http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20000224/ied24056.html
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Time out
Maxwell Pereira
________________________________________
Adulis in America
Freedom, but not so palatable
GIVING Shakespeare's famed and oft-repeated quote somewhat of a twist `What's in a name?'' appears on the reverse of the menu card of an Ethiopian restaurant on College Street in New Haven, in the USA. I was dining there recently with my daughter Indira and Neda her Iranian friend, who were keen on me sampling the variety of cuisine available in restaurants from different parts of the world in this university town that hosts Yale in picturesque Connecticut of North America.
Whenever we were lucky to be free from familial constraints, Indira would plan for us a new experience, much to the delight of my taste buds. A different restaurant each time. The Ethiopian restaurant was obviously Eritrean, as I learnt from a revealing story on the menu card, which went on to educate me that `Adulis' was an ancient port in Eritrea's bay of Zula. Was that why the place was named Cafe Adulis? I wouldn't know. But apparently Adulis was one of Africa's great lost cities, which was the main port of the Axumite Empire that flourished in the Horn of Africa during the 3rd Century BC. Its ruins, supposed to stand even today across the Red Sea from what is now known as Yemen.
I found nestling amidst the so-called traditional Eritrean dishes of Tsebhes and Tibsies our own Basmati, as were dishes like `Professor Soares's Soiree', an exotic sounding oven-baked fish filet of Tilapia with a sautee of leek, sun dried tomatoes, dried apricots, whole roasted tomatoes finished with a cabernet wine, all served over a bed of couscous and toppedwith sliced roasted almonds. As again, were `Master T's Favorite', ÿ don't miss the American spelling, the Roman `Caesar Salad', the Arab/Turkish/Greek `Hommous', the Spanish/Mexican `Ficracho' and` Injerrito', alongside the indecipherable tongue-twisters `Timtmo' or `Tibsie Ah'melmlti' claimed to be true Eritrean delicacies among the "hearty and zesty" vegetarian extravaganza that make fine entr‚es by themselves or as great compliment to the meat dishes one orders.
I learnt that the Tsebhes that unlock for you the magic and mystery ofnortheast Africa are unique and unforgettable dishes of meat or vegetablescooked in tomato sauce, their secret being the long simmering with berbere-- Eritrea's unique blends of sun dried hot peppers. And these are served oninjera - a sourdough crepe made from Teff - a variety of millet from East African highlands.
Immersed as I was in my menu card, I saw the food had arrived - served bynot Africans, but pretty, white, university students. The stuff placedbefore us reminded me of the one common central dish round which all satand partook from together - in homes of my childhood Muslim friends. Forall that had been ordered, appeared to have been dumped into one large and flat thali-type of a serving dish and placed in the centre of the table.Everything appeared sauced and sauteed up with the same dull white sauce --with no gourmet special taste to write home about. Even as I left therestaurant the nagging question remained -- why call the cafe Adulis?ÿPerhaps the puzzle was there, only to divert my attention from the mediocrefare presented. A thought further troubled me that night -- was all thatexpensive African glitter worth it?
I read on. The origin of the name Adulis is not known, the menu card said,for it does not seem traceable to any of the area's languages. That Pliny,the Roman geographer, wrote, Adulis means `the City of Free Men' and amonument to Ptolemy without inscription once stood in the city. Apparently,the slaves escaping from the Pharaonic Egypt passed through Adulis on theirroute to freedom. May be this freedom now stands extended to American shores, to con one into eating whatever's placed before him -- andpay for it through the nose.
Published in the editorial page of the Indian Express on Thursday, February 24, 2000.
Thursday, 24 February 2000
Adulis in America
http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20000224/ied24056.html
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Time out
________________________________________
Adulis in America
By Maxwell Pereira
Freedom, but not so palatable
GIVING Shakespeare's famed and oft-repeated quote somewhat of a twist `What's in a name?'' appears on the reverse of the menu card of an Ethiopian restaurant on College Street in New Haven, in the USA. I was dining there recently with my daughter Indira and Neda her Iranian friend, who were keen on me sampling the variety of cuisine available in restaurants from different parts of the world in this university town that hosts Yale in picturesque Connecticut of North America.
Whenever we were lucky to be free from familial constraints, Indira would plan for us a new experience, much to the delight of my taste buds. A different restaurant each time. The Ethiopian restaurant was obviously Eritrean, as I learnt from a revealing story on the menu card, which went on to educate me that `Adulis' was an ancient port in Eritrea's bay of Zula. Was that why the place was named Cafe Adulis? I wouldn't know. But apparently Adulis was one of Africa's great lost cities, which was the main port of the Axumite Empire that flourished in the Horn of Africa during the 3rd Century BC. Its ruins, supposed to stand even today across the Red Sea from what is now known as Yemen.
I found nestling amidst the so-called traditional Eritrean dishes of Tsebhes and Tibsies our own Basmati, as were dishes like `Professor Soares's Soiree', an exotic sounding oven-baked fish filet of Tilapia with a sautee of leek, sun dried tomatoes, dried apricots, whole roasted tomatoes finished with a cabernet wine, all served over a bed of couscous and toppedwith sliced roasted almonds. As again, were `Master T's Favorite', ÿ don't miss the American spelling, the Roman `Caesar Salad', the Arab/Turkish/Greek `Hommous', the Spanish/Mexican `Ficracho' and` Injerrito', alongside the indecipherable tongue-twisters `Timtmo' or `Tibsie Ah'melmlti' claimed to be true Eritrean delicacies among the "hearty and zesty" vegetarian extravaganza that make fine entr‚es by themselves or as great compliment to the meat dishes one orders.
I learnt that the Tsebhes that unlock for you the magic and mystery ofnortheast Africa are unique and unforgettable dishes of meat or vegetablescooked in tomato sauce, their secret being the long simmering with berbere-- Eritrea's unique blends of sun dried hot peppers. And these are served oninjera - a sourdough crepe made from Teff - a variety of millet from East African highlands.
