or EMI, then one is sure to lose one's sleep. See, the proposition of being the neighbour's envy has caused mental agony to the person, which may even lead to health issues. If you look at grave cases then such dangerous agendas may even take the form of negative tendencies like hatred and jealously. I may even introduce the feeling of animosity or the tendency of upmanship amongst peers. In the extreme cases it may even result in crimes when one starts showing off in a  particular way which is not at all appreciated by the other person.

Contentment is the key to be away from such materialistic evils. Be content with what you have and don't get swayed by what your friend or relatives are doing or buying. You can always plan well in advance if you are thinking about buying a house or a car, but the call must purely be taken on one's need and not by the peer pressure from your neighbours.  Keep a small part of your saving aside for a rainy day, and if enough gets saved then go for it and get what you aspired for. You may even take a small loan for it, but be doubly sure that you would be able to pay it off comfortably. And most importantly, never show off to your friends and neighbours about your new possession. Just be happy about it and share your experience of how you saved for it and ultimately bought it.

I bet that such constructive way of showing a new possession to your peers will make them feel happy and will give a new found enthusiasm in them that they can even do what you have done. This will never give a negative feeling in them and you would have easily made a negative situation positive for him or her. If everybody were to do a similar thing, then I am sure that many people will be able to achieve what they have always wanted to have - and yes, sans the negative feelings of hatred, jealously and animosity. The society would surely be more calmer and full of constructive minded and positive people to live in.

Always do what seems right to you. Don't just take advise blindly from others - 16th November 2015

You must surely have gone through a stage in life where you would have come across a problem - who doesn't have problems in life, some have little and manageable ones while some have big and frequent ones. Being in that problem stage you must surely have come across people giving you all sorts of advise - same general ones while some very specific ones to overcome them. Some may have come from your elders - parents and relatives while some from your close ones - friends or colleagues. Some may have been given in the passing while some might have sat down with you and shared the details in great depth.

You must have felt better on listening to some of those logical and sound advices while angry at some not so logical ones. Even if you are a loner and don't have many people around you or are not in touch in many people, advises are always around the corner. Just log on to the Internet and you have a number of advises to any possible problem under the sun in various forums or chat groups. The bottomline is that you will have umpteen number of advises or solutions right in front of you to just pick and choose and whisk away the problem once and for all.

But, having said that if all that were true, why are people unable to come over their griefs or problems quickly. The plain reason for the same is that whatever works for one person may not necessarily work for the other. Every problem is unique in itself with the parameters always differing. In short, not two problems are identical - there is some or the other difference in terms of the actual problem or the ingredients of the problem (by ingredients here I mean the nature or the characters or the surrounding around which the problem has arisen).

What also adds to the confusion is that the advise given out by friends and relatives might have not been experienced first hand and hence the solutions might also have been hearsay or heard of or read in some magazine or online forums. So, the question arises what exactly is to be done with so many solutions available but still the problem doesn't seem to go away.

The situation which comes to mind here is of the stock market where two people have contrasting views on a particular trade. The very existence of the stock market is dependent on two people having stark contrasting views. If everybody were to have the same views then the stock markets would soon run out of business (and mind it - if you were to check out the volume of trades daily on any popular stock exchange around the world - the numbers are mind boggling).

So, we know for sure that human mind is very complex and people tend to look at things in quite divergent ways. One may think about peaceful ways to counter the problem while other may take an extreme approach. The advise we have around us should always be thought about thoroughly - in your present context - and then narrowed down to the best possible and feasible one. Blindly following any advise without proper thought might make you land up in more soup than which you originally were in.

So, a calm and calculated mind is required to go through all the advises and filter it down to one or two sound ones. Then, it is necessary to discuss it thoroughly with all the stakeholders so that you may get some more inputs or red flags which you may have earlier ignored. Think it out and after detailed discussion go for it with full conviction - it may or may not work out but you surely will have the peace of mind at the end of the day that you have given it your best shot. Remember what works for one may not necessarily work for you, after all you and only yourself are responsible for the steps taken towards your problem's resolution. You are your own best guide!!!

Tolerance vs Intolerance debate - 15th November 2015

Of late, in India, the hot topic doing the rounds is the debate about whether the present Indian BJP Government is tolerant or intolerant. Enough has been said about it with many political parties, especially the opposition, tearing at the government calling it intolerant. Many people from the field of art have also returned their awards calling upon the government to be more tolerant.

A different section of people from the same field of art differ in their stance and say that it is not up to the government to decide it and even question those giving away the awards as to the timing of their protests, as to why they didn't give them away when much graver crimes were committed against humanity. Whatever be the context or the background the question still remains - who decides if we are tolerant or intolerant.

