blue valentine

Flowers in a forgotten book..

Goodbyes hurt most.. when you don't get to say them!

The day i die..

Now will You cry?

To make me come back..

Tell me, will You try?

Would You remember the days we walked together..

Hand in hand when we laughed together

The nights that went by talking

The talks over coffee that were ever lasting

Would you remember the words i said..

Would you think of the poems for You i read?

The names we called each other by..

The games we played and the lullaby

The child like talks and the pampering thereon

Will you wonder where those times have gone?

The times i hurt You and the times i teased..

And oh the times you were not very pleased?

Will You forgive me for those follies

Will You promise to never leave me surely!

Just to see a glimpse of You again in my eye

The day i die.. now will You cry?

WHERE IS THE ACTIVISM?

Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.

For quite some time now the over reaching role of Judiciary, came to be infamously known as “Judicial Activism”, has been under a microscopic scanner from almost every section of the society. But when on 10th December 2007, a division bench of the Supreme Court presided by Justice A.K. Mathur and Justice Markandey Katju chose to slam the Judiciary and clip its wings, it was an ominous sign of not very pleasant things to be expected in the future.

Among other things, in their 22 page judgment, while setting aside Punjab & Haryana HC order that two gardeners of Haryana tourism be appointed tractor drivers, the Division Bench warned the Judiciary from straying into turfs that were not in its domain in the following words

“If the judiciary does not exercise restraintand overstretches its limits, there is bound to be reaction from politicians and others. The politicians will then step in and curtail the power or even the independence of the Judiciary”.

The bench although termed improper and uncalled for by various legal experts, also criticized orders of a three judge bench of the Supreme Court which had asked Jharkhand Assembly to hold trust vote on CCTV. Pointing out other instances where the Judiciary faltered, the bench listed the instance of an order by Delhi HC which banned interviews for admissions to nursery in schools as also a Delhi HC directive on overcharging by autos, road accidents, fines, etc.

The repercussions were seen the very next day when a division bench of Supreme Court comprising of Justice S.B.Sinha and Justice H.S.Bedi refused to hear a PIL, seeking clarifications from a larger bench on the judiciary’s stand on PILs.

It is a matter of concern that the Judiciary is now shying away from its role feeling threatened by “reactions from politicians and others”. It is also disappointing that Judges now themselves feel that the Judiciary is going beyond its boundaries and wrongly entering the domains which are not in its domain. However, the fact of the matter remains that the Judiciary was the only organ of our Democracy which was doing its job and doing it well and also within the guidelines of the Constitutional provisions from where all the three wings of our Democracy derive their powers.

Let us examine, how Activism ( a misnomer) by the Judiciary began visa vi the powers vested in the Judiciary as provided by the Constitution.

PILs – Public Interest Litigation, wherein a public spirited person could initiate a litigation either in the High Court or Supreme Court, on behalf of people who otherwise normally could not or did not have the means to knock on the doors of Judiciary, for restoring any breach of fundamental rights that they had suffered or were suffering.

Now people reacted to this, although favourably, cheering and applauding this “new” concept that the judiciary had initiated in the interest of larger justice. However, they forgot that this was nothing new. This concept is as old as atleast our Constitution, if not older. Article 32 which empowers the Supreme Court to provide remedies for enforcement of the fundamental rights and Article 226 which empowers the High Court for providing remedies for Fundamental as well as other rights has always talked about certain writs. One of them being “Habeas Corpus”, which means to produce a body that has been illegally detained. Now, is this not a PIL as the affected person does not and for that matter cannot himself approach the Court of Law and somebody else has to do pursue litigation on his behalf?

In the famous Bandhua Mukti Morcha case the Supreme Court took cognizance of a post card sent to it and started proceedings based on that treating it as a petition. There was again a lot of speculation about Supreme Court acting in an arbitrary manner and doing as it pleases. However, a perusal of Article 32 would reveal that the Apex Court was working well within its Constitutional limits. Clause 1 of the said Article reads

“The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this part are guaranteed.”

Now here the above clause is talking about Part III of the Constitution which provides for fundamental rights. The words to be noted here are “appropriate proceedings”. Deciding what would qualify as appropriate proceedings is an exclusive domain of the judiciary and at the sole discretion of the Courts to define and lay down. Now if the Apex Court is pleased to entertain a post card and qualify it as an appropriate proceeding where has it overreached its authority and who are we to object when the Supreme Law of the Country itself vests such powers in it.

Writs – Article 32 clause (2) of the Constitution reads “The Supreme Court shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this part.”