Immersed as I was in my menu card, I saw the food had arrived - served bynot Africans, but pretty, white, university students. The stuff placedbefore us reminded me of the one common central dish round which all satand partook from together - in homes of my childhood Muslim friends. Forall that had been ordered, appeared to have been dumped into one large and flat thali-type of a serving dish and placed in the centre of the table.Everything appeared sauced and sauteed up with the same dull white sauce --with no gourmet special taste to write home about. Even as I left therestaurant the nagging question remained -- why call the cafe Adulis?ÿPerhaps the puzzle was there, only to divert my attention from the mediocrefare presented. A thought further troubled me that night -- was all thatexpensive African glitter worth it?
I read on. The origin of the name Adulis is not known, the menu card said,for it does not seem traceable to any of the area's languages. That Pliny,the Roman geographer, wrote, Adulis means `the City of Free Men' and amonument to Ptolemy without inscription once stood in the city. Apparently,the slaves escaping from the Pharaonic Egypt passed through Adulis on theirroute to freedom. May be this freedom now stands extended to American shores, to con one into eating whatever's placed before him -- andpay for it through the nose.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Time out
________________________________________
Adulis in America
By Maxwell Pereira
Freedom, but not so palatable
GIVING Shakespeare's famed and oft-repeated quote somewhat of a twist `What's in a name?'' appears on the reverse of the menu card of an Ethiopian restaurant on College Street in New Haven, in the USA. I was dining there recently with my daughter Indira and Neda her Iranian friend, who were keen on me sampling the variety of cuisine available in restaurants from different parts of the world in this university town that hosts Yale in picturesque Connecticut of North America.
Whenever we were lucky to be free from familial constraints, Indira would plan for us a new experience, much to the delight of my taste buds. A different restaurant each time. The Ethiopian restaurant was obviously Eritrean, as I learnt from a revealing story on the menu card, which went on to educate me that `Adulis' was an ancient port in Eritrea's bay of Zula. Was that why the place was named Cafe Adulis? I wouldn't know. But apparently Adulis was one of Africa's great lost cities, which was the main port of the Axumite Empire that flourished in the Horn of Africa during the 3rd Century BC. Its ruins, supposed to stand even today across the Red Sea from what is now known as Yemen.
I found nestling amidst the so-called traditional Eritrean dishes of Tsebhes and Tibsies our own Basmati, as were dishes like `Professor Soares's Soiree', an exotic sounding oven-baked fish filet of Tilapia with a sautee of leek, sun dried tomatoes, dried apricots, whole roasted tomatoes finished with a cabernet wine, all served over a bed of couscous and toppedwith sliced roasted almonds. As again, were `Master T's Favorite', ÿ don't miss the American spelling, the Roman `Caesar Salad', the Arab/Turkish/Greek `Hommous', the Spanish/Mexican `Ficracho' and` Injerrito', alongside the indecipherable tongue-twisters `Timtmo' or `Tibsie Ah'melmlti' claimed to be true Eritrean delicacies among the "hearty and zesty" vegetarian extravaganza that make fine entr‚es by themselves or as great compliment to the meat dishes one orders.
I learnt that the Tsebhes that unlock for you the magic and mystery ofnortheast Africa are unique and unforgettable dishes of meat or vegetablescooked in tomato sauce, their secret being the long simmering with berbere-- Eritrea's unique blends of sun dried hot peppers. And these are served oninjera - a sourdough crepe made from Teff - a variety of millet from East African highlands.
Immersed as I was in my menu card, I saw the food had arrived - served bynot Africans, but pretty, white, university students. The stuff placedbefore us reminded me of the one common central dish round which all satand partook from together - in homes of my childhood Muslim friends. Forall that had been ordered, appeared to have been dumped into one large and flat thali-type of a serving dish and placed in the centre of the table.Everything appeared sauced and sauteed up with the same dull white sauce --with no gourmet special taste to write home about. Even as I left therestaurant the nagging question remained -- why call the cafe Adulis?ÿPerhaps the puzzle was there, only to divert my attention from the mediocrefare presented. A thought further troubled me that night -- was all thatexpensive African glitter worth it?
I read on. The origin of the name Adulis is not known, the menu card said,for it does not seem traceable to any of the area's languages. That Pliny,the Roman geographer, wrote, Adulis means `the City of Free Men' and amonument to Ptolemy without inscription once stood in the city. Apparently,the slaves escaping from the Pharaonic Egypt passed through Adulis on theirroute to freedom. May be this freedom now stands extended to American shores, to con one into eating whatever's placed before him -- andpay for it through the nose.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Tuesday, 27 April 1999
“Saraswati’s Children”
“Saraswati’s Children”
Mangalorean Catholics – Bi-centenary of ‘Release from Captivity’
Maxwell Pereira
April 27, 1999
At one of Mangalore’s gateways of yesteryears – on its former outskirts at Nanthoor near Padav hills, stands a large Cross. Erected there during the mid-nineteen hundreds by late Bishop Victor Fernandes to honour the memory of martyrs in what Mangaloreans term as the ‘Canara Captivity’ during a not much known about chapter of Indian history.
It is believed that at this place were herded over two hundred years ago one of the groups of hounded and captured Catholics of the Kanaras, who were then marched 200 miles to Tippu Sultan’s Seringapatam via dense jungles and gorges of the western ghats, along the Kulshekar – Virajpet Coorg – Mysore route.
The Catholic community of Mangalore on Karnataka’s Konkan coast along the western peripherals of the southern Indian peninsula claims to trace its origins to a people of Aryan heritage – from Brahmavarta on the banks of the legendary but now defunct Saraswati River. On its drying up some 5000 years ago, a segment of these people are said to have moved to the Gangtetic plains and Trihotrapura of erstwhile Bihar – to still move on to and finally settle down on the fertile coastal plains of the Konkan. This thanks to sage Parasurama, whom legend credits with having reclaimed for them from the Lord of the Sea the strip of land, by throwing his hatchet seaward while standing atop the Sahyadri mountains (Western Ghats).
