Audi Alteram Partem Issue 8

ISSUE 8, MAY 2015

What’s inside: - Highlights of the Year - On Leaving the Law - The Graduating Batch - Kairos

NOTE FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR As we approach the g raduation of the third batch of National Law University, Delhi, I cannot help but reflect on how far we have come, and how many changes have taken place in the years since we first opened our doors. We have grown greatly as an institution and as a community, with each batch of students adding something unique to the ethos of NLU Delhi.

It gives me great pleasure to see this growth and student endeavour represented in the pages of this magazine, whether it be in the form of Kairos 2015, the constructive engagement on campus issues or simply students expressing themselves creatively.

This wealth of opportunity is essential to our aim of providing students with a wholesome education, and I believe that journalism on campus in the form of AAP is a key part of this. A forum for discussion, debate and creativity can never be underestimated, and I therefore continue to support and applaud this magazine and the students who contribute to it.

facebook.com/aapnlud

CONTENTS 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

4

Letters to the Editor Editor’s Note Highlights of the Year University Affairs Global Debate Sport Guest Column The Iconoclast Alumni Voice

1 2 3 5 7 12 15 17 20

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22 20

issuu.com/aapnlud twitter.com/aapnlud

On the cover: Yellow Hummingbird Vine outside the Academic Block

LETTERS TO THE

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EDITOR 43

We welcome letters for publication, but may edit them to fit.

Write to us at: aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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51

1. Letters to the Editor 2. Editor’s Note 3. Highlights of the Year 4. University Affairs 5. Global Debate 6. Sport 7. Guest Column 8. The Iconoclast 9. Alumni Voice 10. NLUD Talk 11. The Graduating Batch 12. Luminary - Celebrity in Focus 13. Open Space 14. Kairos 2015 15. Arts & Entertainment 16. Crosswords & Quizzes 17. Travel, Living & Culture

26 38 43 45 48 50 53 56

AAP Issue 7, October 2014 I happened to read the AAP today.

At the outset, brilliant job. I enjoyed it through out. Mr. Basheer was at his best. Mini's articles were thought provoking. The entire newsletter had this refreshing and vibrant touch to it.

Again, awesome stu. Keep it up Best,

Puneet Dinesh (I Year)

1

Bougainvillea outside the Boys’ Hostel

EDITOR’S NOTE

We are nearing the end of

another year. College seems to be constantly evolving and we increasingly feel that every event that happens in the precincts of this university seems to shape, in various ways, the discourse on campus. The upshot is that there are either signs of changes in attitudes, opinions and affiliations or at least a robust disagreement. It is on such occasions that we realise that disagreement is good because it is “laden with information that is essential for our growth, learning, intimacy, and change”. In this issue, we have tried to bring out, in a limited way, the diversity of views on subjects about which we agree to disagree.

This issue has also been seriously delayed and although we are, of course, partly responsible, it is not wholly our doing. There is an acute shortage of writing on campus and it has been a real task to get people to contribute. For a campus that values discussion and engagement, it is difficult to understand why people are not inclined to write on subjects they feel strongly about. More importantly, writing has a substantial role to play in

the pursuit of reason. As Albert Camus put it, “the purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself ”.

So, in this eighth issue of our magazine, we take you through various developments that have taken place this year. The issue features a discussion on the new examination rules with one of our professors, presents an important debate in the wake of the former Singapore Prime Minister’s death and includes an interesting article by a lawyer turned writer on his experiences in making the shift. We have also addressed defining campus events through an alumnus article on the important subject of comedy and free speech and the Open Letter by the protesters. As we bid farewell to another batch, we have put together ‘parting words’ by students of the Batch of 2015. This also happens to be the issue where we cover Kairos and capture its colourful expression.

In the hope that this issue encourages you to express yourself, we present Issue 8 of Audi Alteram Partem.

Happy Reading!

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR - Dandiya

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May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

4

c Universit y Affairs

q:

What was

the idea behind the rules? How did you chose them?

I did not choose the Rules.

The Rules were drafted by a committee set up by the Academic Council of the University. They were then discussed and approved by the Academic and Executive Councils.

q:

A common

opinion among students is that the rules favo u r t h e a c a d e m i c a l ly bright. What do you think about this?

The New Examination Rules: in conversation with Dr.Mrinal Satish

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

I do not agree. Setting up systems and streamlining the process does not mean that it favours anyone.

The Rules are not the cause for people not doing well. It might be because of difficulties that they might be facing otherwise, for which we need to have systems in place. It is the lack of such systems that are to blame, and not the Rules.

There are many ways in which institutions can deal with students who encounter difficulties with academics. One is a topdown University mandated approach,

where, for example, it is compulsory for a certain set of students to attend remedial classes etc. The second would involve creating a support structure consisting of both faculty and students, which is available to anyone who wants to seek such support. Personally, I think a bottom up works better. I don't think these systems can be forced on anyone.

At NLS, we had something called the Academic Support Programme, which was run by a student committee. A structured programme was constructed wherein volunteers from among the senior batches were selected to provide academic support to their juniors, along with the subject teachers. They would be in touch with the subject teachers in order to know the syllabus, readings etc.

They would take classes in the evenings, provide project guidance etc., in consultation with the subject teachers. This system worked well.

I agree with you that language issues are important to deal with. At N L S, t h e A c a d e m i c Support Programme provided assistance when people required help in understanding material supplied in the classes or 5

University Affairs  

were unable to comprehend what was taught in class because of language issues. There are many success stories of people who had done their schooling in a vernacular language, struggled in their first year, but with support from the faculty and their peers, graduated with flying colours.

Q:

W h at

about

the

perception that these rules are unfair and worse for students than the previous rules?

I think this perception is completely wrong.

Similar rules are in place in other law schools as well. This perception is because in reality there were no streamlined rules before, and because people don't like change. Once you get used to the rules you will realise that they are fair.

There are positives about the rules. Firstly, now at least there is a rule book and there is clarity and certainty. For example, there are now rules dealing with issues such as academic leave and medical leave. You know in advance the process to follow and the amount of leave that you are entitled to. You can cite the rules if you believe you are entitled to something.

deadlines - this is very necessary. In my opinion what differentiates the National Law Schools from other law colleges is our capacity for quick and effective research, and this comes from deadlines.

Think of it from the other side - what would happen if the rules did not impose any rigour and just allowed you to pass every course without deadlines and structure? How would you survive in the market? People expect that when you graduate from a school like NLUD you have a certain standard of skill and education. If you go to work in a law firm and they realise that you actually don't have the skills that they expect, like basic research skills, proper work ethic, and the ability to deliver quality work on time, they will quickly find a way to ease you of the firm.

Also, the standards have to be set higher now.

We are claiming to be the best law school in the country and we need to have the academic standards to back that up. It's the training that you get in these five years that really determine where you will end up. It all comes down to the skills that you learn when in the University, such as skills of analysis and research. If we don’t enforce any rigour, that wouldn't be help anyone in the long run.

Interviewed by Harshit Kohli and Bhargavi Vadeyar

Secondly, it brings in some necessary structure. For example, the setting down of

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

6

Global Debate

The Pre-eminence of Political Freedoms and Democracy Amartya Sen Amartya Sen argues against Lee Kuan Yew’s model - that socioeconomic rights and political liberties are interconnected and one cannot supersede the other.

What

should come first – removing

poverty and misery, or guaranteeing political liberty and civil rights, for which poor people have little use anyway?

Is this a sensible way of approaching the problems of economic needs and political freedoms – in terms of a basic dichotomy that appears to undermine the relevance of political freedoms because the economic needs are so urgent? I would argue, no, this is altogether the wrong way to see the force of economic needs, or to understand the salience of political freedoms. The real issues that have to be addressed lie elsewhere and they involve taking note of extensive interconnections between political freedoms and the understanding and fulfilment of economic needs. The connections are not only instrumental (political freedoms can have a major role in providing incentives and information in the solution of acute economic needs), but also constructive. Our conceptualisation of economic needs depends crucially on open public debates and discussions, the guarantee of which requires insistence on basic political liberty and civil rights.

Photograph from colombotelgraph.com

I shall argue that the intensity of economic needs and adds to – rather than subtracts from – the urgency of political freedoms. There are three different considerations that take us in the direction of a general pre-eminence of basic political and liberal rights.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

1. their direct importance in human living associated with basic capabilities (including that of political and social participation); 2. their instr umental role in enhancing the hearing that people get in expressing and supporting their claims to political attention (including the claims of economic needs);

7

Global Debate

3. their constructive role in conce ptualization of ‘needs’(including the understanding of ‘economic needs’ in a social context).

Before discussing these different considerations, we have to examine the arguments presented by those who see a real conflict between political liberty and democratic rights, on the one hand, and the fulfilment of basic economic needs, on the other.

Arguments against Political Freedoms and Civil Rights The opposition to democracies and basic civil and political freedoms in developing countries comes from three different directions. First, there is the claim that these freedoms and rights hamper economic growth and development.

This belief called the Lee thesis (after Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore who formulated it succinctly).

Second, it has been argued that if poor people are given the choice between having political freedoms and fulfilling economic needs, they will invariably choose the latter. So there is, by this reasoning a contradiction between the practice of democracy and its justification: to wit, the majority view would tend to

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

reject democracy – given this choice. In a different but closely related variant of this argument, it is claimed that the real issue is not so much what people actually choose, but what they have reason to choose. Since people have reason to want to eliminate, first and foremost, economic deprivation and misery, they have reason enough for not insisting on political freedoms, which would get in the way of their real priorities.

The presumed existence of a deep conflict between political freedoms and the fulfilment of economic needs provides an important premise in this syllogism, and in this sense, this variant of the second argument is parasitic on the first (that is, on the truth of the Lee thesis).

Third, it has often been argued that the emphasis on political freedoms, liberties and democracy is a specifically “Western” priority, which goes, in particular, against “Asian values,” which are supposed to be more keen on order and discipline than on liberty and freedom. For example, the censorship of the press may be more acceptable, it is argued, in an Asian society (because of its emphasis on discipline and order) than in the West.

Democracy and Economic Growth Does authoritarianism really work so well? It is certainly

true that some relatively authoritarian states (such as South Korea, Lee’s own Singapore and post-reform China) have had faster rates of economic growth than many less authoritarian ones (including India, Costa Rica and Jamaica). But the Lee thesis is, in fact, based on very selective and limited information, rather than on any general statistical testing over the wide-ranging data that are available. We cannot really take the high economic growth of China or south Korea in Asia as a definitive proof that authoritarianism does better in promoting economic growth – any more than we can draw the opposite conclusion on the basis of the fact that the fastest g rowing African country (and one of the fastest growers in the world), viz., Botswana, has been an oasis of democracy on that troubled continent. Much depends on the precise circumstances.

In fact, there is rather little general evidence that authoritarian governance and the suppression of political and civil rights are really b e n e f i c i a l i n g ove r n i n g economic development. The statistical picture is much more complex. Systematic empirical studies give no real support to the claim that there is a general conflict between political freedoms and economic performance.

The directorial linkage seems to depend on many other

8

“

Global Debate

Political and civil rights give people the opportunity to draw attention forcefully to general needs, and to demand appropriate public action.

circumstances, and while some statistical investigations note a weakly negative relation, others find a strongly positive one. On balance, the hypothesis that there is no relation between them in either direction is hard to reject. Since political liberty and freedom have importance of their own, the case for them remains unaffected.

Fur ther more, in judging economic development it is not adequate to look only at the growth of GNP or some other indicators of over-all economic expansion. We have to look also at the impact of democracy and political freedoms on the lives and capabilities of the citizens. It is particularly important in this context to examine the connection between political and civil rights, on the one hand, and the prevention of major disasters (such as famines), on the other.

Political and civil rights give people the opportunity to draw attention forcefully to general needs, and to demand appropriate public action.

Governmental response to the acute suffering of people often depends on the pressure that is put on the government, and this is where the exercise

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

of political rights (voting, criticizing, protesting and so on) can make a real difference.

Do Poor People care about Democracy and Political Rights?

Are the citizens of third world countries indifferent to political and democratic rights? This claim, which is often made, is again based on too little empirical evidence (just as the Lee thesis is). The only way of verifying this would be to put the matter to democratic testing in free elections with freedom of opposition and expression – precisely the things that the supporters of authoritarianism do not allow to happen. It is not clear at all how this proposition can be checked when the ordinary citizens are given little political opportunity to express their view on this and even less to dispute the claims made by the authorities in office. The downgrading of these rights and freedoms is certainly part of the value system of the governmental leaders in many third world countries, but to take that to be the view of the people is to beg a very big question.

”

It is thus of some interest to note that when the Indian government, under Indira Gandhi’s leadership, tried out a similar argument in India, to justify the ‘emergency’ she had misguidedly declared in the mid-1970s, an election was called that divided the voters precisely on this issue. In that fateful election, fought largely on the acceptability of the ‘emergency,’ the suppression of basic political and civil rights was firmly rejected, and the Indian electorate – one of the poorest in the world – showed itself to be no less keen on protesting against the denial of basic liberties and rights than it was in complaining about economic poverty. To the extent that there has been any testing of the proposition that poor people in general do not care about civil and political rights, the evidence is entirely against that claim. Similar points can be made by observing the str ug gle for democratic freedoms in South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pa k i s t a n , M y a n m a r a n d elsewhere in Asia. Similarly, while political freedom is widely denied in Africa, there have been movements and protests about that fact whenever circumstances have

9

Global Debate

“

Democracy has to be seen as creating a set of opportunities dealing with the practice of democratic and political rights.

