The Stages

A drunken man, against me passed,
his head dizzy, his body aghast!
I gave him a stern glance,
but his happiness seemed to forever last.
His hands were covered with gloves,
while his face pale as a grey dove.
His ego wasn’t flaunting high above,
and peace to himself he had in bout.
No force could seem to denude,
his hallucination, unlike common mood.
Then to me it struck,
tranquility he had amidst all the muck;
Fighting from his fears he stood strong,
intoxication, that wouldn’t hold him long!


A saintly man, against me passed,
his head calm, his pace unsurpassed,
I gave him a convivial glance,
knowing his happiness sure would forever last.
His hands were adorned with holy beads,
his face, bright, a sign accomplishing great deeds,
and serenity to himself he had indeed.
No force could seem to denude,
his exhilaration, unlike common mood.
Then to me it struck,
tranquility he gained, not by luck;
Fighting against his fears and all the worldly muck,
salvation, that held him strong,
without a doubt very, very long.


A common man, against me passed,
his head perplexed, his body harassed,
I gave him a concerned glance,
hoping his happiness would return from the lost.
His hand held a bag very tight,
his face displayed anxiousness full of might,
portraying that,
peace to himself he has to receive as a right.
No force could seem to denude,
his anticipation, unlike common mood.
Then to me it struck,
tranquility he might gain, if he tried his luck;
Fighting for glory amidst all this worldly muck,
his life seemed to be hunting for success but somewhere stuck.
Peace within him he would someday find,
the day he left his materialistic instincts right behind.

A Christmas Story

So, I woke up this morning, the 24th of December and was rather dazed to see Anita, my little sister all dressed up, her little bed neatly tucked and her sitting with a very warm smile on that cute bed completely occupied by lifeless stuffed animals which she adored more than herself. She was sparkling clean, dressed in a beautiful pink frock and had such an affectionate aura which made me wish I could see her angelic self every single day I woke up. While appreciating her with a very groggy voice and assuring her of how admiring and happy Santa Claus is going to be I figured how I went through a similar routine when I was her age. When I was seven, I would make sure, every 24th of December, to hang a sock on the mantelpiece with my name beautifully stitched on it and would wait desperately for midnight to arrive so that I could be blessed with Santa’s love which of course was felt mostly through the wonderful presents he got me. “Aah, those were the days, days when I so looked forward for Christmas, the happiest time of the year.” I said to myself.

I finally got out of bed at around noon and hit the streets to go fetch some groceries from the store for the very merry Christmas my huge Roman Catholic family was planning on having tonight. As I entered the store, I could see Rohan walk past me right inside and scream out, “Feliz Navidad”, loud enough for the entire store to turn around and give us an approving glance. “Merry Christmas man”, I said in response. Rohan, had been my best friend ever since I remember. I recollected an incident back when we were in the 7th grade, when I got into quite a gory fight with another classmate of mine; and just at the moment when there was a slight possibility of me having a fractured nose, Rohan bumped in and received, that one excruciating injury on my behalf, which in fact had eventually damaged a his nose and had made it grow into an angle completely against how god had perhaps wanted it to have been. “Aah”, I said again, “those were the days, when I so looked forward for Christmas, the happiest time of the year.” Rohan and I decided we’d go pick the cake up together; we walked down to the “Cheeseria”, the bakery which gave humanity the most heavenly cheese cakes, and also were very apt for the divine occasion. “Silver bells… Silver bells… It’s Christmas time in the city” Jim Reeves was crooning in the background.

