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A landmark moment for the happy and gay
The Indian mainstream media was busy preparing lead stories, that were to be made for July 4th, the American Independence day. So was the entertainment industry occupied with planning for parties, events, campaigns, promotions, sales, and all that is ‘page3′ for the same reason: Celebrating freedom!
But, all that changed with a landmark judgment by the Delhi High Court… July 2nd 2009, will go down in the pages of Indian legal history. ‘July 2nd’ will mean much more to Indian sexual minorities than what ‘July 4th’ means to Indian media.
Provisions under the Section 377 of Indian Penal Code criminalized consensual homosexual acts of adults in private. The Delhi High Court struck down this controversial section saying it violated the fundamental rights of life, liberty and equality.
Gay rights activists, lawyers and the sexual minority community across Indian sub-continent held celebrations to mark this occasion. In Bangalore, the celebrations were held at United Theological College. Here, I share with you all, the moments from that event I was witness to. A piece of history I must say.
By the way, to all my American friends… Happy Independence day:-). To all the partying crowd in my city, enjoy the Indian cocktails on Saturday night;-). But, do spare a thought for the sexual minority community who have been fighting a long battle for equality.
P:S For rest of the other photographs, please visit the set on flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelling_writer/sets/72157620753060559/
Posted in Portfolio
Also tagged bisexual, gay, GLBT, indian, International, Karnataka, law, legal, lesbian, section 377
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Notes From the Field : Chikungunya
Notes From the Field
- Nishant Ratnakar
Date: Monday, 11th May, 2009.
Place: D J Halli near Bangalore.
At a locality known as Moulana Compound:
"Have any health officials visited your locality since the outbreak?"
"No Sir. You are the first outsider to have stepped in here since we noticed the disease in our Compound"
That was the reply given to me by a resident of Moulana Compound at D J halli, Bangalore. Residents of this locality that houses around 60 to 70 families, say that at least one person in every house here shows symptoms of Chikungunya disease. "My four children also have developed Chikungunya" , says Waheeda who herself is recovering from Chikungunya. The families here live in typical matchbox like houses with most of them dependent on daily wages. Salaam, an auto driver, has not been able to earn his livelihood for over 8 days since he was affected by the disease. Most people including Salaam in entire D J Halli seem to be complaining about severe joint pains and high fever. Their mobility is restricted due to the joint pains.
Across DJ Halli:
"Any idea how Chikungunya spreads?"
"Sir, I think it spreads through air. See, it quickly spreads among relatives in the house and neighbors."
"Sir, there has been mixing of sewage and drinking water since longtime in our area. People are getting infected by drinking this contaminated water. Look, the color of water in this tumbler is almost grey."
"We don’t know."
"I don’t know."
"I saw on TV about disease spreading through pork in America. But we don’t eat that meat."
It was a pity to know that most people on the streets of D J Halli have no clue about Chikungunya. The carrier of the virus that causes this disease is a mosquito. Very few people I met at DJ Halli actually were aware about it. As I walked along the main roads and gullies around DJ Halli looking for people showing symptoms of Chikungunya, I could spot stagnant water pools – the breeding ground for mosquitoes – almost everywhere. Nothing seems to have been done with regards to creating awareness about civic issue in these areas. The authorities have denied (at least when I was covering the story) the outbreak of Chikungunya in DJ Halli and have blame private doctors for creating what they termed as ‘exaggerated news’ about outbreak. The truth can only be revealed by time. But, if not Chikungunya, there is something spreading here. Everyone is showing same symptoms : High fever and severe joint pains.
At a local hospital near D J Halli:
A woman was being administered IV fluids. Her doctor says, "The blood tests revealed that her platelet count was low. This confirmed an infection and symptoms are of Chikungunya. the actual confirmatory tests of Chikungunya costs around 1500 rupees in any of the city labs. But, most people arriving here including this patient are not in a position to spend so much. Hence, based on the symptoms, the doctors start the treatment. The cost of medicine for the entire duration of treatment is also slightly expensive. Also, Chikungunya patient needs to rest a lot for speedy recovery. But some of the patients here are breadwinners of the family and are daily wage workers. So you can understand the situation I hope?"
I guess ‘Right to good health’ isn’t covered under any of the fundamental rights provided by Indian constitution. But, don’t the Directive principles of the State say that state should work towards reducing economic inequality as well as inequalities in status and opportunities. Sixty plus years since India became a free nation. how much have we achieved in reducing inequalities in access to health care? Do our political parties have this as a priority or even have a reference to this in their respective election manifestos?
People in News – Part 1
For me, 2007 had been a year of learning the nuances of press photography. One of the things with working in a daily newspaper is getting the images of people making the news, especially at the moment they make news!
And if the story revolves around global terrorism, then you can expect a horde of journalists there. This was during July 2007 and I was then working at Bangalore Mirror. A terrorist attack had taken place at Glasgow airport, with the alleged bomber being dead, his brother and cousin who were continents apart were suspects now. Doctor Haneef, the cousin of the ‘Glasgow Bomber’ was detained in Australia. Firdous, the wife of Dr. Haneef and their newly born child were in Bangalore city. Also in the city were Haneef’s mother and brother. And that led to world media’s attention to Bangalore city for nearly a month. Haneef’s mother and brother were not interacting with the media. It was his wife who became a regular spokesperson during the entire ordeal.
Most of us spent those months camping on the street where Firdous lived. Every time a development took place in Haneef’s case in Australia, Firdous was immediately asked to give a response to the media. This led to a series of impromptu press conferences arranged at the gate of her parental bungalow in Bangalore.