”

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

p e r m i t t e d , e ve n t h o u g h military dictators have given few opportunities in this respect.

Instrumental Importance of Political Freedom We have reason to value liberty and freedom of expression and action in our lives, and it is not unreasonable for human beings – the social creatures that we are – to value unrestrained participation in political and social activities.

Also, infor med and unregimented formation of our values requires openness of communication and arguments, and political freedoms and civil rights can be central for this purpose.

Fur ther more, to express publicly what we value and to demand that attention be paid to it, we need free speech and democratic choice.

When we move from the direct importance of political freedom to its instrumental role, we have to consider the political incentives that operate on governments and on the persons and groups that are in office. The rulers have the incentive to listen to what people want if they face criticism and seek their support in elections. No substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent country with a democratic form of government and a relatively free press. Famines have occurred in ancient kingdoms and contemporary authoritarian societies, in primitive tribal communities and in modern technocratic

dictatorships, in colonial economies run by imperialists from the north and in newly independent countries of the south run by despotic national leaders or by intolerant and single parties. But they have never materialised in any country that is independent, that goes to elections regularly, that has opposition parties to voice criticisms and that permits newspapers to report freely and question the w i s d o m o f g o ve r n m e n t policies without extensive censorship.

Constructive Role of Political Freedom The instrumental roles of political freedoms and civil rights can be very substantial, but the connection between economic needs and political freedoms may have a constructive aspect as well.

The exercise of basic political rights makes it more likely not only that there would be a policy response to economic needs, but also that the conceptualisation – including comprehension – of ‘economic needs’ itself may require the exercise of such rights. It can be argued that a proper understanding of what economic needs are – their content and their force – requires discussion and exchange. Political and civil rights, especially those relating to the guaranteeing of open discussion, debate, criticism, and dissent, are central to the p r o cesses o f g en er a ti n g infor med and reflected choices. These processes are

10

Global Debate crucial to the formation of values and priorities, and we cannot, in general, take preferences as given independently of public discussion, that is, irrespective of whether open debates and interchanges are permitted or not.

The reach and effectiveness of open dialogue are often underestimated in assessing social and political problems.

For example, public discussion has an important role to play in reducing the high rates of fertility that characterize many developing countries. There is, in fact, much evidence that the sharp decline in fertility rates that has taken place in the more literate states in India has been much influenced by public discussion of the bad effects o f h i gh fer ti l i t y r a te s especially on the lives of young women, and also on the community at large.

Miseries and deprivations can be of various kinds – some more amenable to social remedy than others.

The totality of the human predicament would be a gross basis for identifying our ‘needs’. For example, there are many things that we might have good reason to value if they are feasible – we could even want immortality. But we don’t see them as ‘needs’. Our conception of needs relates to our ideas of the preventable nature of some depravations, and to our

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

understanding of what can be done about them. In the formation of these understandings and beliefs, public discussions play a crucial role. Political rights, including freedom of expression and discussion, are not only pivotal in inducting social responses to economic needs, they are also central to the conceptualisation of economic needs themselves.

Working of Democracy The intrinsic relevance, the protective role and the constructive importance of democracy can indeed be very extensive. However, in presenting these arguments o n t h e a d va n t a g e s o f democracies, there is a danger of overselling their e f f e c t ive n e s s. Po l i t i c a l freedoms and liberties are permissive advantages, and their effectiveness would depend on how they are exercised. Democracy has been especially successful in preventing those disasters that are easy to understand and where sympathy can take a particularly immediate form. Many other problems are not quite so accessible.

For example, India’s success in eradicating famines is not matched by that in eliminating regular undernutrition, or curing persistent illiteracy, or inequalities in gender relations. While the plight of famine victims is easy to

p o l i t i c i s e, t h e s e o t h e r deprivations call for deeper analysis and more effective use of communication and political participation – in short, fuller practice of democracy.

Inadequacy of practice applies also to some failings in more mature democracies as well. Democracy has to be seen as creating a set of opportunities, and the use of these opportunities calls for analysis of a different kind, dealing with the practice of democratic and political rights. Democracy d o e s n o t s e r ve a s a n automatic remedy of ailments as quinine works to remedy malaria. The opportunity it opens up has to be positively grabbed in order to achieve the desired effect. This is, of course, a basic feature of freedoms in general – much depends on how freedoms are actually exercised.

This essay is an excerpt from the book by the author, Development as Freedom, OUP 2000.

11

Sport

Through The Looking Glass: The Legacy of MSD Akshat Srivastava (IV Year)

The

ICC Cricket World Cup Final 2011. A full house

at the Wankhede Stadium. India is 114/3 with Sehwag, Tendulkar and Kohli in the pavilion. The match is tilted in the favour of Sri Lanka. Trumping everyone’s expectations, out comes Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He’s not been in form. Not even a single fifty all through the World Cup. The required run rate is close to 6 runs per over. His second ball in, Sangakkara misses a stumping opportunity. Murmurs go around the stadium. The air thrums with a sense of taut unease. Indian fans are just beginning to wonder whether this has the air of a Johannesburg. Dhoni doesn’t look back and goes on to play a match winning innings. All through it, he tackles his lack of form, the pressure of the occasion, the

creeping required run rate, and the hopes of a billion Indians, with a calm demeanour. If he felt burdened by self doubt, pressure, or expectations, it did not show.

The only emotion his face allowed was a wide smile, only after his eyes had followed the ball right past the boundary line as he hit the six that would be remembered for years to come.

But that has always been Dhoni. Captain Cool. Nerves steadier than his run rate. Be it the 2007 T20 World Cup, when he gave the ball to an unknown Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over. Or the Champions Trophy 2013 in England where he chose Ishant over Bhuvneshwar or Umesh to bowl at the death. Both were decisions that went against the conventional grain of captaincy. Harbhajan was the senior bowler back in 2007. Umesh had bowled better than Ishant in 2013.

And yet, he went with those calls.

A factor that seems to be consistent all through his career is belief, rather than strategy or instinct. There can be no doubt that it was an instinctive decision on his part to promote himself up the order over Yuvraj in the 2011 World Cup final. It could be said that it was a pre-planned strategy on his part to give Joginder the ball

Akshat Srivastava takes us through what precisely makes Indian Captain M S Dhoni such a cool customer and a legend in his own right, at par with the greatest cricketing legends the world will ever see.

Sport in the 2007 World Cup. And it was possibly a mixture of both when he gave Ishant the ball to bowl the 18th over in the Champions trophy. But more than these, it is the culture of belief that Dhoni inculcates that allows for these decisions to bear fruit. Dhoni, despite not having a single fifty in the World Cup had belief in his abilities to win it. He believed in Joginder to get India home in the 2007 World Cup, and Joginder believed in himself. And lastly, he believed in Ishant, even when one one billion people would probably have second guessed his decision.

India were whitewashed 8-0. This seems completely at odds with the emotional involvement fans expect from cricketers for the game, which often earns him brickbats. But it is this attitude that propagates even further the legend of Dhoni. His own philosophy to the game is quite possibly best summed up in one of his umpteen quirky press conference quotes. When asked which loss hurt more, the whitewash in England or the one in Australia series; Dhoni’s reply was, "You die, you die. You don't see which is the better way to die." (sic)

His decisions have been known to not work out. His And yet, possibly at the end of the road, as Australia reactive and spontaneous captaincy, which in limited trounced India in the World Cup overs seems to possess a touch that semifinal, with Dhoni’s effort coming would make Midas jealous, seems dull He has seldom been to naught, you could see there was a and defensive in the longer format of change in the man during the press the game. The infamous double known to show conference. The words did not betray whitewash of 8-0 happened under his anything, but the red eyes gave the elation at victory, captaincy. Perhaps, he never took to game away. Dhoni, Captain Cool, the test cricket in the way he took to One Outsider, follower of Kipling, did feel nor emotion in loss. the pain of not being able to win the Day cricket or T20. While his record in test cricket is commendable (an World Cup for his country.

It is almost as if he average of 38 with six test hundreds Legacies are a funny business. including a double hundred against believes Kipling’s Zinedine Zidane was quite possibly Australia), and it was under his the greatest and the most celebrated captaincy that India became the “If ” to be his footballer of his generation. And yet number one test team, Dhoni while his last act on the pitch was one that wearing white was never the same mantra to life. cost his country the World Cup. animal in the blue of India, or dare Maradona bowed out of the game at say, the yellow of CSK. the back of a drug scandal, overweight and disgraced.

Dhoni has behaved like the quintessential outsider to Mohammed Azharuddin is not remembered as one of the World of Cricket. In a culture which could at best India’s greatest batsmen, but the man who not only be described as a dysfunctional wonderland, where captained, but steered the ship of Indian cricket into the talented cricketers have been swallowed up by the iceberg of match fixing. Steven Gerrard’s final two madness (looking at you Vinod Kambli), Dhoni seems seasons at Liverpool Football Club could possibly in the to be standing on the other side of the proverbial future be summed by two words: “slip” and “stamp”. In looking glass, able to pass through it, but also sports, as in life, one cannot always decide how and possessing the ability to return to the side of sanity. when to exit the stage. Dhoni, in deciding to continue Cricket has never been the love of his life. He did not after the 2015 World Cup may have missed an spend hours copying Tendulkar. He did not spend hours opportunity to go out on a high as probably not only watching reruns of the 1983 World Cup final. Cricket the greatest cricketer of his generation, but also the was simply something he excelled at, and like most player that changed the structure of World Cricket as people from where he comes from, used it to break free we know it. But the thing with Dhoni, as with Colonel from his surroundings. He has seldom been known to Hannibal Smith, is that he always seems to have a plan. show elation at victory, nor emotion in loss. It is almost Maybe he will call it a day after the T20 World Cup. It as if he believes Kipling’s “If ” to be his mantra to life. would certainly be poetic. For without MS Dhoni the He wasn’t the one in the centre when India won the version of T20 Cricket, and Cricket in general, would be World Cup, and he wasn’t the one to shed tears when a completely different game now.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

13

The legacy of MS Dhoni is the fact that India needed 101 runs from six overs in the World Cup semifinal, and there was a part of us that still believed India could win it, as long as he was at the crease.

Dhoni is a being different f r o m u s m o r t a l s. H i s thinking is on a plane se parate from us. His decisions in giving the ball to Joginder and Ishant Sharma were not logical ones in our field of thought, one that is moulded by things that are visible to the naked eye. But from where he was looking, they were the best options. He is blessed with an instinctive understanding of the game.

Some call it fortune, but it is a trait that the greats in the sporting world share. Sir Alex Ferguson, for example, had this instinct. He knew when to make decisions that created superstars out of unknown players. Camp Nou was an example of the will of Manchester United, driven by the sheer genius of Sir Alex Ferguson got them the holy grail in European Football. It was this ability- call it instinct, call it luck, call it sheer genius, that led him to prevent a sixteen year old Federico Macheda from going off to Italy and putting him straight on the bench for a must win match against Aston Villa in the 2009-10 season.

Macheda came on as a substitute with United 2-1 down and the title slipping out of their hands, and the rest is as the proverb goes, history. The quality that stands, with legends like Dhoni is knowing not just the mathematics of overs,

scores and run rates, not just knowing the graphs of form, but knowing precisely the mentality of players, the modalities of the game, the sly customer that luck is and how the vicissitudinous fire of the game and life throw out legends every once in a while. Dhoni understands the language of legends.

And that is precisely why he has created so many, his own self not the least.

As Father Time goes on, sparing no one, even Dhoni shall pass from the cricketing field. Just like the Don, Viv, the two Ws, and Sachin, possibly to never be replaced. But till then, let’s savour what we have. I end this on a personal note, because the moment shall be forever etched in my memory for as long as I watch Cricket. The legacy of MS Dhoni is the fact that India needed 101 runs from six overs in the World Cup semifinal, and there was a part of us that still believed India could win it, as long as he was at the crease. The legacy of MS Dhoni was not just that he made us hope, as a generation above us did with Sachin. The legacy of MS Dhoni is that he taught a generation of Indians that winning is good, that winning is to be expected.

He taught us that winning the biggest prize does not need you to have the best players. He taught us that a team can win if it is bigger than the sum of its numbers.

And that, is irreplaceable.

14

Guest Column

On Leaving the Law Aditya Sudarshan (NLS ‘07) elaborates on his experience in leaving the legal profession to become a full time writer.

All of

you who are

reading this are in the middle of your law degrees, and in the ordinary course, you are all headed to practice law, in one form or another. But I am informed (by the editors) that many of you are interested in a career graph like mine, which has departed from the norm.

