ISI in Assam: Not a wolf cry anymore
The frantic air-dashes by Union home ministry officials to Assam is telling. The possibility of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence fishing in the troubled demographic waters of the state is not a mere bogey any more. What was an impending threat only a few years back is now a reality. What was a pernicious pathogen till yesterday, has today infected the host and spread to such an extent that its debilitating effects are already beginning to show. The days of crying wolf for politicians are over -- the most subversive activities in Assam today carry the ISI mark.
Demographic realities in the state are murky enough. Ethnic equations are always difficult to understand. But the ISI understands it better than most. Well, enough to upset the wavering demographic equilibrium beyond redemption -- throw life so much out of gear that peace will never return.
Our last chance to save them
Sooner or later, it had to happen. Forty-two children from the isolated Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands have been hit by measles in the last three weeks in an epidemic which could wipe them out if not nipped now. The figure represents 16 per cent of the tribe's total population of 270. Liberal estimates put the population count at 300.
The Jarawa people of the Andaman Islands lived until very recently in almost complete isolation. Both British and Indian settlers have moved onto their islands over the last 150 years, but until 1998 the Jarawa chose to resist all contact with them.
A writer, a filmmaker, a people's man
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Sometime back I chanced upon a moth-eaten book at a relative’s place. The author’s name on the spine had caught my eye and I was sure I had struck gold as I gingerly pulled the paperback out from under a pile of books that were meant, quite possibly, to be disposed of. The writer was, to me, one of the greatest names in Indian cinema. His repertoire can be summed up in one word – life. It embodied just one element – people.
Film review: The Bank Job
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With a title as seemingly trite as The Bank Job and a cast spearheaded by B-films action hero Jason Statham, one might have expected this to be a routine bank caper involving a Transporter pulling off something of an Italian Job. But it isn’t – it is a film that goes far beyond your simplistic expectations. You would have seen scores, even hundreds, of bank heist films, but this one seems real. It does, because it is a fictionalised account of a real event. But there have been others too of the type, you might argue. The answer to that would be yes, but this one has a taut script made even more gripping with ruthlessly efficient editing. Worth a watch.