M. Bhuvaneshwaran of 1st  Year B.Tech Biotechnology & 

M. Umai Arasi- Faculty,  English Department

OFFENSIVE DEFENCE

This article is drafted when it impacted us a great deal on reading a News story about the police assault on a family in the newspapers and later when it went viral on the social media. The following words are expressed to bring awareness among the public. We hope our words may reach people.

A few pieces of advice are worth considering here. Whither has gone the good old days of patient hearing of one’s views and the custom of bringing the warring minds to a negotiation table and resolving the differences of opinion fairly? If the domestic dispute is fairly settled amidst the four walls of a sweet home, where is the need for the police personnel to intervene in the mid street in an offensive defence mode? Whither has gone the sense of fair judgement of the Police force in matters of civilian disputes? All these memories brought forth the image of a utopian world where ‘all is well’ as is visualized in the following nursery rhyme:

POLICE OFFICER

I belong to the police force

To me, any crime, you may report

I catch thieves and don’t let them flee

A police officer is what they call me!

I patrol your city, night and day,

Face many dangers, come what may.

I may be a woman or a man,

See me on foot, or bike, or in a van.

                                    

In a uniform I’m usually dressed,

Be it north, south, east or west.

But in civil clothes I may move around,

To spot thugs hiding in the town!

I detect and prevent crime,

Arrest Lawbreakers

And charge them a fine.

I help in rescue operations,

And handle critical situations!

Directing traffic is one of my jobs,

Also controlling unruly mobs,

Even when I’m off duty,

I am in charge of your security!

I endure very tough training,

I serve you without complaining,

A commissioner or a constable,

For your safety, I am responsible!

[Lines from a nursery rhyme heard & enjoyed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3CPE-JIBco]

For most of the boys and girls who have been lulled into sleep with such nursery rhymes and who, later during the toddler stage, have taken pleasure in singing the nursery rhymes about great professions, have been groomed into better children and they gradually evolve such noble visions of every profession as stated above about a police officer’s profession.

The stiff, starched uniform of the police officer, his glossy boots, the prestigious cap and the sparkling badge have, no doubt, captured the childhood fancy of most of us. Their professional code is comprised of vigilance, upright character with quick decision making skills, especially split-second decision making calibre at critical situations and above all round-the-clock service with better coordination in maintaining law and order.  

But sometimes lapses of behaviour may occur in their noble professional code too as is reported in the news recently where three policemen were seen beating an auto driver, Raja, who was reportedly seen slapping his

wife, Usha, a town Panchayat sanitary worker, for purchasing gold jewellery beyond the limits of their family budget. Their son, Surya, who stood a mute witness to that domestic dispute, did bear the brunt of the police fury. This incident was reported to have occurred near the old bus stand, Chengam in Thiruvannamalai district on Monday, the 12^th of July, 2016. 

          Offensive defence is not just a word; it’s the thing which we are facing daily. There are many things happening around us. The things which are shown in the media are not given importance after a few days. The issues come like the migratory birds, because they arrive with a lot of importance and it is noticed by everyone. After sometime they fade away as the foot prints on a desert.

                    In case of our protection, we have to be brave enough. The way of living and the way of tackling problems have to be known to ourselves. “We have to help others". In our national pledge we say, "All Indians are my brothers and sisters".  But when they are facing any problems, we are not helping them. 

         

         Policemen are the ones who protect the people. But now- a-days this image is slowly fading away. I don't know whether they are conscious of it or not. I am not seeing all the policemen in this light but the activities of some influence every policeman. I would like to say one incident which happened in the month of July 2016 in Thiruvannamalai.    

         

         Most of us were shocked to see that video. Policemen who have the duty of protecting the public had shown their power on a poor family in a public place. The three policemen had repeatedly beaten the victim black and blue with lathi. The people who raised their voice against them were also assaulted by policemen. Will it be fine if any of our brother or father had been beaten up like this?

                   Is the activity of the policemen correct? If their activity is wrong, what will be the punishment for them? The punishment, if given, may be temporary but we need a permanent resolution for these kinds of activities. Is the behaviour of the husband, in public, fair? Doesn’t his wife have a say in the buying of jewellery? Do such constraints as family budget crop up their heads when it comes to a man’s say in buying things for himself or his family? Is the public place, an ideal place, to debate one’s family issues and indulge in domestic violence in public?

Who will ponder over A.G.Gardiner’s words, “Liberty is not a personal affair, but a social contract,” that hold good in all the contexts?

More of his words in his essay, “On the rules of the Road”,

“There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to accommodate my liberty to their liberties.”

have a greater significance in today’s scenario more than ever. Let’s not lose our precious peace for peanuts. Let’s all consider the precept, ‘Our true calling in life should be to nurture and spread joy.”

We wrap up  this post with the memorable words from Sudha Murthy’s compilation:

                   Life is precious, even in the midst of a struggle. Those

                   fearful days in the monsoon of 1947 introduced me to     all the goodness of life even in its darkest hour. It silently

                   said that once love is given in this universe, it can never

                   go to waste; it will come back to you when you need it the

                   most, in a form that you have never known. (40-41)

[Dhrshti Dasgupta’s, ‘The Dhaka Girl’ in Something happened on the way to Heaven Ed., Sudha Murthy. Haryana: Penguin Books India Pvt., Ltd, 2014.]  

          After all, life is meant to be filled with hope, faith, kindness, joy and all that is positive on the Earth. 