Similarily Article 226 (which defines powers vested with the High Court) clause (1) reads “Not withstanding anything in Article 32, every High Court shall have powers, throughout the territories in relation to which it exercises jurisdiction, to issue to any person or authority, including in appropriate cases any Government, within those territories directions, orders or writs including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by Part III and for any other purpose”

The underlined segment “including writs in the nature of” clearly reveals that the 5 writs mentioned are not exhaustive in themselves and both the Supreme Court and High Court have powers to issue other writs or orders as well, when the question of protecting fundamental rights and other rights in case of High Courts arise.

It can also be seen from the wordings of Article 226 “Not withstanding anything in Article 32”, that the High Courts enjoy equal powers as the Supreme Court in this respect. Also Article 226 clearly mentions “including in appropriate cases any Government”, meaning thereby the High Court has been vested with powers by the Constitution to issue orders or writs even to Governments when it feels it to be appropriate for the protection of fundamental rights and “for any other purpose”. Now, the words “for any other purpose” provide unlimited scope to the judiciary, to pursue establishing and providing justice.

So if the Courts issue orders to the State for implementing some work or regulating or curbing certain practices, that are otherwise detrimental to the fundamental rights of the people, specially the Right to Life and Liberty, which is increasingly being seen with a wider scope, then where has the Judiciary exceeded in its role more than what the constitution has made it law bound to perform? Where has the Judiciary promoted activism when, the Delhi High Court issued orders on overcharging by autos, road accidents, fines, etc (any other purpose).

Lastly Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court in the following words, “The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass any such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe.”

This, thus makes the Apex Court duty bound to ensure complete justice and is not necessary that it would only follow the laws as have been laid down, but that it can pass any orders in pursuance of the cause of complete justice and it would assume the nature of Law.

Hence it can be seen that the term Judicial Activism is a misnomer. The Constitution in fact has given unlimited jurisdiction and powers to the Judiciary to ensure a Society where justice is within reach of one and all. The judiciary has been ensured exclusivity making it independent of the Legislature and the Executive but it does not necessarily follow that the Legislature and Executive have also been endowed with the same privilege. Various provisions of the Constitution if clearly interpreted shows that Judiciary has not been placed at an equal pedestal with the Legislature and the Executive but above them, making it an overall Guardian of the Democracy.

It is difficult to explain to the lay man, who are not aware of what the powers of the Judiciary really are and then it has been rightly said that it is impossible to win an argument with an ignorant person, but when the judiciary itself acts in a matter as if ignorant of its own powers and duties, then the orphaned democracy has something to be worried about.

Justice without force is powerless; force without justice is tyrannical.

Thank you sweetheart

Girl friend (noun): Someone who'll stand by you through all the trouble you wouldn't have had if you'd stayed single.

I wonder why people are afraid of getting into a relationship and committing themselves. I strongly disagree with those who say that making a girl friend or boy friend in the sense of committing oneself is like writing your own death warrant. Statements like "ye to gaya kam se...ab to barbad ho gaya" etc etc become common place once somebody begins to have an affair. It is conveniently presumed, wrongly though, that a person becomes careless and irresponsible and will divert and digress from his path or lose focus; but these are all groundless speculations and are very rarely true.

I personally believe that committing to somebody is the best way to become responsible and matured in life. It teaches you so many things. I am indebted to my sweetheart for bearing me so far throughout our relationship, which has actually made me a better person and transformed me into a responsible man from a careless lad (to what extent and to what level of satisfaction is a complex issue and I will not dwell into that for the time being!!).

For starters, I have surely become more responsible. I make sure I sms my gf a Good morning and a Goodnight msg everyday!! Also when I know I'm going to become unavailable on phone for the next few hours or so (specially when I am going off to sleep) I leave a msg so that the noble heart doesn't get anxiety attacks on my not responding to her calls.

I have actually managed to memorise her birthday along with the birthday of her mummy, papa, bhaiya, dada, bua and a number of her friends (Though I must admit I am still struggling hard with the birthdays of her chacha, chachi, bade mama, badi mami, chote mama, choti mami and not to forget her cousins). I now also remember all our anniversaries and that reminds me today it has been exactly 11 months since my sweetheart proposed to me and I accepted (I don't know why she keeps on insisting that it was the other way round). Happy 11 month Anniversary Dear Other than above I also manage to remember which are the days madam has tests, presentations and/or assignment submissions so that I can wish her luck.

Enough of remembering dates, if you people have started to feel that my relationship has only turned me into the "Scheduler Application" of a cell phone then there is more. I have started listening to people now. My relationship has definitely taught me how important it is to listen to what your girlfriend is speaking and that no matter how good you are at putting up a pretense, you would invariably be caught by a question like What yes yes!! You are not listening...tell me what did i just say?? and then you've had it. I have learnt that God has given man one mouth and two ears so that he could listen to the woman more and speak less; and that while the woman also has got only one mouth, but she has been provided with two ears of her boyfriend as well so that she can be heard and two ears of her own to hang earrings which her boyfriend has bought for her for his own pleasure and satisfaction.