These “Saraswati’s Children” – so described in his shortly to be released book with the same title by author Alan Machado Prabhu – got exposure to Portuguese incursions in their midst in the 15th and the 16th centuries. And embracing Christianity, inherited the resultant Lusitanian legacy in Goa. For various reasons cultural and religious, some of them found need to still migrate southward – to the court of the Zamorin of Calicut as skilled artisans, craftsmen and agriculturists – making nevertheless their main base enroute at Kudala (confluence of two rivers), on the invitation of the Paleyagar of the then Mangalapura. By which name erstwhile Mangalore on the confluence of rivers Netravati and Gurpur, was known.
Following his defeat at the hands of the British in the 1st battle of Mangalore, an enraged Tippu, believing that the local Christian community’s aid and support to the British had cost him his battle, unleashed his wrath on them. In a ruthless swoop by his armies, 35000 Catholics were rudely uprooted from their village homes as scapegoats, and herded off for incarceration in the dungeons of Seringapatam. Not all of them reached the destination; many died enroute due to sickness and malnutrition; many others due to hardships and the rigours of the foot march. And many more died in harness during the fifteen years of captivity. Release came to the motley bunch of survivors only in 1799 after Tippu’s death and the fall of Seringapatam following the second battle of Mangalore.
But with release came a sense of purpose, a sense of common identity, for a people who had hitherto considered themselves mainly as an extension of the larger Goan community. In its rebirth, for the first time a distinct ‘Mangalorean’ identity was born. A people who on return to home soil faced harsh and stark realities of their lands and properties usurped, found reason to reconstruct, to toil together with diligence and determination to make an entirely new beginning and to grow from strength to strength. Prompting historian Jerome Saldanha while chronicling the history of the community on the eve of the first centennial anniversary in 1899 to call the intervening 100 years as the golden era for these people. In his ‘Outlines of the History of Canara’ he wrote, “….the deliverance of the people of Kanara from the tyranny and misrule of Tippu Sultan, is the most important and happiest of events in the history of their land……..”
Unlike the close-knit and homogenous small community of 1899, today Mangaloreans are diverging. Leaving their native shores they are spread far and wide pursuing new and rewarding careers elsewhere in India and all over the world. Having made inroads into all walks of life – national and international, Mangaloreans can be found anywhere and everywhere – be it in Norway, Chile or New Zealand; Korea, Japan, the Bahamas or Papua New Guinea. And in every country in Europe, every State in the USA. In India, other than that of a President or a Prime Minister, there is no seat of honour, profession, trade or virtue that has not been claimed, graced or enriched by a Mangalorean.
The bi-centennial anniversary of the ‘release from captivity’ of the forefathers of the Mangalorean Community falls on 4th May 1999.
April 27, 1999
Mangalorean Catholics – Bi-centenary of ‘Release from Captivity’
Maxwell Pereira
April 27, 1999
At one of Mangalore’s gateways of yesteryears – on its former outskirts at Nanthoor near Padav hills, stands a large Cross. Erected there during the mid-nineteen hundreds by late Bishop Victor Fernandes to honour the memory of martyrs in what Mangaloreans term as the ‘Canara Captivity’ during a not much known about chapter of Indian history.
It is believed that at this place were herded over two hundred years ago one of the groups of hounded and captured Catholics of the Kanaras, who were then marched 200 miles to Tippu Sultan’s Seringapatam via dense jungles and gorges of the western ghats, along the Kulshekar – Virajpet Coorg – Mysore route.
The Catholic community of Mangalore on Karnataka’s Konkan coast along the western peripherals of the southern Indian peninsula claims to trace its origins to a people of Aryan heritage – from Brahmavarta on the banks of the legendary but now defunct Saraswati River. On its drying up some 5000 years ago, a segment of these people are said to have moved to the Gangtetic plains and Trihotrapura of erstwhile Bihar – to still move on to and finally settle down on the fertile coastal plains of the Konkan. This thanks to sage Parasurama, whom legend credits with having reclaimed for them from the Lord of the Sea the strip of land, by throwing his hatchet seaward while standing atop the Sahyadri mountains (Western Ghats).
These “Saraswati’s Children” – so described in his shortly to be released book with the same title by author Alan Machado Prabhu – got exposure to Portuguese incursions in their midst in the 15th and the 16th centuries. And embracing Christianity, inherited the resultant Lusitanian legacy in Goa. For various reasons cultural and religious, some of them found need to still migrate southward – to the court of the Zamorin of Calicut as skilled artisans, craftsmen and agriculturists – making nevertheless their main base enroute at Kudala (confluence of two rivers), on the invitation of the Paleyagar of the then Mangalapura. By which name erstwhile Mangalore on the confluence of rivers Netravati and Gurpur, was known.
Following his defeat at the hands of the British in the 1st battle of Mangalore, an enraged Tippu, believing that the local Christian community’s aid and support to the British had cost him his battle, unleashed his wrath on them. In a ruthless swoop by his armies, 35000 Catholics were rudely uprooted from their village homes as scapegoats, and herded off for incarceration in the dungeons of Seringapatam. Not all of them reached the destination; many died enroute due to sickness and malnutrition; many others due to hardships and the rigours of the foot march. And many more died in harness during the fifteen years of captivity. Release came to the motley bunch of survivors only in 1799 after Tippu’s death and the fall of Seringapatam following the second battle of Mangalore.
But with release came a sense of purpose, a sense of common identity, for a people who had hitherto considered themselves mainly as an extension of the larger Goan community. In its rebirth, for the first time a distinct ‘Mangalorean’ identity was born. A people who on return to home soil faced harsh and stark realities of their lands and properties usurped, found reason to reconstruct, to toil together with diligence and determination to make an entirely new beginning and to grow from strength to strength. Prompting historian Jerome Saldanha while chronicling the history of the community on the eve of the first centennial anniversary in 1899 to call the intervening 100 years as the golden era for these people. In his ‘Outlines of the History of Canara’ he wrote, “….the deliverance of the people of Kanara from the tyranny and misrule of Tippu Sultan, is the most important and happiest of events in the history of their land……..”
Unlike the close-knit and homogenous small community of 1899, today Mangaloreans are diverging. Leaving their native shores they are spread far and wide pursuing new and rewarding careers elsewhere in India and all over the world. Having made inroads into all walks of life – national and international, Mangaloreans can be found anywhere and everywhere – be it in Norway, Chile or New Zealand; Korea, Japan, the Bahamas or Papua New Guinea. And in every country in Europe, every State in the USA. In India, other than that of a President or a Prime Minister, there is no seat of honour, profession, trade or virtue that has not been claimed, graced or enriched by a Mangalorean.