While we were making sure we picked the perfect flavored cake for tonight’s grand gala, I felt someone pat me on my back. I cannot describe how beautiful she looked, still as charming as she did 5 years back when we finished school. Her eyes seemed to still hold a melody to it, the fluttering of her eyelashes and the beautiful smile that lit up her face all summed up to it being a celestial sight. “Hey.. Anisha, Merry Christmas.” I said, “Seasons greetings!”, she replied with the usual sparkle of naughtiness in her speech. “So, all set for the party?” she asked. Again I got thrown into a day, back when I had just finished school. “Are the results out yet?”, I enquired. Anisha and I were at her place, on her Computer checking if our board exam results were out. “Yes! She said” with a sudden high pitched shriek. “Have I passed?, Sweetheart, I’m worried!”, I said. Anisha and I were dating back then. “I passed!!” she said in a higher tone which nearly deafened me, “and me?”, I asked again, she entered my roll number and hit the search button and as expected, I failed math. I looked stunned, rather constipated for a minute, and the next minute, my eyes were filled with tears. She held on to my hand, and assured me everything would be fine. Well, it wasn’t, even after reevaluation, I hadn’t passed and then began the actual trials of life. My parents had me grounded for a whole year and all I could here was the word “STUDIES!”. Anisha had joined college and had taken up science, PCMB, to be more specific since she always wanted to be a doctor. In spite of all the difficulty she had in college with all the assignments, the truckload of studies to do, and the torture called tuitions to which her parents used to subject her, every single day, without fail, she would come home and make sure she taught me math for at least 2 hours. And she would be so serious at it, that all the love she had for me deep down her heart reflected on every sum we did together. In a few months, I had mastered Hyperbola’s and Eclipse’s besides beginning to find integration and algebra rather easy. I cleared my math paper when I reappeared for it and was back in college. The environment was all I dreamt of with friends and parties all coming throbbing into my life, and yes, I slowly began to ignore Anisha. And then came the day, when we completely stopped speaking, I hadn’t even heard from her for the rest of her time at Pre-University College. One fine day, I received a call, “Bye Neil, I’m leaving for Delhi. I’ve got a seat in AIIMS.”, she said. And that is when, I remembered, how she truly mattered to me. After I got into college, I forgot the sacrifices Anisha had made for me, and now I remembered for a second, how much I loved her and how I did not wish to lose her. “Don’t go..” I said in an upset tone. “I am.” She said and that’s the last I heard from her until today “Aah”, I said yet again, “those were the days, when I so looked forward for Christmas, the happiest time of the year.” “Neil!” she said, flashing her hand in front of my eyes. “All set for the party” she asked again, “I’m sorry Anisha.”, I said, “You should come, I am looking forward to your entire family.” “We are coming! So I’ll see you then?” “Yeah sure, bye Anisha.” I said, Anyways, we had zeroed down on Blueberry, and headed back home.

“Dad, anything else I need to buy for this evening?”, I asked. “Have you ordered the cake already?”, “Yes dad.”, I said. “Son, this Christmas is going to be special, it’s the last Christmas you will be spending here, before you set out on your voyage, sailor.”, my dad said, with an expression of pride on his face. I had gotten into the Merchant Navy, and when those two words appeared in my mind, I ventured back on my tour of the past. “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”, was the subtle song being played in a very low volune on the background. Well, it truly was a white Christmas, or rather grey, I had my Marine Services entrance exams in three days which happened to be the 26th of December, and for the first time in all my life, with such a close proximity to Christmas, I was actually studying. I still remember the conversations I used to have with my father during those days when I used to decide on what I wished to be in life. I came to realize how supportive my father was, he would always tell me to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Even during days when I would spend nights with my friends, my father would only be supportive, the trust he had on me, his son, was phenomenal. My dad has always been a friend and even when I was preparing for my exams, the Christmas celebrations at home were completely restricted, all so that, I could prepare for my tests peacefully. He even ensured that if I decided not to get into the Marine Services five minutes before my exam, I could come back home to them, my beloved parents. Those were the times, when I had guilt in my mind not because I wasn’t a good son, only because, I wasn’t good enough for such wonderful parents and then again my mind said to itself. “Aah, those were the days, when I so looked forward for Christmas, the happiest time of the year.”

The night arrived, “Silent night, holy night”, my mother and the rest of the family sang with the men folk strumming their guitars all with a glass of home-made wine in their hands. Everyone who mattered to me were there. Anita, was dressed in a white gagra choli and looked like Gloria the angel. I could see Anisha, she looked prettier than ever in a scarlet red gown which she had worn for the prayer service at church prior to the party at my place. Today, I celebrated my very own insightful welcome to a very merry Christmas. And tomorrow, I was leaving for a long time, away from family, away from friends, so I thought to myself, why not speak and make everyone know why this Christmas has been so special to me. I went towards the mantelpiece where Anita’s red sock hung and began to speak, “Merry Christmas everyone! Today, I saw Santa Claus, and trust me he is as true as I expected him to be 15 years back.” I saw my maid slowly lead Anita outside the room into the garden noticing the doubtful frown appearing on her face. “So”, I said, “the day I realized Santa Claus was in fact my dad, I was bewildered, I was angry and was very annoyed by the fact that I was being made a fool ever since I was a kid about Santa Claus’s very existence. But today, I realized how Santa Claus truly looked. Santa Claus, looks like my parents, for every time I dreamt, they gave me their palms to build my dreams on, they trusted me more than I can ever trust myself, they gave my life the very meaning to it, the love my parents give me is Santa Claus, the truest gift given to me by God above. I also discovered the Santa Claus within Rohan, who never allowed life to mess with me, his best friend. For being there all the time, for giving me strength when I had lost mine, for being my best friend and sticking through all the turmoil’s I have got myself through, giving me the purest form of a gift called friendship from my God above. I found the gift of innocence in my little sister Anita, the way she dressed up this morning, awaiting the arrival of Christmas with such genuine enthusiasm in her eyes. I found the gift of love, through all of you, my family, my friends for making life what it is, for making my family strong by bringing to us so much peace and contentment. And finally, I found the gifts of adoration, affection, friendship and sacrifice, in you my lovely Anisha, the most beautiful Santa Claus I’ve ever seen. You gave me your friendship when I needed it, your affection when I lacked it and your Sacrifice when I lost myself. I love you as much and more than what I did when you left for Delhi, and I wish I can have you, my beautiful Santa Claus forever in my life. Who said Santa Claus doesn’t exist? All of you are my Santa Claus’s. The greatest of happiness lies in our own perception and my perception today for once showed me where God had placed the most magnificent of gifts specially for me, he had placed them within all of you and today I do not look forward to Christmas anymore, for I have finally realized that with all of your presence, everyday is but a Christmas for me. So yeah,