Another transformation in me is that I have become more considerate. I now normally don't reply "So what do I do" or "You take rest..am going" if somebody now tells me that he's not feeling well or is upset. My relationship has taught me that not only are these remarks rude, crude, uncouth and despicable but that they could be fatal at times as well.

I know by now you would have got a glimpse of the brand new Harsh Singh but I am tempted to divulge more and since this is my blog you can not do a thing to stop me. So here I go....I now reply to mails checking them more often. It is not like earlier days now that an e card sent to me would go in the trash can unopened. I have now understood the importance of replying to a card, preferably with a card in return.

I have started appreciating romantic things in life, for eg mushy songs like "Teri Yadein", "Beete lamhe", etc etc. And of course not to forget flowers!! I now feel such an attraction for them that even if I have to suffer a loss of Rs 10/- per stem of a flower I happily undergo the sacrifice. I have also started reading novels by Nicholas Sparks and I feel I can now identify with girls better as all of them seem to have read all his works (though I must admit that the Sparks character is fairly not as popular among guys..I wonder why?).

How can I not tell you that I have become less lazy. I can now sit down and write long mails, longer letters and of course voluminous testimonials and blogs on demand or otherwise. I am also learning to suppress my sleep and stay up till late to talk to (or listen to..whatever!) my girlfriend all through the night. I am now able to drag myself to shops to buy birthday gifts and other presents for different occasions.

Although the list is endless I would just add one more side effect of my relationship that has changed me for better. I have understood that cigarette smoking is actually injurious to health and almost devastating for a relationship although a couple of pegs now and then is okay as it helps in going on endlessly praising one's better half and sing glories about the unending and infinite love, without having the knowledge or guilt of lying (:P)

I love you sweetheart!!

What's happening..

Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying.

Dear Myself,

I really don't know whats happening to you!! It is just that you have suddenly become someone else; or has it been a gradual change - you

don't know nor do you know whether you want to know! I know your confessing to this strange phenomena of not knowing so many things at a time, after having put a claim to know everything, is going to tarnish your reputation among believers and detractors who humor you just for the sake of it. The formers may feel betrayed and the latter would feel as if they have hit a jackpot to snub you henceforth! But you still chose to do it and I am O.K. with it or rather I have now accepted things that you unwittingly do specially after your Reliance stint when you decided to make "taking bold steps" a hobby.

It is not that my concern for your new avtaar is not well founded. I had started getting hints when madam started commenting on how you have changed within an year. At first I thought that it is just a habit among lady bosses to say like that for their slave boyfriends (sic). But when the comments persisted and refused to die of their own accord, I sat up to take serious note of them. I realised that most (I am being generous here) of them were actually true. You have become peevish, arrogant and highly unpredictable. Your carelessness which earlier actually seemed "soooooo shweeet & sooooo cute" have now crossed all limits of endurance! And your ego is about to burst any time now considering the amount you have inflated it.

The next hint came when the occasional introspector from east expressed her opinion over your dictions in her comment wherein she euphemistically expressed her disappointment over not finding enough caustic wit characterstic of you, which I know, you are now incapable of churning out anymore. Another thing that I am still to understand, (which was also pointed out to you by a very good friend of a very good friend) that is how and when did you decide to take another "bold step" and chose to become a Devil's Alternative from being its antithesis!!

I knew things had actually gone out of hands when I saw you writing nostalgia and sniffing about it. This new effeminate aspect of yours is despicable. Writing about your loss of faith and your dilemmas shows signs of weakness in you which you must now overcome.

I know you and I are friends and have known each other ever since we existed. I would have loved to stand by you and support you in this moment of identity crisis but I guess I would be failing in my duty if I did not take the other side and warn you to you mend your ways.

Hope you'll take note.

Your Inner Voice!

An era gone by

Time stops for a while and everything seems as it once used to be; I hold back my steps and cherish the moment. After all it is not everyday that it is yesterday once again.

Today was one of those erratic days at Golf when you create a miracle of sorts by getting a shot right! Exhausted after playing 9 holes of inexhaustible terrible shots, I was about to leave in a mood that'd have matched that of CPI (M) et al if the nuclear (unclear??) deal were to go through when I saw a very close friend of my grandfather's younger brother sitting in the club house. He's a regular golfer and a very reputed doctor and surgeon.

As courtesy calls for I went and paid my regards after introducing myself as his friend's grandson. The way his eyes twinkled with joy stopped me from turning around and leaving and my legs got fixed to the ground. I did not know what to do and all I could manage was to smile and sit down.

The elderly gentleman with a deliberate and seasoned voice began to recount the days he spent with his friend, my grandfather's younger brother (whom I shall now refer to as my grandfather only). When he started I almost cursed the day, surrendered to my fate of sitting and listening to a long discourse on "those were the days" kind of banter which usually the oldies indulge in.