The bi-centennial anniversary of the ‘release from captivity’ of the forefathers of the Mangalorean Community falls on 4th May 1999.
April 27, 1999
Thursday, 18 March 1999
The Casanova complaint
990318.ie.the Casanova complaint
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990318/iex18079.html
The Casanova complaint
Maxwell Pereira
________________________________________
I have this friend who thinks he has a problem. He looks like nothing on earth, and yet can't help being an object much sought after by the opposite sex. A phenomenon unexplainable to most of us, but the guy himself is quite unaffectedly complacent in the belief that there is nothing strange or wrong in members of the fair sex falling over each other in falling for him.
For a married guy, one would consider he is a little too friendly with women outside his marriage. Unquestionably, he is an incorrigible flirt, launching into unabashed flirting at the drop of a hat. No, he doesn't wear a hat, for he favours bathing in the light of the knowledge that his appeal is perhaps irresistible! For all his flirting ways, we his friends secretly know for sure he is one helluva harmless guy; a sheer touch-me-not. A thoroughbred modern Casanova, who is `all wind and no substance'. The kind perhaps the legendary Don Juan used to be.
What we feared for him, though, was something else. That not once had the possibilityof his being successfully accused of sexual harassment by an overly conscious and gender-sensitive female world of today, ever crossed his mind. Especially in these troubled times when woman-power is striving hard to spell doom for the aberrant male of the gender.
His wife, herself a delightful soul, appears to suffer his presence in a lovable way; but makes no bones about considering him a total misfit in society, lacking in etiquette and in accepted manners. Worst of all, she exhibits fear of his abysmally appalling sense of humour. She dreads moments when, like a tubelight, he flickers at length to grasp a joke, and himself attempts cracking some that invariably fall flat.
Yet, wonder of wonders, there are a bevy of females that go for him -- throwing all caution to wind, whether it concerns themselves, or poses a threat to what he considers his own marital bliss. I have watched females flip for him -- some beautiful, some not, some decidedly not what you and I would consider a dish. 'Babes' they are -of all ages, hues and colours. His conquests tend to include teenage schoolgirls, sizzling college and post-college chicks, and well-manicured dames ranging from straight-jacketed executives to fashion-conscious hip-shaking hep ones of the very `in' crowd; not to forget a few grandmothers, too, who suddenly find in him a reason to live! Sounds a real fantasy, but he is for real.
But it's not the females falling for him that is his major problem I spoke of at the start. He loves them all, and generally considers this world a great place to live in. But the one thing that's got him by his tail is the flood of presents that invariably accompany the female overtures.
Presents he can't keep pace with, or possibly reciprocate. To the extent that the issue of presents has become a paranoia, leading him to duck, make excuses to dodge, and palm off those that still land up as `pass-me-on's. Not the least of his worries being the limit to which an understanding better half can yet be driven to.
Without success,he's tried his best to let it be known that receiving presents embarrasses him, humbles him, fills him with a guilt complex, and makes him obligated which he'd rather not be. That, minus the `joy of giving', the `joy of receiving' becomes nil, as he is neither a `giver' nor could be bothered with such finer sentiments as are reserved by the Almighty only for a chosen few.
My friend is someone who hates to hurt, while invariably in a predicament of hovering on the verge of having to hurt. Having never learnt to say a `thank you' gracefully, and knowing not to say all that needs to be said without being crude or rude, it's me his pal he's now tasked to tell one and all and especially his female admirers all I have herein recorded.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in the editorial page: Indian Express on 18 March 1999
http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990318/iex18079.html
The Casanova complaint
Maxwell Pereira
________________________________________
I have this friend who thinks he has a problem. He looks like nothing on earth, and yet can't help being an object much sought after by the opposite sex. A phenomenon unexplainable to most of us, but the guy himself is quite unaffectedly complacent in the belief that there is nothing strange or wrong in members of the fair sex falling over each other in falling for him.
For a married guy, one would consider he is a little too friendly with women outside his marriage. Unquestionably, he is an incorrigible flirt, launching into unabashed flirting at the drop of a hat. No, he doesn't wear a hat, for he favours bathing in the light of the knowledge that his appeal is perhaps irresistible! For all his flirting ways, we his friends secretly know for sure he is one helluva harmless guy; a sheer touch-me-not. A thoroughbred modern Casanova, who is `all wind and no substance'. The kind perhaps the legendary Don Juan used to be.
What we feared for him, though, was something else. That not once had the possibilityof his being successfully accused of sexual harassment by an overly conscious and gender-sensitive female world of today, ever crossed his mind. Especially in these troubled times when woman-power is striving hard to spell doom for the aberrant male of the gender.
His wife, herself a delightful soul, appears to suffer his presence in a lovable way; but makes no bones about considering him a total misfit in society, lacking in etiquette and in accepted manners. Worst of all, she exhibits fear of his abysmally appalling sense of humour. She dreads moments when, like a tubelight, he flickers at length to grasp a joke, and himself attempts cracking some that invariably fall flat.
Yet, wonder of wonders, there are a bevy of females that go for him -- throwing all caution to wind, whether it concerns themselves, or poses a threat to what he considers his own marital bliss. I have watched females flip for him -- some beautiful, some not, some decidedly not what you and I would consider a dish. 'Babes' they are -of all ages, hues and colours. His conquests tend to include teenage schoolgirls, sizzling college and post-college chicks, and well-manicured dames ranging from straight-jacketed executives to fashion-conscious hip-shaking hep ones of the very `in' crowd; not to forget a few grandmothers, too, who suddenly find in him a reason to live! Sounds a real fantasy, but he is for real.
But it's not the females falling for him that is his major problem I spoke of at the start. He loves them all, and generally considers this world a great place to live in. But the one thing that's got him by his tail is the flood of presents that invariably accompany the female overtures.