Technically speaking it is a subjective decision depending about a person's beliefs and his or her level of tolerance. We have all been brought up in different surroundings and amongst different people. For a person who has been bought up with much care, even a hard pinch on the arm would feel like an intolerant act. On the other hand a person who has had a hard an abusive upbringing might not feel even a hard punch on the face as being an intolerant. Then the question arises how can a particular section of society term a government as intolerant.

Running a government in the biggest democracy of the world is not easy and when small incidents of cruelty against a particular minority community makes people make a hue and cry about the government being intolerant, then certainly something is not quite right. The government acts on facts and figures and according to the merits of the case leaving the law enforcement agencies of the particular state to act on the same. If in this instance the entire government is said to be intolerant then something is certainly amiss.

The same people calling the government intolerant today may not take the same stand tomorrow if the same minority community were to commit some form of retaliation in the form of terrorist attacks. In the wake of the terrorist acts in France yesterday, the French officials were quick to issue statements that the perpetrators would not be shown any mercy. Now the question arises if the French government can be termed as being intolerant towards a particular community - in this case the Islamic extremists group ISIS.

With ISIS issuing a statement asking all Muslims to join them in their attack against the atrocities of the Western world, would any act against them be termed as intolerant. So, the need of the hour is not to blame each other but depending on the merits of the case debate with the law enforcement agencies and the Government about the likely action to be taken against the law breakers. If the incident is a small one, then the perpetrator must be brought to book as soon as possible without teeming the entire Government as intolerant. Yes, if the Government is not acting on the case there is very right for the group pursuing the case to approach the judiciary, but calling the entire Government as intolerant is not right.

Having said that the debate is bound to continue as it is a subjective opinion which an individual takes - some may find a particular incident tolerant while some others may find it intolerant. But who are we to decide? Whatever be the perception the work of the Government is to maintain peace and harmony and in maintaining the same if it has to become intolerant towards certain sections or individuals, then it is perfectly alright from the Government's point of view. Then the masses do not need to keep fanning the debate about tolerant and intolerant - but let the Government do its job. 

List of famous personalities who have returned their awards (in favour of Intolerance):

1.	Uday Prakash Hindi writer
2.	Ashok Vajpeyi Hindi poet
3.	Ghulam Nabi Khayal Kashmiri writer
4.	Waryam Sandhu Punjabi writer
5.	Ajmer Singh Aulakh Punjabi writer
6.	GN Ranganatha Rao Kannada translator
7.	Rajesh Joshi Hindi writer
8.	DN Srinath Kannada translator
9.	Rahmat Tarikere Kannada writer
10.	Jaswinder Punjabi poet
11.	Surjit Patar Punjabi poet
12.	Homen Borgohain Assamese journalist
13.	Keki N Daruwalla English poet
14.	Munawar Rana Urdu writer
15.	Krishna Sobti Hindi writer
16.	Marghoob Banihali Kashmiri writer
17.	Kashinath Singh Hindi writer
18.	K. Katyayani Vidhmahe Telugu writer
19.	Nayantara Sahgal English writer
20.	Sarah Joseph Malayalam femnist writer
21.	Rahman Abbas Urdu writer
22.	Gurbachan Singh Bhullar Punjabi writer
23.	Atamjit Singh Punjabi writer
24.	Mangalesh Dabral Hindi writer
25.	Ganesh Devy Gujarati writer
26.	Kum Vee a.k.a. Kumbar Veerabhadrappa Kannada writer
27.	Baldev Singh Sadaknama Punjabi writer
28.	Darshan Battar Punjabi poet
29.	Chaman Lal Punjabi translator
30.	Mandakranta Sen Bengali poet
31.	Nand Bhardwaj Hindi writer
32.	Kashi Nath Singh Hindi writer
33.	Mohan Bhandari Punjabi writer
34.	Ambika Dutt Hindi writer
35.	Nirupama Borghain Assamese writer
36.	Bhoopal Reddy Telugu writer

37.	Aamir Khan Bollywood actor

List of famous personalities who are against returning their awards (against Intolerance): 

1. Prasoon Joshi – Lyricist and adman

2. Savita Raj Hiremath – Producer

3. Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasiya – Multiple Padma Awardee