Firstly I should say that this is neither surprising, nor worrying. It's natural and inevitable. Like me, you've taken up law at a very young age, right after high school. And with rare exceptions, it just isn't possible to be certain about one's deepest interests, at such an age. Most of my own college-mates are still lawyers, but a fair number are doing other things- running restaurants, or businesses of various kinds, or doing photography, or history, or internet activism, or (like me) writing fiction.

This gives rise to a couple of questions. Did we all make a mistake by studying law for five years? And what should you, the hypothetical student who may be keen to pursue other interests tomorrow, be doing today, to best prepare yourself for the change?

Let me first recount how things happened with me, and then we shall see what my example May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

suggests. I was at the National Law School, in Bangalore, from 2002 to 2007. Writing, at the time, was one of my extra-curricular interests, but not the biggest one- mooting, and later debating were. I did write short stories now and then, mostly for my own amusement, and participated in creative writing competitions when we had them- but that was all. What I wrote most of all were projects, as I imagine you do too, a research paper for every subject, 60 over 5 years. My reading, also, was dominated by Hart and Dworkin and suchlike.

This was intimidating material for all of us, I remember, and (at least in the first two years) I read very little fiction except in the holidays. In a nutshell, I studied pretty hard, and only vaguely speculated about my future career.

Among these vague speculations may have been notions of being a novelist. But I truly don't remember.

Then in the winter of 2006, I sat for the final interview for the Rhodes Scholarship, to study at Oxford. I didn't make the cut. This was a sharp disappointment, but it cleared a space within me. That same winter I began writing my first novel (later published in 2009, titled A Nice Quiet Holiday), purely to see if I could. I finished the novel in my last trimester of law school, but it remained a file on my computer.

15

Guest Column A few months later, I joined criminal law offices of Siddharth Aggarwal in Delhi, as a litigating junior.

Everything happened gradually. Litigation was stimulating and gave me lots to think about and feel, but I found myself writing more and more, whenever I could. I sent out my manuscript to publishers. Of its own volition, almost, my mind was working fast t o w a r d s developing an idea for a new novel. Then my first book got an offer from a publisher. When that happened, I made a decision to quit (astonishing Siddharth, I think; he hadn't seen it coming), and to write my second novel.

This was nine months after I began in litigation. And I have been a full-time writer ever since.

The principle that I derive from this (the surprising conclusion), is that my commitment to legal studies, did not in any way curb the inward growth of my desire to be a writer.

Looking back, what strikes me is how little I brooded over this decision (there was of course some brooding), until I actually made it. The principle that I derive from this (the surprising conclusion), is that my commitment to legal studies, when I was in law school, and to litigation, when I was working, did not in any way curb the inward growth of my desire to be a writer. On the contrary, I would go further and say it helped it on.

Ever since I was first published, I have been asked whether my writing is 'influenced' by my legal background. Overtly, very little, but I am sure that May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

the story-telling involved in building legal cases, the lawyer's necessity to objectively analyze human behaviour, and the moral discourse that is bound up with the criminal law in particular, did strengthen my fiction writing. But they would not have, had I resented or regretted doing law.

At a more abstract level, perhaps any work, done well, is good preparation, for any other workwhile impatience with one's present lot becomes a destructive habit for the future too.

There is an essay by Robert Louis Stevenson, where he cautions young people who wish to write (or more generally, to leave their professional careers, and to enter the arts), that the 'temptation is as common as the vocation is rare.' I think this is a wise warning. Just as you are too young, out of school, to know for certain that you are meant to be lawyers, you are also too young to know you are meant to be writers, or actors, or photographers.

(No doubt there will be exceptions- but the exceptions will also be aware they are exceptional.)

A calling grows inside a person, and I think (when one is young) the more it is left to itself, the better it grows. There is no need, therefore, to worry about missing your calling, and in the process, to hurt your life in law school. Do your best as lawyers, and try to love the law- and if you should still find, at some point down the road, that something outside the law beckons to you- then it will have proved its authority over you. Then you will be confident in embracing it.

I wish you the best of luck!

Aditya Sudarshan is the author of A Nice Quiet Holiday (Westland Books, 2009) and Show Me A Hero (Rupa and co., 2011). His short stories have been published in various magazines and anthologies. He is also the author of a number of produced plays, including The Green Room, winner of the Hindu Metroplus Playwright Award for 2011. He writes political satire for NDTV's The Great Indian Tamasha and literary criticism for The Hindu Literary Review and many other publications.

16

The Iconoclast

DEMOCRACY beyond dissent

G o pa l k r i s h n a G a n d h i

GOPALAKRISHNA GANDHI EXPLORES THE PHENOMENON OF ICONS AND ICONOCLASTS. HE ARGUES ON GIVING ICONOCLASTS THEIR DUE - THAT IS,WITHOUT TURNING THEM INTO ICONS. Dr B R Ambedkar was right in saying as long as there are castes, there will be outcastes.

One could say, in the same manner and spirit, that as long as there are icons there will be iconoclasts.

The word ‘icon’, as readers of Audi Alteram Partem and of this column know, is of Greek derivation. It is taken in lexical terms to mean an image, a representation on wood with a fair amount of gold in it, of a religious figure meant for and inspiring, worship. In metaphoric terms ‘icon’ is taken, rightly, to mean a figure, a person, sometimes dead but often living, who is made of such outstanding elements of mind and temper, appearance and attitude, as to be an exemplar, a star.

One is in awe of such a figure, sometimes affectionately, sometimes deferentially, at all times unconditionally. Children are in awe of the ‘big’ – the big boy, the big girl. Their sense of the big is of course also mixed up with the sense of their parents and teachers being big. They want to become that ‘big’, quickly, now, because they know that they themselves are yet not big but can and will, one day, be. The awesome ‘big’ is a goal to be reached.

As one grows older, awe remains awe, the awesome remain awesome but then – unless one

is a megalomaniac – one also realises that awesomeness is not co-extensive with growing, that awesomeness is not necessarily reachable.

And, curiously, as a compensation to being unawesome oneself, one begins to feel good to be smaller, littler, than the figure one is in awe of.

One is almost grateful for the difference in scale between the awesome and the awed. And a sense of being in awe becomes a substitute to being awesome. ‘Tum moti mein dhaga, tum chandan mein pani…’ is strangely soothing.

Worship follows awe. And worship, in turn, can become a following, a discipleship, and a bond. If the awe if a writer, a painter or a musician, it can remain a private matter. But very often, one might even say, most often, awe like company, likes the awed to be together, to bond, to become in fact, a band.

The awesome become then, willy-nilly, but mostly not ‘un-willy’, leaders of the awed. They become iconic. They are called and human nature being what it is, mostly do not mind being called ‘living legends’.

And this is where icons also establish or found, often unbeknownst to themselves and also, very often, pretty ‘knownst’ to themselves, awe-clubs which can become, in sport and the arts like cinema and music, fan-clubs. In social and political movements and in party politics, the 17

The Iconoclast awesome and the iconic take clubbism further to cultism. They in themselves become cults.

The icon as a cult threatens other icons and cults.

This is far from the baby-time when one was in plain and innocent of the big and that big was nowhere guilty of creating that awe!

This progression or degeneration of the awesome becoming an icon and an icon becoming a cult is invariably unhealthy. It triggers rivalries, generates violence. It is the starting point of all that is wrong in and about competition. From football fans who hit each other on the way back home from a match and political supporters going at each other at rallies and election campaigns, to dictators and tyrants silencing opponents by jailing or killing them, we have the works.

But this creation of the icon also generates one very different, very healthy reaction. Rather rare, but quite real, quite recognisable.

It creates an individual, very different from the unhealthy rival icon, a very desirable counter-icon.

It creates the anti-clubbist, anti-iconist, anti-cultist individual. Now this person is willing, even keen, to appreciate, admire, applaud and even be awed by someone who is truly ‘big’, but is not willing, is in fact positively unwilling, to become a chela of that ‘big’ person. And not a chela of just the ‘big person’, but also of the ‘big idea’, of the new and compelling thought, the fresh and bold initiative. A ‘yes’ for ‘Wow!’, but a ‘no’ for anything beyond.

This person is the incipient dissenter.

He or she can be alone or part of a team. Either way, he or she is first and foremost a person, an independent person, a man or a woman who thinks and evaluates, decides and acts by his or her own, not anyone else’s, not even an icon’s, leave.

Let me stay with ‘She’ here, the ‘He’s’ should not feel left out.

If part of a team, a political party or an organisation, when she is heard, given a fair and genuine hearing, she will be glad to have had that attention. If what she has said is accepted, she May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

But when today, religious assertiveness, bigotry and majoritarianism are the new icons, the liberal Indian will find these leaders – Gandhi, Ambedkar and Periyar – on the same, not opposite pages. will be one can assume, even happier. But if she is systematically side-lined, given not just no serious hearing, but no hearing at all, she will feel she does not matter. And invariably she will be right to conclude that the leader, who could be a ‘she’ or a ‘he’, does not need her views, does not care for her. And she will also invariably be right to conclude that others in the set-up do not heed her, need her.

She will, in other words, become a formal dissenter.

Her dissent is to start with a thought, silent, still.

Wanting it to be shared, she stirs her thought into sound, a rustle, first, then a murmur. Finding she is unheeded, she moves the thought from its silent seat to the elevation of a voice, soft at first and wholly associative with others. Realising other voices is drowning the vocalised thought, she then its tone. No luck, she then tries a higher pitch, a stronger timbre. Still unavailing, she shifts her v o i c e ’ s c h o rd s f ro m t h o s e o f t h o u g h t communication to those of an address.

Unsuccessful again, she finds and fixes a metaphorical megaphone to her mouth to be heard above the collective hum. Fruitless when this too becomes, she throws up her hands and screams.

Her dissent becomes, at once, dissidence.

When she was asked for attention, she received neglect, when finally she screamed she has the 18

Riot Act read to her.

And she is accused of indiscipline, betrayal.

She wanted colleagues, she discovers she has detractors.

And she finds among the many names that she is called, one that she is called by the more thinking kind of observers. She is called the iconoclast.

‘Iconoclast?, she asks, puzzled. Who is – was – the icon?

That, she is told (or realises without being told) is the problem. She did not consider that to be the icon – be it the leader, the book, the manifesto or the pantheon. She did not genuflect before that icon.

She did not subordinate her thought, in fact, not just her thought but her thinking power itself, before that icon.

We have had great icons in modern India; some of who – let us be fair to them – did not want to be icons or become iconic but did become that. And though they did not want to shut dissent out, their supporters, such are the ways of iconism, managed to shut it out so that their hurrays and hosannahas can be heard better.

And we have of course had many more icons that wanted to and loved to be just that.

And we have therefore had iconoclasts.

Some iconoclasts are more suited by aptitude than others to become iconoclasts, for they have enquiring minds, questioning minds, minds that need to be persuaded, not overwhelmed. But all iconoclasts are in the main created not by their own will or aptitude but by the force of circumstances, by the work of their contexts and ambience.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Mahatma Gandhi is not regarded as an iconoclast for the reason he was at the same time also turned into an icon, ‘sainted’ by his followers, into Mahatmahood. But before he became an icon, he was an iconoclast, campaigning against more icons of belief and custom than anyone since Rajah Rammohun Roy and Swami Vivekananda in his time. ‘There is no such thing as Gandhism and I do not want to leave a sect after me’, he said. But he was called an avatar. And avatars are worshipped, not heeded. Acharyas are sometimes heeded, not avatars.

And naturally, there arose iconoclasts even in the iconic world of Gandhi, the foremost among the being Babasaheb Ambedkar and Periyar E V Ramasami.

Their example is invaluable both because they show us what iconoclasm means and how valuable it is. But also because even iconoclasts can become in a society like ours, become icons.

There are as many statues if not more to Babasaheb and Periyar as there are to the Mahatma. I find this a felicity for there is no denying the deep and defining differences between the way Gandhi viewed the problem of India’s Depressed Classes, and the way Babasaheb and Periyar did. There is no understating the fundamental differences between them on the structure of Indian society.

But when today, religious assertiveness, bigotry and majoritarianism are the new icons, the liberal Indian will find these leaders – Gandhi, Ambedkar and Periyar – on the same, not opposite pages, within the same not opposed narratives, the same not contrary discourses for India’s civilisational evolution in an ambience where sectarianism endangers our pluralism, and bigotry , our secularism.

We must draw strength from our iconoclasts, not make new icons of them.

Let us give ‘her’, Dissent, the chance she needs to speak out and stand up against the dominant icons of our time so that she does not have to become an iconoclast who could, ironically, become a self-destroying icon again.

19

Alumni Voice

On Comedy, Stereotypes, and Expression Harshad Pathak (Batch of 2014)

Harshad Pathak explores the propriety of the usage of gender stereotypes in comedy and how the conflicting rights may be viewed keeping in mind factors such as the audience, and the need for defining new boundaries within comedy about the permissible limit of offensive jokes.

At the outset, I would ar ticulate the par ticular question that I seek to address herein - whether the use of gender stereotypes in comedy, by itself, renders such speech socially inappropriate or offensive? This question assumes greater significance if the stereotypes involved are oppressive towards women, considering the very patriarchal nature of our s o c i e t y. I a m a l s o n o t attempting to argue that a speaker is conferred with a rather unfettered discretion to utter any speech with no regard to its consequence.

