Fly Away

Night after night 

I pass away,

Within my sorrow,

I drift away!

Day after day,

I labour away,

Within my memories,

I drown away!

Moment after moment,

I sulk away,

Looking for happiness,

I break away!

Reality strikes,

Truth prevails,

I tell myself to move ahead, but,

My heart still longs for those now far away!

Sigh!

Life is too short, start right away!

[January, 2017]

Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Introduction

Perhaps, most of us are too educated about the dreadful account of the Nazi Party rule in Germany and its commander-in-chief Adolf Hitler (aka the “Fuhrer”) who were responsible for dragging the German state into a war with the formidable Allies. Possibly, the history lectures during your schooling would have reflected it to you a few descriptions of how in the Nazi rule, the extermination of the Jews was hailed as a critical nation-building goal, supplemented by the overriding nationalist sentiments which fuelled the German populace to revenge the misdeeds of the world. ‘Misdeeds’ which included the societal and economic incapacitation of Germany by the imposition of restrictions by other countries, for the German state’s involvement in causing the WWI. 

But did your school lectures imprint in you an idea (even blurry for that matter) of how ‘people’ in Nazi Germany would have interacted, helped, been influenced, got killed or luckily survived, in the chaotic expanse which just happened to be their country. I think NOT.

The ‘people’ I mentioned earlier would not just include the ‘superior’ Aryan Race (of which the Fuhrer himself coveted to create a nation of), not just the Jews (who were the usual blameworthy souls in Germany in that era), not just the Communists (who, as per Hitler, were a symbol of threat to the idea of a better Germany), but also teenagers of differing ages who understood the eerie game of Hitler, the Germans who were humanly conscious of others’ miseries (the miseries of the Jewish populace) and lent them a helping hand when it was required.   And the word ‘people’ would also encompass soldiers who fenced the borders of the state as well as those fighting with the rivals of Germany in the WWII (Shhhh!!… Yes, many served the army not due to their nationalist character and pride, but because they did not want the Fuhrer to hurt their families).

This is how Markus Zusak through his historical fictional novel The Book Thief, strives to picturize a vivid notion of the chaos, which encapsulated Germany during the WWII.

Ramblings: A Kafkaesque Reality

In Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, when the protagonist Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to the rude shock that he has transformed into a sort of horrible vermin, the very first worry that strikes him is about getting to work on time. In fact, amidst all the panic of being late, Samsa initially does not even seem to be able to admit what has happened to him. He attributes the change in physical appearance to a trick being played by his mind as the nature of his work had afforded him little rest and caused grave sickness. When a superior from his workplace arrives at his house to investigate the cause of Samsa not showing up for work, Samsa is warned that his whims would not be tolerated. Such is the cold-hearted and insensitive nature of the world that we have evolved into, where even in the face of impending disaster and crisis, we do not have the liberty, or perhaps the luxury, to take time out and step away. Neither do we possess adequate sympathy or social cohesion for permitting those around us to take their own time and space to repair and recover.

The tragic tale of the days leading up to the death of a National Law University, Jodhpur student in April this year is yet another example of how cruelly we have altered the basic tenets of humanity. This student had been hospitalised with oxygen support after having contracted COVID-19. Nevertheless, the rigid attendance requirements and submission deadlines mandated by the institution translated into a reality where the student was constantly worried about logging into class even from a hospital bed. It is unfathomable how tormenting it would have been for the student to fret over meeting attendance norms whilst also enduring a deadly disease. Did the University not bat an eyelid even in this period of omnipresent suffering? Did they not spare a single thought towards ensuring the well-being of their own students, or is student welfare simply a fancy phrase used in the brochures to collect fees? National Law University, Jodhpur has blood on its hands and shall forever carry this shame.

Global Take Down Orders — Swami Ramdev v. Facebook

Introduction – In October 2019, the Delhi High Court passed a rather contentious order in the case of Swami Ramdev v. Facebook, that gave Indian courts the power to issue global take down orders in respect of content posted online on intermediaries such as Google, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to name a few. In this article, the author has closely analysed the reasoning adopted by the court to arrive at this conclusion and argued that this decision must be re-looked at. Judgements on similar questions of law delivered by courts of other jurisdictions have also been discussed to lend a proper perspective of the issue.

 

Background/Facts – The starting point of the entire matter was a book titled ‘Godman to Tycoon – the Untold Story of Baba Ramdev’ that was based upon the life of the plaintiff. Swami Ramdev had challenged the contents of the book on the grounds of defamation and had obtained a favourable decision from the Delhi High Court, finding certain parts of the book to be defamatory. The court had thus restrained the book from being published and sold unless the defamatory content was deleted. Thereafter, the plaintiff filed a separate suit seeking a global injunction against the defendant platforms, i.e., Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, to stop them from publishing a defamatory video and related content that were based upon those parts of the book which had been held to be defamatory. The court had initially passed an interim order directing the defendants to geo-block access in the domestic boundaries of the country to all the offending URLs.