4. Madhur Bhandarkar – National Award winning filmmaker

5. Vidya Balan – Actress

6. Vivek Agnihotri –  Director

7. Anupam Kher – Senior actor

8. S L Bhyrappa  – Eminent Kannada writer & Sahitya Akademi awardee

9. Shyam Benegal – Multiple Padma awardee

10. Anup Jalota – Bhajan Singer

11. Manish Mundra – Producer

12. Pt Chetan Joshi – Flutist

13. Daya Prakash Sinha –  Playright

14. Amish Tripathi – Celebrated author

15. Gopaldas Neeraj – Multiple Padma Awardee and veteran poet

16. Chidananda Murthy –  Sahitya Akademi Awardee and  Kannada writer, researcher and historian

17. Patil Puttappa – Writer and veteran journalist

18. Ashok Chakradhar – Renowned Hindi poet and author

19. P Valsala – Malyalam novelist

20. U A Khader – Sahitya Akademi Awardee and veteran novelist

21. P Narayan Kurup – awardee of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and a noted literary critic

22. to 34. Bollywood and south Indian movies director Priyadarshan, famous Malayalam writers Akkitham, S.Ramesan Nair, P. Parameshwaran, Thuravur Viswambaran, Prof Melathu Chandrasekharan, Madambu Kunjikuttan, K.B Shreedevi, Actor Sureshgopi, Major Ravi, Musicians Alleppey Ranganath, K.G.Jayan (Jaya Vijaya), Artist Kanayi Kunjiraman jointly issued a statement against the Leftist intellectuals who returned awards.

35. Kamal Hassan – Multiple Padma Awardee actor

36. Raveena Tandon – Bollywood actress

37. Sudarsan Patnaik – Padma Shree Awardee and renowned sand sculptor

38. Salim Khan: Noted writer

39. Vikram Sampath – Historian and Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar awardee

40. Amritanshu Gupta – award winning radio journalist

41. Rajendra Talak – National Award winning director

42. Laxmikant Shetgaonkar – National Award winner

43. Anil Kapoor – Senior actor

44. Raza Murad – Senior actor

45. to 48. Dr Agnishekhar, Dr Kshema Kaul, Gokal Dembi and Shiban Khebri representing Sanmukh  - a Forum for Writers  & Artists in Exile

49. to 54. Professor Sumatheendra R Nadig, poet, author, Karnataka Sahitya Akademi  Awardee, former UGC Emeritus Fellow, former Chairman National Book Trust, Mrs. Sreekumari Ramachandran, Novelist, short story writer,  Shri T.S.Nagabharana, Film Director, Karnataka, N. Kuttikrishna Pillai, author, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Awardee,  Dr. Madusoodhanan Pillai, Academic Director, Bharatiya Institute of Research, Prof Meleth Chandrasekharan, Writer, Author – All of the above signed a petition titled “Intolerance in Contemporary India – a Statement"

55. Bikash Sinha – Padma Bhushan awardee and a Physicist

56. G Madhavan Nair – Former chairman of ISRO and Padma Bhushan

57. Harish Chandra Verma  – Prof HC Verma,  an Indian experimental physicist and professor in the Department of Physics at IIT

58. to 82.  to Professor Kapil Kapoor, former Pro-VC JNU, Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Antar-rashtriya Hindi Viswavidyalaya, Wardha, Professor Dilip K. Chakrabarti, Professor Emeritus University of Cambridge, Professor Jayanta Kumar Ray, National Professor,  Professor Aswini Mohapatra, JNU, Professor Santisree Pandit, University of Pune, Professor C.I.Issac, Member ICHR,Dr. Lokesh Chandra, President ICCR, Professor Purabi Roy, Member ICHR, Dr. Meenakshi Jain, Member ICHR, Professor Sacchidanand Sahai, Member, ICHR, Dr. Saradindu Mukherjee, Member ICHR, Dr. Nikhilesh Guha, Member ICHR, Professor Mohan Kashikar – University of Nagpur, Dr. Inakshi Chaturvedi – Associate Professor University of Rajasthan, Professor Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Chaudhuri Charan Singh University, Meerut, Dr. Dodda Range Gowda, academician, Dr. Prakash Shah, Associate Professor, Queen Mary University, London, Dr. Gautam Sen, former Professor LSE, Professor K.Gopinath, IISC, Professor Gopala Reddy – Osmania University, Professor G.Ram Reddy – Osmania University, Professor K.K.Mishra – Banaras Hindu University, Professor Maduraiveeran – University of Madras, Dr. R.Radhakrishnan – Asst Professor, Symbiosis University Hyderabad, Professor Ramakrishnan – Madurai Kamaraj University – All of the above signed a petition titled “Intolerance in Contemporary India – a Statement"

83. Ram Gopal Varma – Director Bollywood