They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.


And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you and to me!”

And voila! What you just read is my Christmas story and my encounter with the true Santa Claus who does as a matter of fact live among us. So look around, for all you know, you might just find your Santa, sitting right next to you. Tomorrow starts a new day, a new life, a new adventure! Adios for now, and see you next Christmas!

True Perception...

I perceive at this moment,

a sensation eloquent and grand;

I am trying hard to accentuate

and relate to the present, hoping I can reach a stand.

I see it, a sight, which is magnificent and beautiful;

the sea ahead of me so wide and huge;

with waves, enormous yet calm,

a soothing breeze flows onto my face

bringing with it an aromatic scent of floral balm.

I stand on a cliff, with waves ceding their horrendous anger,

delivering salty drops of sprinkled water on my face.

The night is starry, the moon is bright,

the ambiance is everything that is nice.

I walk deeper, venturing into the dense cluster of Casuarinas;

the soft sand alleviating my heels,

as I walk further the moon light brings me more peace.

Hand in hand, my beloved’s warmth I can feel;

draped in white and aglow is she,

her rosy cheeks radiant and warm,

she nudges my arms with a glint in her eye,

assuring me this that she’d stay all through this night.

The doors of heaven must have opened galore,

For true love here blossoms by the shore.

Her adorable words make me wonder;

day never came and this night stayed longer.

Glimpses of our past I now can see,
marriage then children all happy and glee.

our love is still growing stronger,

although my beloved is now 69 and I, 70.

This day, is the day I shall hold on to forever;

A day of love, a day for me to remember.

The night persists, and our souls meet,

togetherness in complete is what we seek,

life has almost reached its very end,

and all we want is to be jubilant.

Love to me is her;

And that’s the love I have always seen,

and today, her arms entwined in mine,

is all that I could forever seek.

My love for you baby, shall never be weak;
It shall be like my soul an everlasting and eterna sign.

Love through his reminiscence…

"The human heart cries out for help; the human soul implores us for deliverance; but we do not heed their cries, for we neither hear nor understand. But the man who hears and understands we call mad, and flee from him."

Several years ago, in a beautiful land far away, a young girl names Selma had won the heart of a young man who had just stepped into his adolescence. Love can either be an indescribable catastrophe or an overwhelming spectacle. What is however evident is that by the end of it, love gives to man a lesson, good or bad, a lesson well learnt. So as I was saying, Selma had bounded our dear man with her irresistible beauty, her youthfulness and most importantly, her love. The man, who had already seen life through various perspectives, was beginning to analyze Selma through a way which he had done never before. He was falling in love with her in uncontrollable pace and before he knew it Selma had carved for herself a deep niche in his heart.

As their love grew with the progress of time, the highly repressive and despotic mentality of the Eastern Nations prevented their togetherness. The love they had for each other was completely looked over and differences of caste and creed were given paramount importance. Selma was married off to another man and the love which blossomed to be pure and unblemished with the hearts and minds of two souls was tainted and fouled by the minds of the evil society. The man, learnt his first lesson through this ignominy being caused to what was most dear to him – His love for Selma. The lesson he learnt was that attachment is perhaps the most hurtful of emotions man could adopt. Living in loneliness is a good thing, for when it is lost, man tends to gain everything. Howeve

r, living in attachment is bad, for when it is lost, man loses everything.

With this loss began the unfortunate story of a man who lived hoping that his death would sooner or later come and caress him. Now, the failure of his love, and the disaster that followed in his own life because of this very reason ruined the entire spirit of his existence. However, this failure is what led him to declare to the world certain messages which have always helped in giving people answers, whenever they arrive into a position which left our man broken and emptied. He mentioned once, that love gives not from itself and takes not for itself. His entire life was a quest, a search to find an answer to all those questions which were left unanswered when his love, Selma was married off to another man. Although he lived his life in deep sorrow and pain, he made sure, he would give to all his fellow beings an answer to questions he always had in his mind. Knowing, that one day everyone would fall in a similar position like his.