Instead, I will focus on a more preliminary inquiry as to the existence, if at all, of some autonomy of an artist to use gender based stereotypes in comedy. The question of defining the extent to which gender based stereotypes may be used in order to evoke humour will only arise if such usage is considered to be

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

socially acceptable in the first place.

What is meant by ‘ c o m e d y ’ ? To my understanding, comedy is a sub-set of humour. While humour refers to the domain of what is funny or amusing in life, whether accidental or deliberately contrived, comedy may be understood as the subdomain of the humorous, in which humour is turned into art by an individual or a group of ar tists, who may be amateur or professional.

Hence, comedy involves the deliberate employment of a thought, usually through a joke, to create something h u m o r o u s. H owe ve r, i n addition to creating humour, comedy as a form of speech and expression, tends to have s e ve r a l o t h e r i n c i d e n t a l consequences, which may or may not have been intended.

This is precisely why it is necessary for both an artist engaging in comedy, as well as the society, to continuously evaluate the content of c o m e d y. T h i s i n c l u d e s assessing questions as to the appropriateness of using gender stereotypes as the basis of humour in a patriarchal society. For the sake of brevity, I will henceforth refer to the jokes based on gender stereotypes as ‘gender jokes’.

20

Alumni Voice

I believe that certain kinds of ‘low level’ expressions ought to be afforded a higher protection, or a higher level of tolerance, independent of any value that it might possess, and in doing so, the context in which the expression takes place ought to be taken into consideration.

Notwithstanding an artist’s intention, gender jokes may have an i n a d ve r t e n t e f f e c t o f e i t h e r normalizing or legitimizing or even trivializing the underlying stereotypes.

This tendency is heightened in an increasingly patriarchal society. A joke implying that women belong to the kitchen may reinforce the resonating belief that a woman is meant to perform only a subordinate or supportive role within a family structure. Likewise, a joke built around using chloroform as an “icebreaker” on a date may have an effect of trivializing the offence of rape.

One must be mindful that the Constitution of India only strives to protect a citizen’s right to freedom of speech and expression from arbitrary State-action. It does not create a notion of consequence-free speech.

Accordingly, the role that an audience plays in influencing the content of comedy that it is subjected to on a regular basis cannot be undermined.

This includes the right to give a standing ovation, or protest against the use of content deemed to socially inappropriate, to equal extents.

However, this crucial role played by the audience comes with a sense of responsibility as well. For we live in a society where both, the principle of gender equality and the freedom of speech and expression, are in a rapid decline. As such, any attempt to characterize certain kind of comedy as socially inappropriate or harmful must involve a holistic consideration of multiple factors, which are iterated below.

First, in determining the extent to which a State may regulate everyday speech and expression, one often attempts to decipher the level of protection afforded to such speech or expression. In doing so, courts tend to consider the ‘value’ attached to the speech or expression in question.

The type of expression that holds the highest value, such as political speech, is granted the strongest

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

protection, while less rigorous standards of review will apply to a lower value expression. While this parameter is relevant in considering the permissibility of regulation of speech and expression by a State, I believe that a similar approach is well suited in trying to determine the social appropriateness of a speech or expression as well. However, the problem is that an assessment of the ‘value’ associated to a particular speech or expression is dominantly linked to its content, with only incidental emphasis, if at all, on the context. This is the reason why I consider it appropriate to take into consideration not just the ‘value’, but also the ‘level’ of a particular speech or expression.

I believe that certain kinds of ‘low level’ expressions ought to be afforded a higher protection, or a higher level of tolerance, independent of any value that it might possess, and in doing so, the context in which the expression takes place ought to be taken into consideration. Assume a hypothetical spectrum wherein on one end is ‘high level’ expression - normally intended to be widely disseminated, well prepared and researched in advance, presented with authority and supported with considerable resources to evaluate the legal risks.

At the other end of the spectrum is ‘low level’ expression, constituting casual speech, with little prior thought about the risks, and includes a conversation between friends in the street, or even a pub event. While the high value/low value distinction is based on the content of expression, the high level/low level distinction is based on the context in which the expression is made. The lower the level of speech, the relatively higher protection or tolerance it merits. [See Jacob H. Rowbottom, To Rant, Vent and Converse: Protecting Low Level Digital Speech]

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Alumni Voice

When tested against this anvil, I believe that gender jokes, or comedy in general, must lie somewhere on the lower side of the above-mentioned hypothetical spectrum; thereby, meriting a relatively higher standard of tolerance from the society. Indeed, the precise positioning of gender jokes on the aforementioned spectrum will vary with factors such as the size of the audience, whether the author is a professional artist in a position of influence etc., but the fact that such jokes are casual in nature, and are prepared with little thought about the social implications, indicates that it is difficult to

gender stereotypes may be exploited by artists in a position of influence through comedy. However, a due consideration of the context makes it difficult to argue that the very existence of gender jokes, including those built on stereotypes deemed oppressive to women, is problematic or socially inappropriate.

categorize them as a ‘high level’ speech. This is not to say that a sexist statement, when put forth as comedy, automatically becomes socially appropriate. Neither does it suggest that comedy, by its very nature, is immune from content-based criticism. The only inference drawn is that in determining the social appropriateness of gender jokes, significant regard must be had to the fact that more often than not, comedy constitutes low level speech. Accordingly, what may otherwise be construed as inappropriate or offensive, may still be deemed an acceptable form of comedy. I am inclined to reiterate that there is still a pressing need to define the extent to which

of considerable significance. Comedy is an effective tool to criticize, condemn, and call out the negative social constructs in a society, through satire or targeted jokes. The Twitter Account of “Khap Panchayat”, rolling out some hilarious, but offensive tweets, is one example of how one can laugh at the downright ridiculousness of caste and gender based practices in India, without trivializing the issue. Similarly, Zoe Lyon’s comic routine of comparing homophobia with arachnophobia, i.e. the fear of spiders by stating - “Darling, there’s a homosexual in the bath; please could you get rid of it for me!” – is another way in which comedy is used to point out social flaws.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

Second, while gender jokes may tend to normalize or legitimize certain oppressive gender-based constructs in a patriarchal society, it will be unwise to lose sight of the fact that comedy is also a positive social tool

22

Alumni Voice Alternatively, comedy can provide us an opportunity to temporarily view ourselves and/or our society in a lighter vein to derive amusement, without attaching any consequences. It allows us to laugh at our individual or social flaws, without diluting their severity. For instance, I, an ardent believer in gender equality, and many of my colleagues, who classify themselves as feminists, bear no guilt in finding this joke funny - “Feminist Irony – Equal Pay at Subway”- despite it being built around the so called ‘Sandwich Joke. I find it difficult to argue that such jokes also reinforce the stereotype on which they are based. Accordingly, it is crucial to acknowledge that gender jokes may, either deliberately or inadvertently, have var ying consequences in a society, which can be both positive and negative. Further, speculating or predicting the possible consequences of a joke or its interpretation by an audience, is marred with subjectivity that creates abundant scope for disagreements. The same joke on domestic violence, cracked by Abish Mathew at the University, is capable of being heard by an informed audience as either trivializing the offence, or as mocking those who engage in such acts.

Likewise, a joke demonstrating how an Indian wife may behave while engaging in oral sex with her husband can be either construed as positioning an Indian wife as a mere source of sexual gratification for her husband, or mocking the sexual incompetence of an Indian husband. This subjectivity involved in predicting the consequences of a gender joke suggests that labeling the mere usage of gender based stereotypes in comedy as being socially inappropriate is over-cautious, and also undermines the multiple roles that comedy can play in a society.

There is another reason behind my argument. In challenging the very existence of gender jokes, we run the risk of attaching a social taboo to the use of sex and gender in comedy, and deprive artists an opportunity to use the same as a social tool. I have heard stories of how the sexual offences, listed under the Indian Penal Code, have been taught by Professors at various Indian Universities without using the word ‘sex’. I do not wish for comedy to suffer the same fate. Of course, this does not imply that the use of gender stereotypes in comedy must go unchecked. However, doing so is more a question of defining the extents to which gender stereotypes

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

can be used in comedy, as opposed to questioning their relevance to comedy per se.

Third, while the role of an audience in influencing the content of comedy before it cannot be overstated, it comes with its own limitations. Just like an artist does not have a right to an audience that appreciates his or her jokes, the audience does not have a right to have its criticism accepted. Social response to comedy, no matter how significant, is at the end subject to the autonomy of the artist, and the same must be recognized as being legitimate even if its exercise is considered unacceptable against certain subjective parameters. After all, within the boundaries of the law, the ultimate autonomy over the content of a speech and/or expression vests with the speaker. Unfortunate as it may sound, we may hope that an artist goes the Louis CK way, and respond to certain protests by acknowledging that women have a narrow corridor, and there may be a need for artists to not crack rape jokes. Yet, for every Louis CK, there will also be Daniel Tosh, who will believe otherwise, without necessarily being a sexist person (something which The Daily Mirror found out the hard way in a libel suit filed by Frankie Boyle of all the people).

Simply put, the audience, to a large extent, has the capacity and the responsibility to shape the content of comedy. However, the same occurs on the basis of subjective parameters, and involves a stark difference of opinion, each with sufficiently credible reasons. The same is the case with gender jokes as well. The right of an audience to influence the content of comedy through any manner considered appropriate is as sacred as the right of an artist to create, and subsist with a particular kind of comedy.

Neither is independent of the other, and both deserve respect and recognition in a society. On the one hand, there are women who have historically been oppressed by a myriad of social constructs.

However, on the other hand are artists, which include stand-up comics, whose space for comedy is diminishing under threat from the political henchmen, religious fundamentalists, patriotic goons, and even over-cautious and morally opinionated judiciary. As such, while comedy is certainly not a consequence-free speech, and one cannot undermine the need to define few boundaries, use of gender stereotypes in comedy, by itself, ought not to be considered socially inappropriate.

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NLUD Talk

Open The Open Letter by the Protestors, in the aftermath of the Abish Mathew

Letter by the

incident during Kairos, elucidates the various concerns raised by them including perpetuation of sexist notions, domestic violence, antiquated

Protestors

partiarchal norms because of the nature of jokes that were made during the show. The Protestors highlight the importance of raising one's voice against such blatant sexism and explicate in great depth the form and substance of their protest.

Protesters and Supporters: Aarushi Mahajan, C.V. Aradhana, Gale Andrew, Jagata Krishna Swaminathan, Mahima Jain, Malavika Parthasarthy, Nishtha Sinha, Pawani Mathur, Pearlita, Rishika Sahgal, Shweta Kabra, Sonal Sarda, Chinmay Kanojia, Lakshya Gupta and Vaibhav Dutt

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

24

NLUD Talk

Abish

Mathew, comedian of the AIB Roast

fame, performed at NLU Delhi on the 22nd of March for our annual fest, Kairos. Early in the show, Matthew cracked a joke on domestic violence, at which point, two women students who found the jokes to be extremely misogynistic, walked out, showing him the middle finger. The audience reacted with some tittering, and Abish Mathew fumbled momentarily, before resuming.

The audience asked him to carry on and to ignore the protesters. In the mean time, a group of female students marched into the auditorium holding placards reading “Get Out, Sexist Pig”, and also used expletives such as ‘fuck off ’.

The auditorium erupted in shouts of “fuck you guys” and the protesters were booed and heckled by the audience members who demanded that the protestors either leave or move to the side. They eventually did move to the side of the auditorium, where they continued to hold their placards up and attempted to interrupt him. Abish was greeted by a standing ovation when he stated that he was an artist and recognized the right of the protesters, and subsequently when he ended his show by stating he had overstayed his welcome.

Sexism is all pervasive and even if propagated in the garb of humor causes greater social harm than mere insult or offence.

After repeated efforts to meet with Abish Mathew, one of the protesters was allowed to speak with him. During the conversation, he said that he had no idea that jokes about these issues would warrant such a strong response. He revealed that he does not crack jokes about female foeticide, for instance, as he recognized the issue to be a grave one, but clearly did not draw a similar link to domestic violence.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

As the protesters exited the auditorium, they were met with a hostile crowd that was yelling at them.

Their clothes were commented upon, and jokes were made about prior incidents of sexual harassment on campus and one of the protesters was pushed. The protest and the subsequent incidents sparked off a debate over email and social media with people agreeing and disagreeing in various degrees with the form and substance of the protest.

He joked how a woman, while having sex with her husband, noticed how dirty the house was, and called her domestic help as soon as her ‘sahib’ was done, so the house could be cleaned.

We believe that sexism is all pervasive and even if propagated in the garb of humor causes greater social harm than mere insult or offence. Sexist jokes serve not only to trivialize grave issues such as domestic violence, but also render these issues invisible within larger institutional structures of oppression, thereby reifying these structures.

The jokes cracked pertained to domestic violence, women’s physical appearance and sexual (un)attractiveness, and reiterated traits that are traditionally ascribed to women. Domestic violence is an institutionalized, systematic form of abuse.

