Oh this Bihari bashing! The virus is spreading

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Obnoxious it may sound, but suddenly Bihari-bashing seems to have become a favourite national pastime; that is, if I can say so. Last year, it was in the north-eastern part of the country. Just a month or so back, it was in the national capital; and now in Mumbai, the financial capital of the country. Fifteen years back when I came to the national capital, I could not manage to be the odd man out and - like lakhs of other people from my state in the national capital, who have learnt to be Romans in Rome - I too was baptised to become a Delhiite. And one still feels some sense of belongingness to the capital in spite of the excesses all those 'tormentors' - beginning from the landlord to beat constables, bus conductors... and the long list of the so called 'ethnic creatures of the capital'. ....

Enemy within

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Within minutes the Fidayeen squad left behind eight dead and several CRPF Jawans wounded. Even as our CRPF men scooted for cover, the terrorists vanished away into darkness. What is baffling every concerned Indian is the way the terrorists managed to escape after inflicting a huge damage? And all this despite specific intelligence inputs by the IB days in advance. What followed next were a series conflicting reports. Some even claimed that one of the Fidayeen was wounded in the crossfire. Though a manhunt in the entire area failed to yield any results. Our investigating agencies must know that by now the Fidayeen team must have crossed over the border. So we will have to be content with arresting the foot soldiers, who possibly gave logistic support to these trained militants. Investigations by the UP ATS and the STF indicate that the Fidayeen squad....

Pickpocket terrorism

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It's the era of 'pickpocket terrorism' in India. But that adage for the new form of terrorism has not been coined by me, but by a very senior police official. Immediately after the UP serial blasts rocked Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow, the CNN-IBN Assignment started calling me up for details in the case. I called up a senior police official in UP. The first remark he made about the blasts was, "pocketmar atankwadiyon ka kam hai yaar (it's the work of pickpocket terrorists)." Terms like 'Phantom bombers' were coined when top Lashker commander Abdul Karim Tunda carried out dozens of blasts in the NCR between 1996 and '98. Tunda used locally available explosives, packed them in a tiffin box and placed a bottle of sulphuric acid, fitted with the traditional cork inside. The box was later kept upside down. Within minutes the acid would eat away....

Blood for power

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Electricity has the power to drive a wedge between communities. You will agree to me when you read this. Over 15 deaths, more then 40 arrests, over a dozen serving life imprisonment, all this for electricity. This is a true story of a village that has waited for electricity since the last 18 years or more. And the wait continues despite the fact that the fight for electricity in Koilikhutaha, a small village just on the outskirts of Bhagalpur in Bihar has lost over a dozen life and over 40 people are languishing in jail. There is no industry, no motor able road, just a small railway station with a local train puffing in and out of the station two to three times a day. It's not that the Bihar electricity board did nothing for the electrification of the village. Eighteen years ago some electric poles were....

The patch-work

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Some patch-works seen here and there on the Hajipur-Muzaffarpur road in Bihar would proclaim to anyone about the noble intentions of the Nitish Kumar government. Though my mission was to interview one of the don-turned-politicians, Munna Shukla, yet the roads left an imprint on me. Laloo had long promised to build roads like... Every one knows that one, the famous simile that showed the admiration Laloo had for Hema Malini. Call it the fate of the state Nitish has not yet found any cheek worth comparing Bihar roads to. To me, it seems the entire state runs on patch-work. With the change of guard in Bihar most of the non-resident Biharis were beginning to think that the engines of change and development will be put back on the rails. But the news that has hogged the limelight in the last two years is instances of mob lynching,....

Wake up call for the police

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Nithari made the headlines for the wrong reasons once again. And once again the Cops failed to act in time. This time the anger of the people climaxed to a level that a rapist was lynched in full view of the public. And the police remained a mute spectator. Perhaps they did not want to stir the hornet's nest by unseathing the shimmering anger of the people in the aftermath of Nithari serial killings. They preferred to go slow and the consequences were shoking. The rapist a 45 year old man of the same locality died in Ghaziabad city hospital. This despite the fact that the Nithari police post is barely hundred meters away from where the minor was raped in broad daylight. Subsequently the accused Arjun Singh was hounded and lynched. As the senior police officials got the inkling of media presence in the area, the....

Qualifications of a Reporter

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It is not just nose for news but a fit and athletic body and mind that should become the criteria for hiring reporters, particularly for the Crime Beat. Don't laugh, if things continue the way are now my contention would become reality. Assignments across the news channels have already started proving my point. Whether it's the fire in Meerut or the Nithari killings, the yardstick for which reporter should cover the event is simple: one who understands the crime beat and can withstand aggression. To feed the common man's growing appetite for news, these have become necessary. Remember the fire in Meerut that destroyed three pandals and trapped dozens of people in Victoria Park. Despite a thick police presence on the spot the mob began targeting the media. The next day thousands of angry people gathered at the spot and protested against the 'live coverage'.....

Nightmare of a flying reporter

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Lights, camera, action... errr wait, there is a call from dear hubby! Now even if you allow that concession, what would you do if someone decides to go left, right and centre on a live chat in spite of all the hard work that you have put in preparing him or her for the same? It's the nightmare of a flying reporter, dude!!! Trust me, behind the camera, it's a real tough job. Once there is this polite beginning from the anchor... Hello Shiv Pujan and stuff... you never know what goes wrong when and when hell breaks loose! Let me tell you of this one instance when I actually felt like chewing up the very mic I was PToC-ing on. It was a heady protest day in a red-hot Delhi. Medha Patekar had just been shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and....