Reference:

1. A. G. Gardiner, 'On the Rules of the Road'

2. The Hindu, dated 12th July2016 for the news Story & the picture

3. Sudha Murthy's   "Something happened on the way to Heaven" 

4. Google Images for the pictures inserted in the article

5. 'Police Officer'- Nursery Rhyme

SOMETHING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN Ed., by SUDHA MURTHY
Musings on reading Sudha Murthy’s work:

 Padma Shri Sudha Kulkarni Murthy is known to me through one of her speeches downloaded from the YouTube to play for our students during the PDP (Personality Development Programme) sessions. It was a moving speech that Sudha Murthy madam was giving in the renowned Institution of higher learning, UC Berkeley, United States of America. There is every possibility that you will invariably be moved to tears on hearing that speech- so simple, so starkly true as it comes from the thick of her experience with her work among the most underprivileged in India and above all from the very fountains of compassion that swell in her ‘humane’ heart. Her speech is titled,'A Philanthropist speaks: Lessons from Life.'

 Watch it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1Cp4qta4bU

 Her speech raised many pertinent questions regarding life and the unconditional bounty it has showered on most of us; but we, unaware of the blessings, wail and rattle that life isn’t fair with us. As said by her in all humility in the midst of her speech, ‘A philanthropist speaks: Lessons from Life’ that the poorest of the poor has taught her the greatest lessons of life, Sudha Murthy’s words either from her speech or from her works (authored or compiled) take me close to life. The words of wisdom uttered through one of the real time heroes to her that ‘somewhere in life we have to draw a line in life when we can say ‘enough’ and ‘with this paper, you cut the trees and trade the wealth of the earth which doesn’t belong to you; and you all must be thieves’ [excerpts from her speech in Berkeley] ring as the subtle echoes of conscience in me.

Some of her famous works:

   

It is worth a life’s treasure that we should all read the works of Sudha Murthy and stay in touch with the essence of her writings and speech if at all we wish to stay humanly sane in this increasingly mechanized world. [I may replace this photo with the most perfect one in the future...] The busy rigours of the academic and domestic life have made me, for a while, forget Sudha Murthy’s works. I chanced upon a book, Something happened on the way to Heaven, edited by Sudha Murthy on the shelves of our library.

This has once again revived the thirst I had for her writings and not only that I have decided to come up with a regular series of blog post on her works- not with any other ulterior motive, but with the simple expectation of a teacher who would be happy to see her children take to Sudha Murthy’s books and be thankful for all the gifts that life has literally rained on us and this gratitude may in turn make us sympathetic to our less privileged brethren and help each other scale greater heights in the journey of life. The first of the series comes with a few musings on the compiled work of Sudha Murthy. This is a book titled, ‘Something happened on the way to Heaven’. It is a collection of twenty stories that are based on real life. The reading of the stories gives one a very uplifting and ennobling experience. Some of her famous works: Shall we meet again when I get time to talk to you about ‘Something...?’

Umai.... Reader's Club Blog post

SOMETHING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN Ed., by SUDHA MURTHY 
Musings on reading Sudha Murthy’s work: 

 Padma Shri Sudha Kulkarni Murthy is known to me through one of her speeches downloaded from the YouTube to play for our students during the PDP (Personality Development Programme) sessions. It was a moving speech that Sudha Murthy madam was giving in the renowned Institution of higher learning, UC Berkeley, United States of America. There is every possibility that you will invariably be moved to tears on hearing that speech- so simple, so starkly true as it comes from the thick of her experience with her work among the most underprivileged in India and above all from the very fountains of compassion that swell in her ‘humane’ heart. 
 [Watch it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcxyz] 

 Her speech raised many pertinent questions regarding life and the unconditional bounty it has showered on most of us; but we, unaware of the blessings, wail and rattle that life isn’t fair with us. As told by her in all humility in the midst of her speech, ‘A philanthropist speaks: Lessons from Life’ that the poorest of the poor has taught her the greatest lessons of life, Sudha Murthy’s words either from her speech or from her works (authored or compiled) take me close to life. The words of wisdom uttered through one of the real time heroes to her that ‘somewhere in life we have to draw a line in life when we can say ‘enough’ and ‘with this paper, you cut the trees and trade the wealth of the earth, which doesn’t belong to you; and you all must be thieves’ [excerpts from her speech in Berkeley] ring as the subtle echoes of conscience in me. 

It is worth a life’s treasure that we should all read the works of Sudha Murthy and stay in touch with the essence of her writings and speech if at all we wish to stay humanly sane in this increasingly mechanized world. [I may replace this photo with the most perfect one in the future...] 

Some of her famous works

The busy rigours of the academic and domestic life have made me, for a while, forget Sudha Murthy’s works. I chanced upon a book, Something happened on the way to Heaven,  edited by Sudha Murthy on the shelves of our library. This has once again revived the thirst I had for her writings and not only that I have decided to come up with a regular series blog post on her works not with any other ulterior motive, but with the simple expectation of a teacher who would be happy to see her children take to Sudha Murthy’s books and be thankful to all the gifts that life has literally rained on us and this gratitude may in turn make us sympathetic to our less privileged brethren and help each other scale greater heights in the journey of life. The first of the series comes with a few musings on the compiled work of Sudha Murthy. This is a book titled, ‘Something happened on the way to Heaven’. It is a collection of twenty stories that are based on real life. The reading of the stories gives one a very uplifting and ennobling experience. Some of her famous works: Shall we meet again when I get time to talk to you about ‘Somehing...?’