As an issue that is seen as being situated within the realm of the “private”, victims and survivors often find it difficult to seek redress because of its normalization. Joking about domestic violence perpetuates a culture where violence against women is the norm. Further, such jokes may act as a trigger for members of the audience who may be victims or survivors of such violence.

Mathew also commented on the physical Chief

25

NLUD Talk

appearance and sexual “unattractiveness” of the ex Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh – Mayawati, who is one of the most powerful leaders of the country and is a Dalit woman. He chose to critique her appearance, completely glossing over her achievements and how she overcame several structural hurdles to occupy such a powerful position. In the world we inhabit, women are pressurized to conform to patriarchal standards of beauty.

There are entire industries based on fragmenting women’s bodies and selling beauty as her most pivotal aspect. Women all over the world develop eating disorders, suffer from low self esteem, and undergo emotional trauma because of their inability to conform to what is regarded as the ideal body type. In such a situation, to joke about ‘pretty Punjabi women’ ballooning from Maruti Swift to Maruti Swift Dzire after their marriage was deeply problematic.

Mathew painted a troublesome picture of women, drawing upon traditional roles assigned to them in a patriarchal society – of being predominantly someone meant to serve the men in her life. He joked how a woman, while having sex with her husband, noticed how dirty the house was, and called her domestic help as soon as her ‘sahib’ was done, so the house could be cleaned. This may also be a reflection of how women are expected to be inanimate blow-up dolls during sex, where it is solely the male par tner who experiences pleasure.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

As a community our commitment to feminism cannot be so fragile that we abandon the cause merely because

of

disagreement on the suitability of the

form

of

protest.

The burden of political correctness transcends the boundary between the public and the private and travels with a person regardless of the nature of activity being carried out.

Some of his other jokes included women being bad drivers, as while driving, they simultaneously perform other tasks such as putting on makeup and feeding their babies. Even if one is to accept the unproved claim that women are bad drivers, there are various sociological reasons for why women may be bad drivers, such as their being caged into homes and lack of opportunities for them to navigate public spaces without fear.

T h e p r o t e s t e r s b e l i e ve t h a t abstaining from commenting adversely on marginalized communities should not be confined to only academic spaces, but also should be accommodated into our lives because political correctness must not be treated as an instrument of appeasement. We believe that our advocacy for substantive equality must be internalized and not just serve as a charade. The burden of political correctness transcends the boundary between the public and the private and travels with a person regardless of the nature of activity being carried out. Further, the conscious enjoyment of sexist jokes is antithetical to the very tenets of feminism.

It is our view that not all speech wa r r a n t s t h e s a m e l e ve l o f protection. For instance, there exists almost universal consensus against child pornography. Similarly, speech that perpetuates harmful stereotypes and reifies power structures that serve to oppress certain groups of people should be restricted through social shaming. Certain communities 26

NLUD Talk

face a disparate impact of certain were aware that kinds of speech and that is to be Abish Mathew g a u g e d e n t i r e l y would be cracking from who is saying what to whom and sexist jokes, should in what conditions. not the burden be The protesters are on them to ensure not of the view that discussion and that he didn’t do so comedy centered on our campus? on issues such as domestic violence and rape must cease. They are in full support of subversive narratives that handle these issues with sensitivity.

If the organisers

to put down, and our form of protest may, in that sense, may contribute to our own disempowerment. In retrospect, we do believe that there might have been a better but equally legitimate a form as we adopted. We must also realize that consequences of an alternative form of protest are up to conjecture, and there is no guarantee that they would have lead to an unprecedented engagement on the issue.

Now, moving on to the form that the protest took, it is important to keep in mind that it was spontaneous. While we continue to maintain that the form of protest we chose was legitimate, in hindsight we recognize that perhaps alternate feminist methods of expressing our dissent could have been explored, given the circumstances. As a community our commitment to feminism cannot be so fragile that we abandon the cause merely because of disagreement on the suitability of the form of protest. We believe that different forms of protests are ‘suitable’ for different situations and it should be up to the protestors to choose their form keeping in mind the circumstances. A certain form of protest may be ‘unsuitable’ for a situation but nonetheless legitimate. One could imagine that a marginalized group may face a situation where they are pushed to a corner, and therefore feel the need to resort to a disruptive protest. Indeed it would be ironic for persons not part of the protest to be dictating the form of protest.

Our protest has often been equated with a ‘ h e c k l e r ’s v e t o ’ , h o w e v e r t h i s i s a mischaracterization as the protest did not command the power to use institutionalized machinery in order to stifle speech. The protesters represented a minority both numerically and ideologically, and were protesting against a dominant and pervasive narrative. We cannot, therefore, be likened to a majoritarian group restricting the speech of minorities. Further, our speech did not even constitute ‘heckling’. The right to free speech does not subsume the right to consequence free speech. Just as clapping, cheering and hooting in appreciation are legitimate reactions to a speech, a critical reaction, which may not be courteous or polite, is also as legitimate. Moreover, denying us our right to protest would have impinged on our right to free speech. If we d e e m o n l y s p e e ch Just as clapping, r e c o g n i z e d a s cheering and deserving of legitimate hooting in state restrictions as expression which can appreciation are b e l e g i t i m a t e l y legitimate protested against by reactions to a non-state actors, that would spell death for speech, a critical free speech of dissent.

However, given the current political climate in the country, where various forms of speech have been censored, our form of protest was perhaps disempowering to minority groups like ours. After all, the marginalized and oppressed are the easiest

We b e l i e v e t h a t protests are often disruptive, even when non-violent, and legitimately so. Some

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reaction, which may not be courteous or

polite, is also as legitimate.

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Abish Mathew had the mic and stage, while the protesters, carrying their posters, were asked to move aside, and to let the show continue. If we were to truly give counter speech a chance, should we not have created space for that speech? of the world’s most successful non-violent protests have been extremely disruptive. During the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, while women protested outside the White House fighting for their right to vote, the State decided to crack down on them using the charge of obstruction of traffic against the non-violent protesters. In order to achieve one’s political goals under certain circumstances, disruption becomes essential.

is actually free. However, in the real world different power differentials and structures do exist, and for that reason, one speaker has a position of power over the other. In this case, Abish Mathew had the mic and stage, while the protesters, carrying their posters, were asked to move aside, and to let the show continue. If we were to truly give counter speech a chance, should we not have created space for that speech? Is it enough to say that they could have countered Abish’s speech later, for instance through a blog post? Or should the organisers have given the protesters the stage for a few minutes after Abish’s speech?

Many have raised the concern that if we did have a problem with the sort of jokes Abish Mathew cracked, we should have protested with the Heartening to see that the T h e r e a c t i o n s d i r e c t e d organisers long before the show p r o t e s t h a s g e n e r a t e d towards the protesters, both given that it is public knowledge at the time of the protest and d i a l o g u e , d e b a t e a n d that he is known to crack jokes after were quite hostile, and t h a t a r e d e r o g a t o r y t o introspection both within point towards the need to oppressed g roups. If the introspect about the need to our University, and outside. organisers were aware that nurture space for dissent and A b i s h M a t h e w wo u l d b e protest. Some protesters cracking sexist jokes, should not the burden be on personally felt unsafe after this incident. Feeling them to ensure that he didn’t do so on our unsafe is a very personal experience, shaped by the campus? Within the free speech paradigm, a lived experience of women in our society, and is protest following problematic speech enjoys more not something that calls for an explanation. legitimacy than stifling speech before it has been Despite past events, it is heartening to see that the uttered. Pre-censorship of speech requires a far protest has generated dialogue, debate and greater burden to be discharged. Further, while introspection both within our University, and Abish Mathew may have the right to free speech, outside. A healthy and fruitful debate attended by to our mind, he does not have the right to the large numbers took place within our campus three platform of our University auditorium because we days after the protest. This is a small victory in are trying to create a space where people belonging pursuance of achieving our larger aim as a to all genders feel safe, and our protest was against University, towards building a more inclusive the use of University space to perpetuate sexism campus where persons of all genders feel space. through humour.

We must recognize that speech can effectively counter other speech if the marketplace of speech

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

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NLUD Talk

Tête-à-tête with the Cultural Committee Convenor Shubham Rathore discusses his experience in organising the annual fest, Kairos.

1. Please tell us about the process you followed while organising the fest - deciding on acts, distributing responsibilities, arranging logistics, enforcing schedules, handling the accounts?

We divided the fest into various logistical fields, and ascribed the major responsibilities to the cul com members. After this, the committee sent out mails for associates for each of these fields. We made it such as that whoever wanted to be a part of the fest in an organizational capacity could do by evincing interest.

2. What would you consider to be the take-away from this fest – what did you learn personally through this?

Personally, the fest pushed all the members and a fair number of associates to their physiological limits. So, I think, what the fest gave me was the ability to work under intense pressure. Also, the fest

gave me a wonderful team, which later developed into a close knit group.

3. Would you have done anything differently, now that you have the benefit of hindsight?

There could have been many things which we could have done differently, but then since the fest worked out well, maybe not.

4. How cooperative would you say the university administration was towards arranging the fest? Were there any administrative bottlenecks and, if yes, how were they overcome?

The University was extremely cooperative, and the teachers made out a lot of time from their otherwise arduous academic responsibilities to provide whatever support we needed. The registrar sir facilitated us in navigating every administrative

NLUD Talk

hassle which we faced.

5. W h e n y o u w e r e debating about which acts to invite for the fest, what were your principal considerations (or criteria, if any)?

The major criteria was the budget, since we had to work within its constraints, so we tried to get Delhi-based artists, aside from which, we wanted as much variety of genres as we could manage.

6. What’s your take on the Abish Mathew controversy?

Pe r s o n a l l y, I t h i n k t h e reservations which were held could have been voiced in a more deliberative forum, rather than during the act.

7. As a Committee, how do you view the events which took place at Abish Mathew’s performance? Do you stand by your decision to invite him?

It would be a lie if we said that the way things transpired did not sadden us as a committee, we had put tremendous amount of work and resources towards the fest, and were rather crestfallen at having to see our headline event cut short. Yes, as a committee we would stand by our decision of

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

8. Do you feel that the response of the Committee on that night was adequate, or even appropriate, given the situation?

As most of the committee had to go into contingency management mode, there was little we could do in responding to the enfolding event. Besides, we tried to make sure that no untoward incident could develop.

9. Has the Committee met to discuss a response to be given to this event because the administration as a whole has been conspicuously silent on the matter?

I don’t think the committee is in any position to give a response to the incident, as it is the remit of the administration to respond to the incident.

10. Have the administration and the committee discussed this issue?

Personally, the fest pushed all the members and a fair number of associates to their physiological limits.

No.

11. G i v e n t h a t N L U D couldn’t stage one of the promised acts, what kind of a blowback has this generated from students who attended the fest with the promise of 4 acts?

H ow h a s t h e C o m m i t t e e handled it?

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NLUD Talk Well, since the act was paid for, and a lot of people bought tickets for it, we mostly had to adjust our routes of funding to be able to provide them with a full refund, as the committee felt that they should not be charged for an event which was not performed fully.

12.

Has the Committee talked to Abish Mathew subsequent to the events of that night and would they care to share the details of the conversation?

No.

13. Do you feel that this event has overshadowed the fest as a whole which was very successfully organised?

I don’t think so. Besides I think even though at the time I felt a little hurt and rather dejected at the way the events unfolded, now I feel that the protestors managed to start a discussion on the issue, and that is most fortunate.

14. H o w h a s t h e collective criticism generated impacted the organisational spirit of the Committee and how would you choose to respond to it?

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

I don’t really remember us receiving much criticism, and the committee’s spirit is undiminished. We will continue to innovate in the realm of cultural organization on campus.

15. Do you believe that the executive powers of the Committee are commensurate with the responsibilities it has, since it has additionally taken on the responsibility for Kairos?

I don’t feel so.

16. Moving forward, is the Committee considering instituting a policy for consultations with the student body r e ga r d i n g a c t s a n d events to be staged in the University?

It would not work out on a logistical level, besides as we are elected representatives, we feel that we have can make these decisions.

17. What events can the student body look forward to over the coming semester?

Don’t make me spill all the beans. There are a couple lined up.

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Walking Down Memory Lane

- Santhosh Siddharth Chandra Kuthaadi

Memories are timeless treasures of the past. Life is only as good as the memories we make. When I look at the best moments from my past, I remember my parents leaving me on the college campus with tears flowing from their eyes –the very first day of a new life at college. Truly, love doesn't know its depth till the hour of separation. And then Prof.(Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao (the thenRegistrar) told me I was not alone in this distant place, sixteen hundred kilometres away from home.

Soon after this, I met people who have been my friends ever since – the family I chose. My batch introduced me to multiculturalism - a class of students from 19 different states filtered from the multitudes through the AILET. In the span of four years, we have grown together, learnt together and from each other. We pitched in to help during tough times. The combined studies during exams, birthday celebrations in the hostels, moot victory treats in the canteen, cheering for the Indian cricket team in the common room, throwing water balloons during

Holi are some of my best memories with my classmates.

This institution has been a repository of knowledge. We were taught to learn for its own sake. A mix of Indian and foreign-returned faculty made for an interesting classroom experience with each adopting their own unique style and method of teaching.

