The Wordsmith

Speculations are rife post-JNU violence on Monday that Shaheen Bagh may fall into hands of miscreants waiting to sabotage the protest site that has been peacefully demanding rollback of Citizenship Amendment Act, CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens, NRC. There was a clarion call by civil society, celebrities and students to reach Shaheen Bagh in large numbers after masked goons went on rampage and wrecked the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University and its hostels, leaving more than 20 students critically injured. Their names are Sarthak, Kamlesh Mandrijo, Soori Krishnan, Gaurav, Shambhavi, Velentina, Shivam Chaurasia, Manish Jangid, Sheshmanee Sahu, Aishe Ghosh, Ameet Parmeswaran, Sucharita Sen, Nikhil Mathew, Ayush Singh, Ashwarya Pratap, Shokat, Ujjwal, Deepshikha, Kamran and Sbimit. It is to be noted that Sucharita Sen is a faculty who teaches rural development, natural resources and rural livelihood at JNU. Aishe Ghosh is the JNUSU President. The Chronology The ...

Shaheen Bagh Protest site at night While chilly wave has seized entire North India, a six-lane highway at the outskirt of North East Delhi, Shaheen Bagh, is simmering slowly on the flame of anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019) and proposed NRC (National Register of Citizens) protest. A makeshift since fortnight, when Jamia Milia Islamia's library faced violent clashes between the protestors and Delhi police, is the temporary installation for thousands of women, men and children lodging their protest against the CAA and the NRC. Under a tarpaulin tent, all day and night, women sit on the floor over a thin layer of mattress. Wearing shawl and scarf, they are beating the cold with their bold voices. The protest so far has been peaceful and the credit goes to the volunteers of Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar and the neighborhood. Two young research scholars from IIT Delhi, Aasif Mujtaba and Sharjeel are the architect behind the peaceful protest at Shaheen Bagh. Volunteers some...

Giovanna Casagrande from Brazil has been crowned Miss Teen Earth 2019 at a spectacular event in Ecuador, South America. Miss Teen Air, Water and Fire were awarded to participants from Mexico, Paraguay and Philippines respectively. Organised by Rodrigo Moreira, this is one of the top seven beauty pageants for teenagers in the world. Bhavna Jain, Miss Teen Fire 2018, from India was happy to pass on her title to the Philippines as they celebrate being the powerhouse Asian countries of the beauty pageant. Jasmeet Kaur, the director of Miss Teen India Earth International, after the event, said, "The new winners are very beautiful and I am happy that they also have a very good social cause to save the environment." As the mother of Teen Universe 2017, Srishti Kaur, Jasmeet Kaur has always felt the need to support charitable acts through pageant winners. Together they have a school for the underprivileged and supported tree plantations along with various other charit...

‘I Heard You Paint Houses’, asks Al Pacino in the 56-seconds teaser of ‘The Irishman’ that was launched by Netflix nine months ago, directed by Martin Scorsese. The sentence was a hint to the movie’s plot. Actually, It’s a narrative non-fiction written by the former defense attorney and investigator Charles Brandt in 2004  that documents the life of an Irish mob hitman, Frank Sheeran, who confesses bone-chilling details of killing James Riddle Hoffa, aka Jimmy Hoffa, whose sudden disappearance became a legend and a mysterious tale in the mid-70s in the United States. Jimmy Hoffa in 60s and early 70s was a powerful labor union leader and the President of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, IBT. ‘The Irishman’ is based on the book, ‘I Heard You Paint Houses’.  ‘The Irishman’ was the most-anticipated movie of the year as Martin Scorsese pulls off a classic reunion with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It clearly is the most ambitious project of Scorsese as A...

Yet another shocking case of medical negligence came to fore in Gurugram where the doctors risked the life of a patient in an attempt to hide their folly. The doctors punctured the left kidney of a patient, who was diagnosed with stones in her right kidney. Having realised their mistake, the surgeon then operated her right kidney to remove the kidney stone. Due to the callousness of the hospital and the patient started bleeding profusely but the hospital administration continued to hide the entire issue until the case went out of their hands. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the family members of patient shifted to another hospital Medanta, the family was shocked to know about Pushpanjali hospital's blunder and their attempts to cover up. The patient, Sheela Devi - who is a resident of Rohtak - and her husband registered a complaint with the police and the Health Minister of Haryana about the gross medical negligence and sought justice. Sheela Devi...

Aaj Tak Anchor Anjana OM Kashyap While studying in Kota (Rajasthan), I once encountered an incident in a city shopping mall that left a lifelong imprint on my mind. A specially-abled person was trying to get out of an elevator. It was a compartment loaded with around eight-nine persons going towards the ground floor. Carrying a black folding cane in his left hand, the man, probably in his 40s, was set up to get out.   I was standing on the adjacent right-hand side to that man, noticing every detail of how he maneuvers normal routine chores at such ease. As soon as the lift would approach the concourse, a gentleman standing behind offered him a helping hand. The elevator hit the ground, people behind pushed us, the crowd waiting outside tried to forcibly get in even before the lift was not vacated and the guy with the cane fell on the ground. It left the man, who was helping the specially-abled guy, red-faced. He abused the culprits and reprimanded them saying, “Andhe ho ...

The world loves to read, watch and listen to the success stories beaming out of the lap of adversity, poverty, and oblivion. Being oblivious for years a person may turn a believer, a believer is a dreamer and a dreamer is an achiever. Those who transcend the border of scarce resources and turn things around by their grit and determination are hailed as achievers and considered successful in life.  With great success comes the criticism and I believe it is a natural phenomenon, humans are made that way, they have to deal with it. At the same time, there are a few who despite having immense talent and accomplishment are lost in the dark with the passage of time. They are forgotten. Time forgets them. 11 years ago, a 35-years-old Mathematician, Anand Kumar became a household name in the state of Bihar, the Beemaru Rajya. One afternoon in the month of April 2008, around 1200 kms away from Patna, the factory of nurturing IITians (Kota) was about to celebrate Bansal Class...