Presents he can't keep pace with, or possibly reciprocate. To the extent that the issue of presents has become a paranoia, leading him to duck, make excuses to dodge, and palm off those that still land up as `pass-me-on's. Not the least of his worries being the limit to which an understanding better half can yet be driven to.
Without success,he's tried his best to let it be known that receiving presents embarrasses him, humbles him, fills him with a guilt complex, and makes him obligated which he'd rather not be. That, minus the `joy of giving', the `joy of receiving' becomes nil, as he is neither a `giver' nor could be bothered with such finer sentiments as are reserved by the Almighty only for a chosen few.
My friend is someone who hates to hurt, while invariably in a predicament of hovering on the verge of having to hurt. Having never learnt to say a `thank you' gracefully, and knowing not to say all that needs to be said without being crude or rude, it's me his pal he's now tasked to tell one and all and especially his female admirers all I have herein recorded.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in the editorial page: Indian Express on 18 March 1999
Monday, 22 February 1999
Incredible India !
Incredible India !
-- By Maxwell Pereira
My niece sent me on e-mail some incredible facts on India, what a friend had sent her, who in turn had done the good Samaritan act of disseminating what someone else many hands down the line had taken pains to collect and circulate. It couldn’t have arrived in a better lap. For I have this passion for e-mail and its colossal and speedy information dissemination power – of which I make ample use. And not satisfied with the hundreds I have already shared this information with though the electronic media, it is apt now to share it with yet as many more as possible through this column.
Some, if not all of these facts known to most Indians, were picked up it appears, not from a compilation in India, but from what’s written on India that appeared in writings and readings outside India. Some may dispute them as facts. Something like “India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of her history”. But when many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established the Harappan culture in the Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization) – which today, has been recognised by researchers actually to be the Saraswati culture.
The World's first university established in Takshila in 700BC had 10,500 students from all over the world studying more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda in 4th century BC is acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. And Sanskrit, through Latin, is accepted as the mother of all European languages. A 1987 report in Forbes magazine said Sanskrit was the most suitable language for computer software.
India contributed to the Number System the numerical ‘O’ given by Aryabhatta. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus originated here. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106, while Hindus (the then inhabitants of the land of Sapta-Sindu) used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as in 5000 BC during the Vedic period. While today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
The time taken by the earth to orbit the sun was calculated in 5th century as 365.258756484 days by Bhaskaracharya, -- hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, who explained the concept of the Pythagorean Theorem discovered by him in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. The place value system, the decimal system, was developed in India in 100 BC.
Then, Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans, which Charaka the father of medicine consolidated 2500 years ago. Sushruta the father of surgery with other health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgery 2600 years ago. Use of anesthesia was known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi. As if to substantiate this, was the report in the Feb’99 issue of ‘Nature’ on how a Danish physicist and his team of scientists in the US have managed to slow down the speed of light – reducing its speed from 300.000 km per sec to approximately 17 meters per second or 71 km per hour – using the Bose-Einstein condensate to stall light in its path.
The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word naugatih. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit ‘nou’. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth. The Gemological Institute of America says, up until 1896 India was the only source for diamonds known to the world. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman-I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Well I suppose there is no doubt about Chess being an Indian invention, as in Shatranj or Ashta Pada. And the game of ‘Polo’ also had it’s origins in the North Eastern parts of India(Manipur). The first man on Mt.Everest was Tenzing Norgay, an Indian nepali sherpa, contrary to the popular belief that it was Sir Edmund Hilary. And the science of ‘fingerprints’ was discovered and developed in India (Calcutta).
With all this potential, what is it that inhibits the Indian to excel today? Isn’t it time we arrested the downward slide? Or are we beyond caring?
...published in the editorial page of Indian Express on 22 February 1999 with the title "The Wonder That Was India"
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19990622/iex22060.htm
-- By Maxwell Pereira
My niece sent me on e-mail some incredible facts on India, what a friend had sent her, who in turn had done the good Samaritan act of disseminating what someone else many hands down the line had taken pains to collect and circulate. It couldn’t have arrived in a better lap. For I have this passion for e-mail and its colossal and speedy information dissemination power – of which I make ample use. And not satisfied with the hundreds I have already shared this information with though the electronic media, it is apt now to share it with yet as many more as possible through this column.
Some, if not all of these facts known to most Indians, were picked up it appears, not from a compilation in India, but from what’s written on India that appeared in writings and readings outside India. Some may dispute them as facts. Something like “India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of her history”. But when many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established the Harappan culture in the Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization) – which today, has been recognised by researchers actually to be the Saraswati culture.
The World's first university established in Takshila in 700BC had 10,500 students from all over the world studying more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda in 4th century BC is acknowledged as one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. And Sanskrit, through Latin, is accepted as the mother of all European languages. A 1987 report in Forbes magazine said Sanskrit was the most suitable language for computer software.
India contributed to the Number System the numerical ‘O’ given by Aryabhatta. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus originated here. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106, while Hindus (the then inhabitants of the land of Sapta-Sindu) used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as in 5000 BC during the Vedic period. While today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
The time taken by the earth to orbit the sun was calculated in 5th century as 365.258756484 days by Bhaskaracharya, -- hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. The value of "pi" was first calculated by Budhayana, who explained the concept of the Pythagorean Theorem discovered by him in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians. The place value system, the decimal system, was developed in India in 100 BC.
Then, Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans, which Charaka the father of medicine consolidated 2500 years ago. Sushruta the father of surgery with other health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgery 2600 years ago. Use of anesthesia was known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipments were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi. As if to substantiate this, was the report in the Feb’99 issue of ‘Nature’ on how a Danish physicist and his team of scientists in the US have managed to slow down the speed of light – reducing its speed from 300.000 km per sec to approximately 17 meters per second or 71 km per hour – using the Bose-Einstein condensate to stall light in its path.
The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word naugatih. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit ‘nou’. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth. The Gemological Institute of America says, up until 1896 India was the only source for diamonds known to the world. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. According to Saka King Rudradaman-I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called 'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Well I suppose there is no doubt about Chess being an Indian invention, as in Shatranj or Ashta Pada. And the game of ‘Polo’ also had it’s origins in the North Eastern parts of India(Manipur). The first man on Mt.Everest was Tenzing Norgay, an Indian nepali sherpa, contrary to the popular belief that it was Sir Edmund Hilary. And the science of ‘fingerprints’ was discovered and developed in India (Calcutta).