The university administration has always been receptive to academic concerns – for instance, they were kind enough to schedule the classes of 4th and 5th year students only till 12:30 & 10:35 respectively so we could intern on weekdays or attend coaching classes for competitive exams. For those of us who would be returning late, the administration arranged a shuttle service from the metro to the university.

Life is dynamic and ever-changing; each semester has been dierent and every day brings something new. I remember times of earlier semesters when everyone was obsessed with moots and debates. I was also there to watch other activities slowly evolve and today we have many more, be it discussions organized by the Public Law, Policy and Discussion Group or expressing our thoughts through Glasnost (NLUD's Independent Student Newspaper) or movies screened by the Cinema Club. And yes, we have KAIROS. Poetry, music, dance and drama are some of the more rare events on campus. I remember the fun of volunteering for conferences, moots and other events on campus.

Research projects too have taken a life of their own. The Plea Bargaining project gave us an opportunity to interact with prisoners at Tihar jail. The Death Penalty Research Project gave valuable exposure to students who interviewed death row prisoners. Working in the Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India for an empirical research on RTI applications was another such exciting experience.

NLUD Talk

What NLU Delhi Has Taught Me Mini Saxena, V Year

Half a decade is by no means a short time to spend in any one place. Inevitably, at the end of such a period, one looks back to examine whether it has been spent constructively, or whether one has simply whiled away the time, gloriously doing nothing.

While my time at NLU Delhi has certainly involved copious amounts of the latter, I daresay that some actual learning has also been accomplished. Of course, most of this learning has occurred outside of the classroom. As I embark apprehensively onto the next stage of life, I thought it best to pen down some of what I have learnt. To be clear, this is not meant to benefit anybody (and I doubt it will), but can be treated merely as the rambling incoherence of a nostalgic fifth year.

So, ladies, gentlemen and others, here is what NLU Delhi has taught me.

NLU Delhi has taught me time management. It’s true what they say: out of sleep, good grades and a social life, you can only have two. The number of opportunities in this place is vast and ever increasing May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

does not take advantage of them. So fill your day in with as much as you can and remember, sleep is for the old (or for extraordinarily boring lectures).

NLU Delhi has taught me the worth of simplicity. I’m not sure what it is with law schools, but at some point, usually in second year, almost everyone starts feeling disillusioned, disoriented and out of place. The feeling overwhelms you, and it is difficult, almost impossible, to cope with everything that seems to be happening. But there is hope; the clouds immediately clear if things are compartmentalized and priorities realized.

Don’t be ashamed of seeking help if you realize that you need it, whether it is in the form of a friend, significant other or professional. Given the challenges of law school that are still ahead, it’s good to sort one’s shit out in the second year itself.

Speaking of sorting one’s shit out, NLU Delhi has also taught me not to give a f***. When we come to law school in first year, most of us care. We care

about how we look, or how we do on tests, or what other people think of us. By the time fifth year rolls around, all of that has mostly vanished. People will always try to label and compartmentalize other people, fit them into neat little boxes in their heads; but this place has a knack for making each one of us realize the value of objectivity and detachment, and the insignificance of trivialities.

NLU Delhi has taught me how to be superficial. Five years is a long time to live with people, and it is best lived without animosities or long-standing grudges.

So it’s important that you smile even when you abhor the person talking to you.

NLU Delhi has also taught me how to adapt. When I joined NLU Delhi, I was one person to everyone.

Now, I have realized the importance of being different people to different people. People like nothing more than being told what they want to hear.

NLU Delhi has taught me that most people in law school are, to employ a friend’s beautiful turn of phrase, ‘sharks and wankers’. I used to be tremendously disturbed by this, but now it’s just amusing to see the kinds of fragilities most people build their egos on, like

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NLUD Talk better CGPAs. It is even more amusing to see the kinds of schemes people come up with to bring others down. Call me a cynic, but in law school, you’d be best off trusting almost no one.

On a related note, NLU Delhi has also taught me the significance of friendship. It is rare to find people who are not out to get you. Perhaps something will happen during your time here to make you realize who your true friends are. If it doesn’t, I can only suggest that you not live under the illusion that everybody who is nice to you is your friend. But when you find those 2-3 people who are, hold on to them as tightly as you can, because everyone needs friends, and because those people will do anything for you.

NLU Delhi has also taught me the worth of compassion. For those who demand exacting standards of others, it is especially important to appreciate those others. If you are a terribly difficult person to work with (like me), it’s best to sometimes take a moment to be thankful for those around you who put up with you. I am truly grateful (and frankly, quite surprised) that over the

past five years, so many have managed to put up with me.

NLU Delhi has taught me the importance of knowing myself.

NLU Delhi has, in fact, helped me find myself. Most of us have major insecurities, but nothing good can arise of self-loathing.

You will only be able to truly function to your best when you know your own strengths and weaknesses, and when you come to appreciate yourself and all your flaws. As human beings, we come up with all sorts of rationalizations for our actions.

Don’t ever try to fool yourself; it never leads to any good.

NLU Delhi has taught me to love my parents. Over the past six months, I have had two major disagreements with them, one relating to my sexual identity and one about my career choices and what I want to do in life. Relationships with Indian parents are complex, especially because studying law teaches one to think rationally, which leads to the rejection of a lot of norms one’s parents might hold dear.

Sometimes they may not realize that age brings with it autonomy, the agency to make one’s own decisions. Simple things like the difference

between disagreeing with their opinion and disrespecting it, are lost on them. Trust me, I know how frustrating it can be when your parents deny something as basic and integral to you as, for instance, your sexual identity. But it is unrealistic to expect them to change, because the social conditioning they have been brought up with is too ingrained by now. It is next to impossible to have a rational conversation with one’s parents without emotion getting in the way.

But it is always useful to remember that these are the people who birthed you, raised you and always protected you from harm’s way. I really believe that parents are the only people who truly want the best for their children. Perhaps they may disagree on what the best is, or how to achieve it, but at least they’re trying.

NLU Delhi has taught me that we are all a work in

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“… IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, I WOULD, ESPECIALLY THIRD YEAR.”

progress; that we are all constantly learning and realizing, whether it is our political affiliations or our emotional quotient. So when someone calls themself a feminist and then stereotypes based on gender in the very next breath, it is perhaps best to work with them so that they realize how problematic that is, instead of ridiculing and/or lashing out. Even the best of us, those who are convinced that they are not sexist for example, subconsciously give in to sexist tropes sometimes. Social conditioning is a worthy adversary; one can’t defeat it on one’s own. So let’s work together.

On a related note, NLU Delhi has also taught me the value of engagement. Constructive ways of discussion simply must be found; else there can be no progress. Scoffing or jeering only serves to alienate; we must accept the challenge of engaging so that discourse can progress, if only little by little.

NLU Delhi has also made me admire what others do. I have immense respect for these people, who stand up for what they believe in, and make others think, whether it be #padsagainstsexism or the efforts at rebuilding the life of an acquitted prisoner who has had State execution looming over him for eight long years. These people are equally comfortable in an air-conditioned classroom as they are in a village,

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

interacting with the family of a person accused of crime.

I am truly honored to know them – my classmates and juniors – everyday conversations with who are what I will always try and remember.

NLU Delhi has taught me the value of independent thought. You see it is a little difficult to hear oneself thinking when chaps like Arnab Goswami seem to be breathing down your very neck from the television screen. Mainstream media pushes pre-decided opinions onto people looking for fiveminute analyses. In that context, it is good to remember that the function of thinking is too important to be assigned to someone else. The value of dissent and protest cannot be overstated; as we have all heard by now: the dissents of today are the judgments of tomorrow.

NLU Delhi has taught me that the study of law is a beautiful thing. Born and brought up on a fodder of math and science, I was always told how amazing it is that a mathematics question can only have one right answer. Perhaps that is why I see beauty in multiple answers, multiple truths.

The very bread and butter of a lawyer or legal academician is to see the same thing from different ways, consider the same argument from as many different angles as possible.

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NLUD Talk The subjectivity of rational conversation is baffling. It is also a much better reflection of real life, with its bewildering multitude of perspectives.

NLU Delhi has also taught me the limits of my own learning. I know now that there is so much more that I do not know. In first year, one of our substitute teachers told us that the point of a good education is to make you realize how ignorant you are. Only when one is humbled does one truly thirst for further knowledge; that is precisely what has happened.

NLU Delhi has taught me to look at everything in perspective; events and ideas cannot be isolated from their sociopolitical context. One of my seniors told me that it is possible to understand the whole range of human action if one understands politics and economics. In that sense, law school is much better preparation for the real world than, say, medical school or engineering college.

NLU Delhi has taught me that the personal truly is political. In fact, everything is political. There is a power dynamic involved in every little act that you do, from the very moment of your birth to that of your death. Once one understands that, being political is inevitable. It is close to impossible not to harbor opinions and stand up for them if one truly believes in them. In fact, this is the perfect time to be political, before the jaded cynicism of age steps in. Once you realize that, you can only hope that the spirit of resistance stays with you. But as they say, it’s hard to find a Marxist over the age of 25.

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, NLU Delhi has taught me to question, to question everything, because everyone is pushing their own agenda.

Everyone has their own vested interests. From everything you read here to the diktats of authority (especially the diktats of authority), question everything. I have done more unlearning at NLU Delhi than learning. I can only hope that that continues; I cannot wait to see how many more of my preconceived notions will crash and burn during the rest of my life. When I entered college, it was a barren and desolate place. I leave it a pulsating throb of dissenting and opinionated voices. It gives me immense pleasure to see how much discussion we, as a student body, have generated: discussion on everything from Insaaf posters to pads to across-hostel sexual harassment to the limits of humor to the legitimacy of forms of protest. I had almost lost hope in the aftermath of Kairos 2015, when some reactionary folk took to physical and verbal violence to threaten the protestors instead of engaging in any sort of useful discussion. But I genuinely believe (and hope) that now, irrespective of the opinions people harbor, they try harder to create forums for engagement rather than simply dismissing things off-hand.

“I have realized the importance of being different people to different people.”

Here it is that I will leave you, with a slightly modified version of a quote from one of our muchvenerated alumni – if I had to do it all over again, I would, especially third year.

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With 5 long years looming ahead of me, I remember looking out of the window every single day of my first year and wondering about how time was going to pass and whether I'd be able to survive them at all. But half a decade of sweltering summers and frigid winters in law school later, I believe I am in a position to advise you, our juniors, on how to tackle the ups and downs that this place throws in our faces. It's up to us to either thrive on them or allow them to crush us under their pressure.

So here are a few pieces of advice based on my law school experiences: Moot, not because it's what all your friends are doing but because of the adrenaline rush you get when you stand at that podium and see the result of six months' worth of preparation turn into cohesive arguments that actually make sense and also because nothing helps you articulate your thoughts better than the intense pressure of the bench grilling you and forcing you to think on your feet.

Debate, not because it's the cool law school thing to do but because nothing helps you think on your feet better than a good parliamentary debate.

Do ADR competitions, not because it's an easy way to get a funded international trip but because it's a great way to be exposed to alternative methods of dispute resolution which is the need of the hour for as burdened a judicial system as ours.

Publish a paper, not because it's what you're told will add value to your CV but because of the pride you'll feel when you see your name in print.

Take up a legal aid project and be dedicated to it, not because it's the morally right thing to do but because of the satisfaction you'll receive when you see that you've made a dierence to even one person's life.

Organize an event in college at least once, not because of the free food and access to the control room but because of the sense of responsibility it instills in you.

Intern with a big law firm, not because it'll add a brand name to your CV but because it'll add to your experience and help you decide whether you want to spend the rest of your life working in that atmosphere.

Be focused but not so focused that you don't give yourself the leeway to explore the additional options available to you. In terms of internships, dabble in big firms, boutique firms, litigation, in house roles, NGOs because this is the time you can utilize to make up your mind about what kind of job you eventually want. All in all don't run around adding the amss, luthras, khaitans and azbs to your CV because you think your future employers would like to see that on your CV. Trust me, they don't.

Last of all, clichĂŠd as it may sound, be yourselves. Stop caring about people judging you. Stop keeping yourself cooped up in your rooms. Come downstairs for a walk, play a game of badminton or just chill and gossip on the steps of the canteen. All of these are equally important to your growth. I've realized the importance of all of the above only recently but I sincerely hope it's not too late to pass it on to the rest of you.

All the best for discovering yourselves on this brilliant campus and carrying on the NLUD legacy.

- Tanima Tandon 40

The

one thing I'd like to tell my

juniors… well it's hard to pick just one, but if I had to, I'd say: Live your 5 years in law school with an open mind - from making new friends to new cuisines to new 'substances' to career options to new games. Learn to prioritize. Never lose hope. Hold your own ground. Don't judge, you never fully know another person's story. Dare to nurture an almost impossible dream and believe that it will be fulfilled. And of course, never forget to laugh like a kid at the most random things - just makes everything a little bit easier. And always remember, this too shall pass and so shall we :)

- Devika Nayak

The biggest thing I learnt from these five years is to b e o p e n . To p e o p l e, opportunities, experiences, issues, and even subjects. I came to law school with this idea of what I wanted to do, and was dead set about it. As is natural, I grew, and my interests changed, and I began questioning this decision.