All the newspapers, TV channels and news agencies needed the visuals of this family. They were after all ‘the people in news’ then. One had to literally fight with one another to get a suitable vantage point to capture the visuals. I sometimes took up a sniper like position to experiment and get a different image, rather than a monotonous close-up portrait. But, you can’t have this luxury all the time:-)
Fast forward to 29th July 2007
All charges against Dr Haneef were dropped and he was returning home a free man. There were media persons everywhere. At airports, in the same aircraft as his, on the roads, outside his in-laws’ home and, also inside their home. I was one among the countless photographers stationed inside their home trying to document in images the frenzied moments. The truth was that media persons outnumbered the relatives inside the house:-). Here are a series of news photographs made by me (we were there till 2 a.m in the morning) as and when he arrived home that late evening.
Seen in this photograph is Firdous Arshiya, wife of Dr Haneef dressed up to welcome her husband. Dr Mohammed Haneef after being freed from all charges related to Glasgow Terror blasts was returning from Australia with his cousin Imran and was to arrive at his Father-in-Law’s home at BTM Layout in Bangalore late night on Sunday, 29th July 2007.
Relatives of Doctor Haneef waiting on the terrace with rose petals to welcome him home.
Doctor Haneef stepping out of the car amidst media frenzy at his Father-in-law’s home.
Doctor Haneef being welcomed with flowers amidst media frenzy, as he arrives at his Father-in-law’s home.
Doctor Haneef managing to step inside his Father-in-law’s home amidst scenes of media frenzy.
Doctor Haneef being escorted inside by his cousin Imran.
Relatives of Doctor Haneef are excited to get a first glimpse of him after his return to India.
Doctor Haneef smiles and waves for the media cameras for the first time after his arrival at his in-laws’ residence.
Doctor Haneef and his relatives having a discussion while media persons wait for him speak.
Doctor Haneef reads out a written speech that was handed to him by his cousin, after which he was rushed to a room away from the media.
Irony with this assignment was that, my newspaper was a compact/tabloid. And the deadline for the pages to be sent for the printing press was 10:00 p.m. Doctor Haneef arrived well past 10.. So these images remain unpublished…..
HERE IT’S 5 PUSH-UPS FOR EVERY 4
At an ongoing inter-school cricket tournament, the boys of Bishop Cotton School embarked on a novel method to juice themselves up when playing against weak teams: A self-inflicted penalty for every boundary conceded.
Narcissistic and full of piss. That is what you normally associate cricketers with, even amateur or budding ones in this cricket-mad nation. But self-flagellation as a means to a sporting end? Well, the Bishop Cotton School’s boys seem to have just patented a new mantra or motivation. Of course, it was something to be seen to be believed.
An inter-school cricket match is in progress, and the batting team which is under pressure scores a rare boundary. This brings cheer in the dressing room of the batting team, and even as those on the benches indulge in high-fives and fist pumping, the fielding side enacts a different ritual: Excluding the bowler, the remaining ten of them lower themselves onto the turf and do a series of five push-ups. This they repeat each time they concede a boundary. Now, you must be wondering why the main culprit, the bowler, has been reprieved! Not really, for the best has been reserved for the last. For, at the end of the innings the poor fellow has to do it all cumulatively, five push-ups into the number of boundaries he has conceded.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Bishop Cotton comfortably won Wednesday’s game in the Boost Cup U-16 inter-school cricket tournament at the YMCA Grounds. Not that the result was ever in doubt. To the contrary, the whole push-up regimen they went through was because of the remorse they were feeling for having to play against teams much below their capability. They had in fact been relegated from the elite group of 16 city schools who would automatically qualify for the tournament’s second phase.
As this year’s Cottonian Shield winners and last year’s BTR Shield champions, the Bishop Cotton Boys High School cricket team has been in the elite stage of the Boost Cup (the tournament is played in two stages) for so many years. Last year, due to one freak defeat owing to a walk over – the match date clashed with their exams – they were relegated to the first round of the tournament. Hence, this year the team had to start their quest for the title from scratch, by playing against a series of teams which they believe are well below them.
MAKING AMENDS
Anil Dutt, the head of the sports department of the school believes that the team does not deserve to be playing in the first round. “Since the inception of the two stages of this tournament conducted by KSCA, our school has always been in the elite stage. But due to last year’s unfortunate forfeiture, we were relegated from the elite stage. I wanted them to play in a disciplined manner and keep up their morale when playing against lower-rung sides. I want them to believe that they are amongst the top four teams of the tournament. So, I told them that they must punish themselves every time the opposition scored a boundary,” he explained. But even he didn’t believe his boys would take his word literally.
MAKING SHORT WORK
On Wednesday morning, Anil ‘sir’ wished his team luck at the YMCA grounds before their match against BBUL Jain Vidyalaya and headed back to school. Samarth, the team captain, decided to enforce a penalty for his entire team including himself whenever their opponents scored a boundary. According to Samarth, “I told the boys that for the entire first round of this tournament, for every boundary scored by the opponents, irrespective of whose mistake it was, the entire team had to instantly perform five push-ups on the field. The bowler had to perform the push-ups after the over was completed or after match ended.”
In the event, they shot out the opposition for just 30 runs, a good ten runs more than they had intended to. But there was more to come. “We believed that we are too good for these teams. So we reversed our batting order. The tailenders went out as openers,” Samarth said. Some hubris that?
No matter, for the result said it all. The Cottonians went on to register a nine-wicket victory. Now, shouldn’t our, at times, over-glorified Men in Blue take a cue from these school boys?
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