With all this potential, what is it that inhibits the Indian to excel today? Isn’t it time we arrested the downward slide? Or are we beyond caring?
...published in the editorial page of Indian Express on 22 February 1999 with the title "The Wonder That Was India"
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19990622/iex22060.htm
Saturday, 27 July 1996
Policing the POLICE
Policing the POLICE
By Maxwell Pereira
Is it a fact that the police do not respond to complaints made at police stations? The majority of complaints against police personnel and their functioning stem from the perceived evils of non-registration of cases, and the so-called rude, crude and unwarranted behaviour on the part of the police personnel, at times leading to the misuse of authority. It’s often alleged that the usual method of attending to complaints is so harsh that people do not like to visit the police station. What then is the Police Department doing to remove this malady and ensure that the citizens of Delhi get a proper hearing?
Perhaps not everyone knows about the vast public-grievances redressal machinery that exists within the Delhi Police Department. Checking against non-registration of cases and looking into complaints relating to mis-behaviour are just two of the various types of complaints that are looked into by vigilance cells created in the office of the Commissioner of Police. Follow-up on investigations in registered cases, and watch over persons of doubtful integrity are the other important areas covered.
It has been the endeavour of the Police Department to advocate free registration of all reported crime. The effort throughout has been to improve the functioning and role of the staff posted in the police station reporting rooms, relying on the time-tested advise of psychologists that granting a patient hearing to a complainant is nine-tenths the job done.
Proper follow-up, of-course, is essential. But whether or not this follow-up materializes, becomes a secondary issue. More often than not, it depends on whether the complexities of law and the circumstances of the case finally solve the case. Well, we may not always succeed. The fact remains that not everything reported at police stations can be taken at face value. The instructions to our reporting rooms staff are to ensure that the complainant does get a hearing, and that at least he goes away satisfied that the process for redressal of his grievance has been set in motion.
The police is often accused of not taking prompt cognizance of grievances. Unfortunately, the term “cognizance” also plays a major role in the perceived police response, since the majority of the complaints made to the police are of a non-cognizable nature, where police intervention in the form of registration of a case is not possible in terms of enacted law. This is something not every complainant knows. The level of awareness being what it is, the fact remains that the public’s role expectation regarding police functions is often at variance with the legally assigned role for the police.
The year 1995 began with a decision to renew emphasis on free registration of crime in the Capital, with the realization that a free and transparent system of registration of cases was the first and inevitable step towards refurbishing the police image. The stress on a statistical comparison of crimes and reliance on statistics-based evaluation also encourages a tendency to burk (police parlance for non-registration of crime) cases and minimize crime. While such reliance presents a distorted picture to the public eye, this system has far graver consequences – it enables criminals to escape the clutches of law with impunity. Public resentment and castigation become inevitable.
As against this scenario, prompt and free registration of cases has the advantage of projecting the correct crime situation, enabling logical assessment of requirements and infrastructure to meet the challenges in battling crime. It satisfies the needs of aggrieved citizens, who have been increasingly finding themselves helpless before a rash of lawlessness and crime. Undoubtedly, the emphasis on free registration would provide the much needed fillip to the police image, and result in eliciting public cooperation essential to effective policing. As witnessed over the past 15 months, the snowballing effect of free registration has helped us in policing the city better, and in making Delhi Police a force to reckon with.
What else does the police do to check against non-registration? In all cognizable cases where an FIR is registered, the Duty Officer is required to ensure that a copy of the FIR is given to the complainant immediately and wherever it has not been possible for the complainant to collect the FIR copy immediately for whatever reason, it is mandatory for the police station to send a copy of it by post to the complainant. To check that this instruction is complied with, pre-paid letters are sent by supervisory levels to complainants picked up at random from among registered cases, with a questionnaire requesting the complainant to send us feedback on whether or not his complaint was correctly recorded, whether the copy of the FIR was given to him, and whether he has been dealt with courteously with proper behaviour. This feedback does act as a deterrent to the would-be-aberrator.
Then, the SHO is required to remain available in the police station at a fixed time so that complainants can meet him. The doors of the supervisory levels including those of the ACP, the Addl. DCP and the DCP at the district level, the Range ACP and the Commissioner of Police at the Police Headquarters are ever open to the aggrieved individual. It is pertinent to mention here that during 1995, the Vigilance unit received 40,549 complaints, of which 37,153 were sent to he concerned units.
The Vigilance Branch also contacts complaints at random to ask about their experiences at the police stations. Even here, the emphasis is on the immediate issue of the copy of the FIR and the return of the articles seized by the police to the lawful owner. The Commissioner of Police has further constituted a high power checking team from the Police Headquarters under the command of an independent ACP for frequent surprise checks at police stations. The team lays emphasis on spot corrections and recommends action only in extreme cases.
With all this redressal grievance machinery available in addition to the people’s own elected representatives ready at hand to pursue their causes, it would be a tall call to claim that one’s complaint still does not get a hearing. In Delhi, at least!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An IPS Officer, Maxwell Pereira is the Additional CP (Southern Range), Delhi Police
Published in The Indian Express on 27.7.1996 Better Living /Crime Beat Column
By Maxwell Pereira
Is it a fact that the police do not respond to complaints made at police stations? The majority of complaints against police personnel and their functioning stem from the perceived evils of non-registration of cases, and the so-called rude, crude and unwarranted behaviour on the part of the police personnel, at times leading to the misuse of authority. It’s often alleged that the usual method of attending to complaints is so harsh that people do not like to visit the police station. What then is the Police Department doing to remove this malady and ensure that the citizens of Delhi get a proper hearing?
Perhaps not everyone knows about the vast public-grievances redressal machinery that exists within the Delhi Police Department. Checking against non-registration of cases and looking into complaints relating to mis-behaviour are just two of the various types of complaints that are looked into by vigilance cells created in the office of the Commissioner of Police. Follow-up on investigations in registered cases, and watch over persons of doubtful integrity are the other important areas covered.