This sent me into a blind panic, for I was halfway through law school, and h ad n o i d e a w h a t I wanted to do with my life.

My fixed idea of what I wanted had closed me off to other things that could’ve held an even greater, and lasting interest. What made things worse was seeing everyone else figure out their life plans. The rat race was

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

on, and I hadn’t even crossed the starting line.

Since then I have figured out my goals, and been at a loss several more times. But the last few years taught me that it’s okay. It’s okay to not know, it’s okay to be at a loss sometimes, and it’s okay to not be a part of the rat race. The competitive nature that exists within each of us can sometimes blind us to what we really want. It’s okay to be lazy and to take it easy sometimes (anyone who knows me knows how amply I’ve made use of this philosophy :P). In retrospect, most things weren’t too difficult, and really didn’t need to be stressed over.

It’s important to concentrate on building a set of skills, rather than focusing on just one particular thing. With an open mind and a good support structure, we will figure the rest out. There is no hurry. And you know what? It may seem like most people have things figured out, but we’re all going through the same struggle. As the iconic Buffy once said: “I'm cookie dough. I'm not done baking. I'm not finished becoming who ever the hell it is I'm gonna turn out to be. I make it through this, and the next thing, and the next thing, and maybe one day, I turn around and realize I'm ready. I'm cookies.”

- Aarti Bhavana

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If I were asked the one thing that I would In

5 years, there are moments when life

prefers to chill in a ditch. Aise mein, when things aren't looking that great, convince yourself that it's worth fighting for that greatness. When interests seem to loiter away, try faking it. Personal, or social, or even academic - doesn't matter. You could always wait for it to 'come back'. Or, you could start to build it artificially, ugly as that sounds. My experience has been that the latter never fails you, though it might fail itself. But the point was never to help supposed interests/ greatness, right? It’s to help you!

cherish from the five years that I have spent at NLUD, it would be the friendships that I have forged here which kept me grounded and happy. It is for this reason I borrow an apt quote one of my friends recently used: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."- A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

- Punya Varma

- Akshay Vaddagiri

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

42

Luminary - Celebrity in Focus

THE LEGENDARY LITIGATOR - NANI PALKHIVALA Debaranjan Goswami, I Year

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The modern Parsi surnames are usually derivatives of the names of the business carried on by their ancestors. Similarly when Nanabhoy was born on January 16th, 1920 he had inherited the surname Palkhivala, which in English translated to palanquin bearer. Although his family had lon g g i ven u p t h e p r o f e s s i on o f manufacturing palanquins, Palkhivala did carry a Palanquin for well over five decades: the palanquin of Indian constitutional and income tax law. They say that to succeed in the legal profession you require enormous experience or the support of a godfather, and it remains a mystery as to how Palkhivala made such a meteoric rise without both.

It is even more surprising to note that the very boy who used to run along the beaches of Mumbai with pebbles in his mouth to overc o m e h i s s evere s t a m m er h a d transformed himself in such a way that

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

judges were not keen enough to pass a verdict immediately after he had finished his submissions before the court because they felt that they would heavily influenced by his persuasive style of advocacy.

Palkhivala had joined the profession not on his personal choice but due to his father’s insistence. He wanted to take up the job of an English lecturer but failed to secure the job and later his dream of joining the civil services came to an end due to extraneous circumstances. What the teaching and civil services fraternity had lost, the legal fraternity had gained!

The greatness of Palkhivala is amplified further due to the fact that he dominated the Bar at a time when Indian Judiciary was passing through a phase of evolution. It would be important to note that it is on the touchstone of many of the principles laid down at that time, that many of the

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Luminary - Celebrity in Focus

Each time the judiciary was pressing for a review based on the ambiguity produced by the Basic Structure test, Palkhivala ensured that their argument was turned upside down. judgments are interpreted today.

Although Palkhivala has appeared for over hundred cases in the S u p re m e C o u r t a lon e ; h i s contemporaries believe that he was at his best in Keshavananda Bharati and excelled himself while opposing the government’s attempt to get it overruled. Each time the judiciary was pressing for a review based on the ambiguity produced by the Basic Structure test, Palkhivala ensured that their argument was turned upside down.

Once, when Justice Beg said that he did not know what basic

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

f e a t u re s were, Pa l k h i v a l a promptly replied that it was inconceivable that the Supreme Court had failed to understand its own judgment.

Palkhivala ensured that Justice Beg fell into his own trap when he said that he considered all the articles in the Constitution to be basic to the whole document. Palkhivala retorted that he would be the happiest if such a position was upheld as its necessary result would be the Constitution being s u b s t a nt i a l l y u n c h a n g ed throughout.

The brilliance of Palkhivala b e c a m e e v i d en t w h en h e authored one of the best income tax law books till date at the tender age of twenty nine. The book titled Kanga and Palkhivala: The Law and Practice of Income Tax received great reviews from all quarters but was quick to get into a controversy when a senior advocate of Madras high Court filled a copyright infringement suit against him.

Thus cross examination of Palkhivala during the course of t h e p ro c eedi n g s f u r t h er d e m on s t r a t ed t h e l eve l o f understanding and his mastery over the subject. The suit was ultimately decreed in his favour with the observation from the Bench that the ‘ill advised suit’ was a result of the indignation of the petitioner at the authors of the book who had suggested some of the findings of the petitioner as ‘absurd’.

each of his case. Whenever he conducted a conference, one could see that his table was cleared of all other papers. Only the brief and authorities required for the conference would be placed before Palkhivala. Phone calls and other distractions were not allowed to disturb the proceedings. His questions on facts were precise and focused and he would keep a list of authorities that he would ask the instructing CAs to keep ready for the hearing. He had adopted a two-fold strategy to convince the Court of the correctness of his propositions. Apart from an interpretation of the statutory provisions, Palkhivala loved to paint a dark picture of what adverse consequences would follow if his interpretation of law was not accepted. Those who have observed him closely suggest that he ensured that his advocacy s t y l e c a u g h t t h e e ye a n d dominated the brain of the judge.

The question as to how had this man achieved such brilliance is a struggle that all students of law are fighting for. They believe that the answer to this problem will take them a step closer to Palkhivala - a life which in itself is an example of what we are capable. Although born nearly a century ago, his life serves as a constant source of inspiration for any young independent soul seeking to make their mark in the courtrooms, and on the entire legal history of the nation. He is one of the finest luminaries of the legal profession.

Palkhivala put in a lot of hardwork and preparation behind

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Basics 1 01 Prologue Far more than troops, guns and ammunition, it is time and distance that dictate how battles are conceived, fought and won. Speed, therefore, has been one of those few critical points that have often carried the day. To take just the last 1500 years, the faster “barbaric” hordes of Attila defeated the famed Roman legions in the 5th century and established the primacy of cavalry.

The primacy was to continue to at least the early 15th century, when the British longbow toppled French cavalry outside a small town called Agincourt in France. At this point, I would like to clarify that when we consider speed, it is not the speed of transporting warriors across a battlefield but the speed of an attack – the speed with which violence can be delivered.

The progression was made from the longbow to guns to (on a wider tactical level) artillery. Each progression was dictated by the speed of delivering violence. Battlefields are a function of both time and distance – how far is the adversary and how quickly can you reach him.

Story It was a cold December morning in 1903 at a small town called Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, United States when a couple of brothers finally cracked the fundamentals of controlling human flight and unwittingly altered the battle space forever.

Suffice it to say that another battlefield had now been declared open – air. On top of this was the long held (and well kept) belief of every sober general staff that an attack from above is more devastating (at that time, most defences had not been built with aircrafts in mind and, hence, were open to the skies).

It opened avenues of attack which previously had been denied to militaries

Open Sp ace Divyam Nandrajog IV YEAR

- across rivers, over cliffs and forests, around mountains. More importantly, they soon realised that man could travel faster in air than he ever could on land. It was time for jets (planes at the time) to roll off the assembly lines.

The first systematic use of the air force as a tactical instrument was demonstrated during the German blitzkrieg of WWII. The Luftwaffe backed up Guderian’s Panzers in their armoured thrust practically all the way to Moscow and Stalingrad. Britain could not be shut down principally because the Luftwaffe never controlled the British skies. Sea Lion never happened. Normandy wouldn’t have happened if the Luftwaffe hadn’t been broken.

The Israeli pre-emptive strike on the Egyptian air force in early June, 1967 started what became known as the “Six Day War.” It was a textbook example of using the air force as a truly strategic instrument. In 20 minutes on June 5, 200 planes of the Israeli air force departed for Egypt. The result of the strike was: six Egyptian airfields knocked out of commission and 204 Egyptian planes destroyed. In barely 50 minutes, half of the Egyptian air force had ceased to exist. It would never regain the initiative. For all of this, Israel lost eight planes.

Three Arab armies (Egypt, Syria and Jordan) would go on to pay the price over six days.

Bangladesh was born in 13 days because the squadrons of the Pakistani air force based in (then) East Pakistan could not effectively operate for most of the war. The Indian air force had removed their runways with extreme prejudice.

India controlled the East Pakistani sky.

Situation Air may or may not be the most important element of the battlefield. It is, however, the most versatile one. Establishing “air dominance” is one of the first priorities of all war plans it is an axiom. Looking at the Indian air force, the sad neglect of this axiom seems reckless at best and amounts to treason at worst. Size is often no guarantee of quality (refer Six Day war).

16 squadrons out of 36 are comprised of various configurations of the MiG-21 – around 250 out of a total strength of 650. Its basic design dates back to the very beginning of the Cold War. The Jaguar and the MiG 27 designs date back to the 60s. The Mirage 2000H and the MiG 29 designs account for the 80s and the Sukhoi-30 MKI for the 90s. When one breaks this down, the inventory of frontline modern aircraft breaks down into 14 squadrons (the Mirage, the MiG-29 and the Sukhoi). 44 are sanctioned and 40 is a reasonable baseline.

Waxing eloquent about other points cannot hide a simple truth: this simply doesn't add up.

The requirement for 126 Rafales should never have arisen had Indian plans from the 1970s been properly monitored and executed. As it is, it has taken us 30 years to fly an indigenous aircraft (with imported engines).

It is still not fit for combat. This doesn't add up either.

The Point ...is just the tip of the iceberg.

Epilogue To be written by posterity.

Check back in around 20 years.

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The Plumage Problem Dedipyaman Shukla, I Year Dedipyaman reflects on what has bothered his imagination for long – that dinosaurs had feathers!

Articles have been written for a variety of trivial reasons. If that precedent is anything to go by, then I shall have no reservations about adding mine to the list. Thus, if anyone feels an urgent need to object to the content of this one, he or she must first tackle the unfathomable quantity of shoddy and pointless material already in circulation.

The intent of this piece is to modify your understanding of which intrigues every six year old. Dinosaurs had feathers! As of today, this cannot be legitimately contested.

It is established fact. Birds with teeth and dinosaurs with wings have been discovered. The first bird, Archaeopteryx, flew around prehistoric Earth about a 150 million years ago. So did microraptor and Hesperonychus. Do not moan about the Greek and Latin nomenclatures! You people are students of law.

 

a lot of n i t h g u o r a one, it b ncluding ery i v o c s i , d n o e innovati d satanic ng as th e i y f m i d o g m n i c As exciti y n ans. geneticall me, convi of the even Indi d n a was for o s n g y demon-di man bein ough to tr n a e e d t l i o u b q fellow hu n be ovie It was eve proved to my dinosaur m f d o o o g g fact has n a i r e a and mak Upon he would challenge. s r e Sam Neill! e p t u o h y t m i w , and revelation feathers perplexity ting a r r o i p e r h o t c y n M s i It expres Yet, the top. amusement. r e v o n e t v i e b of been perhaps seemed a sketches bly have i s s o p ’ c i t e t o r s n a ‘reali could of public raptors i r c a o e l f e v e h Sam their feathered due to t with e lack of h ed t s u f s n A o c s . u h o these often delici backlas s, e t a r t s y n l o l m a de the This exception For Neil o fear. kens. n c i h c e v a t h , o s an n cousin people this is icult it c f , f y i t d i r w a o l h c nched sake of points to skill. eply entre e f d o e k g c n a a l h at c for my be to strates th n as o w m e , d t s t o I m decide outlooks. ed me the ty do not e i c What baffl ce people had to o s r a we as tan n truth o o s r u d a e s s o a n b i the resis d others our views of viewing what of n s o r a e the idea Y t u b . of t fact, ew ligh e inertia e h v t a h o s y l d l in this n n a A n on its believe. ion may fi insight. continues t h introspect g u e o m d h o t s human e with and share e m w i o t r r a y n m provided m d y e like relativel ave utilis ner? ity? Just n l a a m n o Could I h i e t v a i R t produc path. . s, extinct r in a more u a s o n i d the s few Probably. r u o mischievou g n a i g n e a r h a of c There inion, advantage n saurs e o k n a i t In my op d are of who have They two n. t o s i n t i a perception a u g t a i s er g the rugglin the Feath of s a h t o entails st r t o w claim referred years’ aly, ese fiends c h s T hundred s ! a e c n m a e per t Resis of th ntific tem s. e d i r c a s z i t l portrayals n e s d istoric to repre pea-braine that preh r guts u e o vicious, v y e i p l i e ent r b and could , s conting t i i l n l o a i c Yes, they t c o u ogist’s reconstr I like t palaeontol y were e h out, or as t , a s e Y ased on you. y argue b ged e n h e T l l . a disembowel n h o c i birds imaginat ectually dence that d to f you i o v e an intell k s y a h c y t l a on p elate I meek as ave been r hem lot. All h t t o n e v d i l e u c co upon your per y e r o p t ! y y f e f h s u T i fl . dinosaurs. loured and y relevant a t s o t rainbow-co n o that hesitati ideration, s n imploring o c y e b d r a t e d u l a c n Upon o be the to I shall c to banish appear ll a h r s e d a I e does r , e Alright you, th e cycle of h t w o k b a n e i r a b r excessive. , the our on resistance and make sts e i c g n o a l r o compromise o t n n g o i e Unlike wilful nce pala y. z z u f colours si e sure about that in dinosaurs uit the value hat t e e s e are not q I s i n s , g reco Hammond I ng lawyer i s k a c h u s d g o n aspect. o i understand having bl ind h e b society’s . lagged on my side t u b always , opinion o move scientific ot want t n s e o d y societ e. n this cas i l l a t a on fourth the d, l r o W c i Jurassic Jurass he t f o t unique instalmen se, had a i h c n a g r f Park introducin f o y t tream. opportuni the mains o t n i s r e last feath fter the a s r a e y Fourteen

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for strong, female lead characters may be credited for sustaining Japan’s feminist crusade through barriers of Japanese societal hierarchies.