However, within a minute I was captivated by what he was saying and it appeared as if he could actually visualise in motion picture what he was narrating to me. He began with 1950's and recalled how he, my grandfather and another common friend of theirs used to sit for hours together and share jokes over endless cups of teas. Both my grandfather and the common friend are no more, the latter having died in 1972 itself while my grandfather expired three years back. He recounted leaving for America in the late 50's for higher studies and returning only to settle in Banaras in the 70's. When their common friend was breathing his last in a hospital in Patna, he recalled driving all the way from Banaras to Patna through the night to meet him. But by the time he arrived the friend had slipped into unconsciousness and then in a couple of hours passed away in sleep. His eyes almost became moist recalling the last tea session when the trio had together way back in 1959.

With eyes gazing into past he said that 50 years have gone by and much has changed. 50 years is a long time in the transformation of a nation, he added, and it is almost like an era in an individual's life.

He similarly recalled operating upon my grandfather an year before his death. The operation theatre was the last time he saw my grandfather and even there he could not get to talk to him as my grandfather was sedated.

He suddenly went back to his childhood. He said he was about 10-11 years old when Mahatama Gandhi launched the Quit India movement on the 09th of August 1942. He said even at that tender age he and his friends could feel the passion and excitement which had swept through all of India. Some of his friends and he went and hoisted the Indian tricolor in the school premises. Later in the evening police came from the Dariyapur Police Station to arrest the Principal. On getting the news all the students gheraoed the policemen. Seeing that they were outnumbered, the police pleaded the students to allow them to discharge their duties with the promise to discharge their Headmaster the next morning, and the next day they kept their words. However, within a week riot of sorts broke out and a lot of govt. property was burnt down, police and people clashed, many people were detained and many more went missing never to be found again.

He said Gandhi and all were fine at their place, its o.k. now to speak about how we attained our freedom through non violence, but he asserted, freedom was not free of bloodshed. Passionately he went on to tell me how our generation would never be able to appreciate independence in the spirit befitting of it.

Coming back to the present almost as if snapping out of a dream he angrily condemned the Communist party, accusing them of sabotaging India's future at the behest of their pro China ideology. He also criticised the current Govts. contrasting them with the earlier determined lots like the ones headed by people like Jawahar Lal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri who really wanted to do something for the nation.

In the end he nostalgically added how he misses his friends and what he would not give to relive those days when he used to sit and share jokes with his friends over tea- An era of his life that has now gone by but etched in his memory to remain with him forever. His disconnected but flowing thoughts compelled me to author this blog and share his life with everybody. I am sure I'll be reading this blog time and again with a cup of tea in my hand!

Errrr..

I somehow feel so low today and the worst part is I don't know why. Help me explore:

Maybe it is due to the excess sleep that I am indulging in during the Pooja vacations, something I am not very used to of late!! Or, wait a minute am i feeling low because I now no longer feel the appetite for my favourite time pass - Sleeping!!

I would like to believe that this mood swing is caused by the movies Butterfly Effect and The Notebook that I saw in the last two days, the latter based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks and a favourite of my sweetheart. I have this uncanny habit of going into a trance after watching a movie with a sweet sad ending (the only reason I like Sholay, which I otherwise felt to be rather long and boring, was because it had a sad ending..sob sob!!). Ofcourse movies like Notebook (the novel surprisingly I did not find as engrossing) bring back old memories, the kinds with which you don't know what to do - One knows one would be better off forgetting them but then the temptation of cherishing them all one's life is too big to resist. Its like a hangover caused after 6 pegs of whiskey and my friends from college know what 2 pegs do to me.

I know it cannot be because of the fact that after playing an excellent round of Golf in the first 7 holes (2 pars and 2 birdies), I screwed up my score in the last two holes by playing shots befitting of a 36 handicapper! Nor because I was not able to play good Tennis later in the afternoon.

I know it would make my Sweetheart really filled with joy if I attribute the reason of my sadness to her being away to here nani's place in Ambala because of which we haven't been able to talk lately, but in all honestly I somehow know it is at best only a part reason to my misery. Or to look at it in another way the fact that I am writing all that has happened in the last two days, as an excuse to explore the reason(s) for my feeling down, is because my sweetheart is incommunicado atleast for the time being.

The most probable explanation ocould be that I am now accustomed to hard Work, and vacations like these are a big dampener of my spirit to keep working hard. What is difficult about this routine of working hard in LLB is that the gestation period is a little too long (3 years) for comfort. I just hope time proves true to its character and flies fast enough so that I move from this phase of uncertainty to certainty. Though, I know I should not complain as I have been responsible for all the choices that I have made.

Anyways with issues identified I am a step closer to resolving my predicament. Wish me luck!! Till then have a happy and auspicious Eid-Ul-Fitr and a prosprous Dusshehra.