It has been the endeavour of the Police Department to advocate free registration of all reported crime. The effort throughout has been to improve the functioning and role of the staff posted in the police station reporting rooms, relying on the time-tested advise of psychologists that granting a patient hearing to a complainant is nine-tenths the job done.
Proper follow-up, of-course, is essential. But whether or not this follow-up materializes, becomes a secondary issue. More often than not, it depends on whether the complexities of law and the circumstances of the case finally solve the case. Well, we may not always succeed. The fact remains that not everything reported at police stations can be taken at face value. The instructions to our reporting rooms staff are to ensure that the complainant does get a hearing, and that at least he goes away satisfied that the process for redressal of his grievance has been set in motion.
The police is often accused of not taking prompt cognizance of grievances. Unfortunately, the term “cognizance” also plays a major role in the perceived police response, since the majority of the complaints made to the police are of a non-cognizable nature, where police intervention in the form of registration of a case is not possible in terms of enacted law. This is something not every complainant knows. The level of awareness being what it is, the fact remains that the public’s role expectation regarding police functions is often at variance with the legally assigned role for the police.
The year 1995 began with a decision to renew emphasis on free registration of crime in the Capital, with the realization that a free and transparent system of registration of cases was the first and inevitable step towards refurbishing the police image. The stress on a statistical comparison of crimes and reliance on statistics-based evaluation also encourages a tendency to burk (police parlance for non-registration of crime) cases and minimize crime. While such reliance presents a distorted picture to the public eye, this system has far graver consequences – it enables criminals to escape the clutches of law with impunity. Public resentment and castigation become inevitable.
As against this scenario, prompt and free registration of cases has the advantage of projecting the correct crime situation, enabling logical assessment of requirements and infrastructure to meet the challenges in battling crime. It satisfies the needs of aggrieved citizens, who have been increasingly finding themselves helpless before a rash of lawlessness and crime. Undoubtedly, the emphasis on free registration would provide the much needed fillip to the police image, and result in eliciting public cooperation essential to effective policing. As witnessed over the past 15 months, the snowballing effect of free registration has helped us in policing the city better, and in making Delhi Police a force to reckon with.
What else does the police do to check against non-registration? In all cognizable cases where an FIR is registered, the Duty Officer is required to ensure that a copy of the FIR is given to the complainant immediately and wherever it has not been possible for the complainant to collect the FIR copy immediately for whatever reason, it is mandatory for the police station to send a copy of it by post to the complainant. To check that this instruction is complied with, pre-paid letters are sent by supervisory levels to complainants picked up at random from among registered cases, with a questionnaire requesting the complainant to send us feedback on whether or not his complaint was correctly recorded, whether the copy of the FIR was given to him, and whether he has been dealt with courteously with proper behaviour. This feedback does act as a deterrent to the would-be-aberrator.
Then, the SHO is required to remain available in the police station at a fixed time so that complainants can meet him. The doors of the supervisory levels including those of the ACP, the Addl. DCP and the DCP at the district level, the Range ACP and the Commissioner of Police at the Police Headquarters are ever open to the aggrieved individual. It is pertinent to mention here that during 1995, the Vigilance unit received 40,549 complaints, of which 37,153 were sent to he concerned units.
The Vigilance Branch also contacts complaints at random to ask about their experiences at the police stations. Even here, the emphasis is on the immediate issue of the copy of the FIR and the return of the articles seized by the police to the lawful owner. The Commissioner of Police has further constituted a high power checking team from the Police Headquarters under the command of an independent ACP for frequent surprise checks at police stations. The team lays emphasis on spot corrections and recommends action only in extreme cases.
With all this redressal grievance machinery available in addition to the people’s own elected representatives ready at hand to pursue their causes, it would be a tall call to claim that one’s complaint still does not get a hearing. In Delhi, at least!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An IPS Officer, Maxwell Pereira is the Additional CP (Southern Range), Delhi Police
Published in The Indian Express on 27.7.1996 Better Living /Crime Beat Column
Saturday, 29 June 1996
Rapping the GANGSTA
By Maxwell Pereira
Has the spectre of gangsterism and hired killings lifted its head once again in the Capital, as is being speculated in the aftermath of the Personal Point triple-murder?
It may sound odd, especially since the Delhi Police has prided itself over its success in keeping the ‘mafia’ out of the city. So, let me explain. When one talks of crime and criminals in a city, what comes to mind invariably is the ‘underworld’, thanks to the influence of Hollywood blockbusters. And unlike in Bombay, there’s no activity that fits the term ‘underworld’ or ‘organised crime’ in Delhi.
Not that the kingpins of organized crime haven’t made attempts to make inroads into Delhi. You may recall the arrest in 1993 of five notorious criminals belonging to the Dawood Ibrahim gang. These arrests made by the Delhi Police were widely acclaimed and we’re still experiencing their fallout – for instance, it’s not been long since we witnessed high drama over the arrest of a former union minister on charges of harbouring some of these very gangsters.
The Delhi Police, in fact, has thwarted several such attempts by gangsters – like Bombay’s Vinod Bikramaiah and Sunil – to penetrate the Capital. Police investigations revealed their designs to seek an alliance with the criminal gangs of Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh to take root and strike terror in northern India.
This was when gangsters in western U.P. were taking advantage of the fact that Delhi’s borders have always been notional; the Capital’s faceless society, moreover, offers a perfect haven for criminals seeking anonymity. As a result, instances of these criminals extorting ‘protection money’ from businessmen on both sides of the Delhi- UP border were no longer a rarity. And within Delhi, there were others who discovered a lucrative career in forcibly evicting lenants and grabbing expensive plots of land under dispute.
It was only a matter of time before this reservoir of muscle power graduated into the arena of kidnappings for ransom. Even when the accused were caught, the investigation and prosecution of these cases posed a problem because hardly any evidence was forthcoming, with neither the victims nor the potential witnesses cooperating with the police. It was clear that the moneyed class was not only in the grip of a fear psychosis, but also was becoming increasingly cynical about the police machinery’s ability to contain the crime graph.