Over the years, one of the traits making Ghibli the studio it is is its adaptability and nonconfor mity to traditional narrative pacing and themes.

The studio has ventured into different art styles and conce ptually dissimilar projects, and has done so successfully. While 2004’s reimagining of Diana Jones’s novel, Howl’s Moving Castle, displayed ingenuity far beyond its source material, the lesser-known 1999 slapstick My Neighbors the Yamadas can be termed genre defining in itself.

Ghibli’s recent ventures, like the 2008 Ponyo, have been hauntingly sweet with shades of darkness, elements that are a part of the studio heritage.

For these works look deceptively simple, yet when you peel the layers, Ghibli’s ghostliness is revealed, and so is its mocker y of traditional Hollywood conformity (here’s looking at you, Pixar). The year 2013 is reminiscent of 1988’s golden harvest, with Miyazaki and Takahata coming out with the bittersweet The Tale

of the Princess Kaguya, and a more noticeable departure from the norm, the fictionalized biography The Wind Rises.

Ghibli’s influence has not been limited to producing films. The studio also collaborated with famed Japanese game-developer Level-5 Studios to create Ni No Kuni, fulfilling the desires of millions of gamers like me who b a s i c a l l y wa n t e d t o p l ay Pokémon on a PlayStation. Ni No Kuni exhibits Ghibli at its best, creating a sense of marvel and adventure at an unprecedented scale, yet staying true to its roots of simple honesty and caring for your loved ones. The visuals are lush, and seem to have jumped out straight from a watercolor – if there is one studio that has managed to turn paintings into motion, it is Ghibli.

Yes, Ghibli as we know it is ending. The source of countless hours of wonder and amazement for me, curled up in a blanket with my tiny sister, is dead. However, it has left an imprint that is incorrigible, for Ghibli has given millions of us memories and hope, hope in all that is good and simple. And with Takahata and Suzuki leading the way into the next generation of animation, I await their next production with bated breath. For I am ready for my next step into Ghibli’s magical world.

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Crosswords & Quizzes

Quiz Courtesy -­‐ Quiz Club Q1. A plant of X in Mumbai made the ballot boxes for the first general election of Independent India in 1952.

Identify X. Q2. It was believed to be introduced by Nur Jahan, Mughal emperor Jahangir’s wife in Lucknow.

What am I talking about?

Q3. India conceded 51 extras in a World Cup game. They began their chase half-heartedly, despite the fact that the number of overs required to reach their target was reduced from 50 to 47 due to their slow over rate. Sadagopan Ramesh, after getting to his 50 attempted to get out. It all went down to the wire, as India’s lower order tried to salvage some pride. Which opera-singer destroyed this dream?

Q4. Tahoma is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft Corporation. Where have we all seen this font?

Q5. According to a story, X was a large cannon, which was strategically placed on the wall. A shot from a Parliamentary cannon succeeded in damaging the wall beneath X which caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists, or Cavaliers attempted to raise X on to another part of the wall, but because the cannon was so heavy that they couldn’t place it back.

What is X? Q6. Confusion prevailed over the exact number of participants in a significant historical event

during India’s independence struggle. Many records mentioned that 78 people were involved, however two more were discovered Kharag Bahadur Singh Giri from Nepal and Satish Kalelkar from Maharashtra, which completed the profiling of 80 unsung heroes for an art memorial, opened for public display within IIT Bombay premises in February 2014.

Which historical event was commemorated with an art memorial within IIT Bombay in February 2014?

Q7. Begum Akhtar was a legendary vocalist. A 2014 Hindi film included an adaptation of one of her best-known thumris at its end. In a sense, it followed the convention that the raga, in which it is rendered, is played at the end of a concert. (Technically, the song's raga is derived from the concert-ending raga.)

Which film and song?

Q8. In 1982, mid-term Assembly elections were held in Kerela due to the fall of the LDF (Left Democratic Front) led state government. Among the 140 seats, CPI’s Sivan Pillai won the seat from Parur assembly constituency defeating A.C Jose, a Congress(A) candidate by a slender margin of 123 votes only. The legitimacy of Sivan Pillai’s win was challenged in the Supreme Court citing violation of an electoral process across 50 polling booths.

What was alleged as a violation of electoral process in 1982 Kerela Assembly Elections?

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Crosswords & Quizzes

Q10. This 2014 hit Hollywood movie joins films such as "North by Northwest" in getting its title from a line in Shakespeare. The book it is based on was named after a dialogue from "Julius Caesar“. _______________________________, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.“ Name the film.

Q11. X is a class of people who have been present throughout history, but their modern name derives from an Arabic word which translates to users of hashish. Although I doubt most of them work under the influence of the drug now, the name X has stuck on as a generic name.

Identify X. Q12. Cornelius Rooster is the mascot of one of the most popular breakfast food items in the world. This item was invented by mistake as the inventor was simply trying to make simple, easy to digest vegetarian food for his

Identify the product.

Q13. The human cell is a fascinating thing.

Apart from producing energy, it has its own waste disposal system in which waste or even dying cells are dissolved by X, a component of the cell. This has led to X being nicknamed the suicide bags of the cell.

Identify X. Q14. Horatio Nelson was a celebrated British war hero, known specifically for his exploits at the battle of Trafalgar. Sadly, he was also killed in this battle. How was his body preserved to be returned to England?

Q15. X was a decorated military veteran of the First World War. In early life, he had been a cheerful confident child who had an inclination towards music and art. In fact, he tried to enroll himself in a fine arts academy but was rejected. There was also a time in his life, before the war, when he sold water colours for a living. Of course, that’s not what he’s most famous for.

Identify X.

A5. Humpty Dumpty A6. Dandi Salt March A7. Hamri Atariya Pe, Dedh Ishqiya A8. First use of EVM’s A9. Kabbadi

This is said to be the origin or the concept of which game?

patients. The reason for choosing the rooster came from a Welsh friend of the inventor because the Welsh word for rooster was quite similar to the inventor’s surname.

Answers:A1. Godrej A2. Chikankari/Chikan Embroidery A3. Henry Olonga A4. Facebook

Q9. In Hindu mythology, it is said that Arjuna was telling a pregnant Subhadra about the military formation Chakravyuh. She slept midway and hence, she (and her baby) did not hear how to get out of it. This resulted in Abhimanyu’s death.

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A10. The Fault in Our Stars A11. Assassin A12. Kellog’s Cornflakes A13. Lysosome

A14. His body was kept in a barrel of Brandy.

A15. Adolf Hitler

Crosswords & Quizzes

Answers to Crossword #2 Across

Crossword #3

1. G.N.Singh (Hint: IMS) (4) 5. Amethi soap star (6) 6. Big e-shopping IPO (7) 7. Compelling law (3, 6) 8. Marxist of the Groucho variety (4) 10. Edible turned 50 this year (7) 11. Life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience (6) 14. French economist (7) 16. Mission by ISRO (10) 18. Tipsy fruit (5) 19. Minimum numbers (6) 20. International health emergency (5) Down 2. Brand of evil (4) 3. Boz (7) 4. Narendra ___ Modi (10) 9. Elephant soothsayer (5) 12. Preparatory work (7) 13. Scot leader for independence (7) 15. Jessup replacement (3) 17 Morsus (6)

Prizes for first 3 entries!

Across

Down

3. Kashmiri Separatist (4) 4. Chaitanya Tamhane (5) 7. Introductory paragraph (7) 9. Recurring theme (9) 10. Blurred lines (4) 13. Basque country village painting (8) 14. New capital (10) 15. First SA hat-trick (6) 17. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility (4) 19. Dadasaheb Phalke award (6)

1. Leftist computer (7) 2. Check your ___ (9) 5. Highest scorer (7) 6. Replacing Planning Commission (4,5) 8. From the beginning (2,6) 11. Obama's beast (8)

Winners of Crossword #2: Aroon Menon, Sanjeevi Seshadri and Pranav Jain.

12. Form of leave (8) 13. Churchill's new neighbour at Westminster (6) 16. Urdu for opportunity (5) 18. Asian statesman (3)

May 2015 | aap@nludelhi.ac.in

55

Travel, Living & Culture

The Deutschland Diary Akshaya Parthasarathy, Marilyn Joanna Khakha & Ravishankar M The team participating in the Frankfurt Arbitration Moot reminisces about their experience and the charm of Europe.

Europe

is beautiful - the

quaint structures, picturesque landscape and pristine roads make it a g reat holiday destination. When we qualified for the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot, suffice it to say that we were elated. We put our research skills to good use and looked up places to visit and things to do in and around Frankfurt. But none of the Google images or Youtube videos had prepared us for the scenic beauty that lay in store for us in Germany.

The captivating setting got us exploring the place more even before the moot star ted.

Walking along the Main river which runs through the city and going over to the other bank became almost a daily affair daily affair. We took road trips to Heidelberg and Karlsruhe.

While the former is home to m e d i e v a l c a s t l e s, t y p i c a l

European cafes, the Neckar river and a giant metal statue which one of our teammates thinks is that of a giraffe, the latter gave us the opportunity to see some more castles, the German Supreme Court and spend quality family time with our German friends whose love and warmth made us feel at home. We also visited the old city of Frankfurt also known as Altstadt, the Frankfurt Zoo (with real giraffes) and the Dialog Museum where we were led into the dark for an insight into the world of the visually impaired..

Finally, it was time for the real purpose of our trip - the moot court competition. The campus of Goethe University with its vast campus full of greenery and its multicultural youth inspired awe in all of us. Being the youngest and least experienced team (and with the least members) we began the

competition without any expectations. T he four preliminary rounds against teams from Luxembourg, France, Germany and India were closely fought, gruelling and extremely exciting. Lady luck was clearly in our favour as we broke first amongst all participating teams.

From thereon, we won the octofinals and quarter finals against teams from India and Belarus respectively. We lost a very competitive semi-final to the team that subsequently went on to win the moot.

The competition afforded us the opportunity to present our arguments before renowned international arbitrators, lawyers and judges and it proved to be a brilliant lear ning platfor m.

Meeting and competing against teams from across the world was an enriching experience in itself.

The most memorable moment of the moot was, however, when the judge who framed the moot

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Travel, Living & Culture problem appreciated us (with tears) for ‘living the problem’.

Delayed accommodation bookings and fair time in Frankfurt gave us the opportunity to experience hostel life in Europe (exactly like in the movie Queen!). We had roommates from different parts of the world who always greeted us with a smile. Since the moot required us to stay in Germany for almost ten days, we had a go at exploring the the city with a map, figuring out bus routes, grocery shops, eating outlets and train stations by ourselves. On the whole, we took back memories and experiences that we’d cherish for years to come.

The most memorable moment of the moot was, however, when the judge who framed the moot problem appreciated us (with tears) for ‘living the problem’.

AAP Rec

ommend s

Curated Reads 1. William Dalrymple, The East India Company - The Original Corporate Raiders 2. Raghuram Rajan, Democracy, Inclusion, and Prosperity 3. Ramachandra Guha, Where are India’s Conservative Intellectuals?

4. Graeme Wood, What ISIS Really Wants 5. Gopalakrishna Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi: Dissenters are Always Alone.

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The Working Class Editor-in-Chief Harshit Kohli Editors Akansha Seth Akshat Srivastava Bhargavi Vadeyar Divyam Nandrajog Ishan Patnaik Mini Saxena Rangashree T.K. Siddharth Gupta Sonal Sarda Sriram Design Team Anveshna Chainwala Tia Majumdar