Having served in the Delhi Police during those ominous years, I witnessed both the seamy and the bright side, the latter being the force’s determination to contain the menace. Detecting the malady even as it was taking root and spreading slowly but steadily, and sensing in its early stages the future possibilities, the Delhi Police spent considerable time researching the trends, identifying the gangs, and planning suitable strategies to control these criminals.
As a first step, to improve surveillance over known criminals, the professional efficiency of Delhi’s policemen was sought to be increased by streamlining the process of maintaining police station records. Then, steps were taken to ensure prompt, impartial and professional investigation of cases, without, of course, ignoring the demands of preventive policing.
A special drive was started to battle the threat from gangs operating on the Delhi-UP border, with a determined effort to exterminate them. Special teams were formed in all the nine police districts of Delhi, and in the Crime Branch, to begin the crackdown on identified gangs. And recognizing the sensitive nature of the cases, the Crime Branch Special Cell handpicked investigating officers and put them through intensive training.
The efforts yielded results, with more than 50-odd important gang members falling into the police net in a span of less than a year. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Delhi and Ghaziabad police forces, major gangsters were either arrested or eliminated in encounters, and they included Mohinder Fauzi, Tejpal, Satbir Gujjar, Gopal Thakur, Narinder alias Babu Tyagi, Naresh alias Nasso, Brij Mohan Tyagi.
The crowning moment came last year with the daylight encounter in Mehrauli on March 28 that accounted for the dreaded Rajbir Ramala; it was followed by more action, this time in Faridabad on July 20, when Ram Pal Gujjar was ‘done’ in, both in daring operations executed by Delhi’s West District Police team personally led by the DCP. Naturally, today, the Delhi Police has reasons to be confident that the final nail has been driven into the coffin of gangsterism.
Even so, there are bound to be the small-time operators like Ravi Prakash and Pinki – their names figure among those accused of the Personal Point murders – who are aspiring to graduate big time, with no dearth of unscrupulous people ever ready to hire them to do their dirty work. There’s no room for lowering our vigil.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in The Indian Express on 29.6.1996 Better Living /Crime Beat Column
By Maxwell Pereira
Has the spectre of gangsterism and hired killings lifted its head once again in the Capital, as is being speculated in the aftermath of the Personal Point triple-murder?
It may sound odd, especially since the Delhi Police has prided itself over its success in keeping the ‘mafia’ out of the city. So, let me explain. When one talks of crime and criminals in a city, what comes to mind invariably is the ‘underworld’, thanks to the influence of Hollywood blockbusters. And unlike in Bombay, there’s no activity that fits the term ‘underworld’ or ‘organised crime’ in Delhi.
Not that the kingpins of organized crime haven’t made attempts to make inroads into Delhi. You may recall the arrest in 1993 of five notorious criminals belonging to the Dawood Ibrahim gang. These arrests made by the Delhi Police were widely acclaimed and we’re still experiencing their fallout – for instance, it’s not been long since we witnessed high drama over the arrest of a former union minister on charges of harbouring some of these very gangsters.
The Delhi Police, in fact, has thwarted several such attempts by gangsters – like Bombay’s Vinod Bikramaiah and Sunil – to penetrate the Capital. Police investigations revealed their designs to seek an alliance with the criminal gangs of Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh to take root and strike terror in northern India.
This was when gangsters in western U.P. were taking advantage of the fact that Delhi’s borders have always been notional; the Capital’s faceless society, moreover, offers a perfect haven for criminals seeking anonymity. As a result, instances of these criminals extorting ‘protection money’ from businessmen on both sides of the Delhi- UP border were no longer a rarity. And within Delhi, there were others who discovered a lucrative career in forcibly evicting lenants and grabbing expensive plots of land under dispute.
It was only a matter of time before this reservoir of muscle power graduated into the arena of kidnappings for ransom. Even when the accused were caught, the investigation and prosecution of these cases posed a problem because hardly any evidence was forthcoming, with neither the victims nor the potential witnesses cooperating with the police. It was clear that the moneyed class was not only in the grip of a fear psychosis, but also was becoming increasingly cynical about the police machinery’s ability to contain the crime graph.
Having served in the Delhi Police during those ominous years, I witnessed both the seamy and the bright side, the latter being the force’s determination to contain the menace. Detecting the malady even as it was taking root and spreading slowly but steadily, and sensing in its early stages the future possibilities, the Delhi Police spent considerable time researching the trends, identifying the gangs, and planning suitable strategies to control these criminals.
As a first step, to improve surveillance over known criminals, the professional efficiency of Delhi’s policemen was sought to be increased by streamlining the process of maintaining police station records. Then, steps were taken to ensure prompt, impartial and professional investigation of cases, without, of course, ignoring the demands of preventive policing.
A special drive was started to battle the threat from gangs operating on the Delhi-UP border, with a determined effort to exterminate them. Special teams were formed in all the nine police districts of Delhi, and in the Crime Branch, to begin the crackdown on identified gangs. And recognizing the sensitive nature of the cases, the Crime Branch Special Cell handpicked investigating officers and put them through intensive training.
The efforts yielded results, with more than 50-odd important gang members falling into the police net in a span of less than a year. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Delhi and Ghaziabad police forces, major gangsters were either arrested or eliminated in encounters, and they included Mohinder Fauzi, Tejpal, Satbir Gujjar, Gopal Thakur, Narinder alias Babu Tyagi, Naresh alias Nasso, Brij Mohan Tyagi.
The crowning moment came last year with the daylight encounter in Mehrauli on March 28 that accounted for the dreaded Rajbir Ramala; it was followed by more action, this time in Faridabad on July 20, when Ram Pal Gujjar was ‘done’ in, both in daring operations executed by Delhi’s West District Police team personally led by the DCP. Naturally, today, the Delhi Police has reasons to be confident that the final nail has been driven into the coffin of gangsterism.
Even so, there are bound to be the small-time operators like Ravi Prakash and Pinki – their names figure among those accused of the Personal Point murders – who are aspiring to graduate big time, with no dearth of unscrupulous people ever ready to hire them to do their dirty work. There’s no room for lowering our vigil.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in The Indian Express on 29.6.1996 Better Living /Crime Beat Column
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