Kahlil Gibran, The multi faceted Lebanese Writer and Poet is the man being referred to in the above story. His life was no less than a very damaging catastrophe. A small incident which involved love, changed his life into an eternal search for answers to his incessant queries. His writings are today the most popular and widely read pieces of philosophical literature. Nonetheless, whatever he wrote, never brought peace and tranquility to his own mind. Kahlil Gibran died because of severe liver damage caused due to his alcoholism. One incident changed his life completely and this clearly shows, that human existence is nothing but a very mystifying maze. The world has been trying to seek answers and happiness through the sorrows of this one man, that is how funny human life is. And what was  the ultimate benefit Kahlil received by the end of it? a life being lead with Broken Wings.

God, Biochemistry and my Brain

GOD KNOWS NO RELIGION

When I was a child, about five years old, my grand mother would always tell me stories which were related to God in some way or the other. Sometimes, the stories used to be straight out from any of the religious texts; other times, it used to be stories about various people, villages or the whole universe, where God’s intervention was most evident. I also couldn’t help but notice that these beautiful narrations by my Grand ma were most often just before I went to bed. Well, at five, I never chose to question my own self and seek to learn why she was so very keen on reciting these stories to me before bed time.

 

Today, fifteen years later, I woke up all alone at home, and for the first time, I was missing my grand mothers beautiful bed time stories; as always, when I miss people, this time too, I let myself embark on a journey of nostalgia. I went back in time and tried recollecting as many incidents as I could which involved three elements – Sleep, God and Stories. The first word which appeared in my mind thereafter was the word ‘Dream’. Every single time my grand ma would narrate these stories, I would have the deepest sleep with the sweetest of Dreams; I still remember how ecstatic I would feel by the end of my sleep when I used to be showered with these tales of magic. Eventually, as I grew up, I adopted one habit, reading a book before I slept, and the book I read again always had an element of God to it; to this day, I still feel I have been blessed with a wonderful piece of good fortune in the form of my sleep.

 

The love for God has always been a part of my family in fact, I hail from a very God fearing family where each day begins and ends with a prayer. My mother ever since I was a young child constantly messed about with me saying that one day I would become a very austere person; I see today where her words have led me. When I was a ninth grader, I was deeply impressed with Christianity and Jesus Christ; in fact, being a Hindu, I even refused to attend on my religious functions. I used to be prompt and punctual for Sunday Mass and would never miss out on any of the Jesus Youth Manipal Retreats. I had wonderful friends from the prayer group and had also developed a liking towards the preaching of the Bible. I completely lost myself in the ecstasy it provided me and was ready to convert myself the day I turned a major. My mother was surprisingly very supportive and always mentioned to me that God is what each of us assumes. God is not bound by the limit of any religion; she also mentioned that God is not how religion defines it; but, it is how we take it to be. Eventually, I began reading the Bhagavad Gita, and from it I learnt everything I learnt through the Gospels of the New Testament. When lord Krishna mentioned in the Gita, “Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani", urging us to do our duty without worrying about its fruit; Jesus Christ has mentioned in the Gospel of the Psalm that work is the inevitable component of our lives and that it is unavoidable. Therefore, at this point I came to terms with the biochemistry of MY average human brain. Religion was merely a cue, an indication towards what my brain wants to hear. I turned to Christianity, when I needed answers about the reasons for my low grades and how God could perhaps reveal to me an answer to improve the same. The Bhagavad Gita through Hinduism was again an indication, a cue to which I turned to when I needed an answer for my double mindedness. As I mentioned earlier, my family is a very God fearing family where each day began and ended with a prayer. God and faith has and will always be a part of my genetics. Our DNA doesn’t just carry forward our physical features but also brings along with it from generation to generation all mental components. The whole concept of God, and my linking towards him has been brought down to me by my ancestors. My genetics are the ones which have given me love for GOD and not love for RELIGION. That is precisely what made my thoughts deviate from time to time and there on from religion to religion. Religion is just a medium to crystallize human thoughts. God is one; and will always continue to be one; perpetual, everlasting and eternal.

P.S.: Thank You Trishma for posting that Status Update on Facebook today. Made me want to complete this finally.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON – CAN IT BE SUBJECTED TO JUDICIAL SCRUTINY

This is a paper I wrote which is based on The Presidential Pardon for Capital Punishment.

Let the will of the people prevail

The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the land and it enshrines the will, the aims and the aspirations of her 300 millions of people (at the time of the enactment of the Constitution in 1950), who “give to ourselves this Constitution”. The Constitution evolves a doctrine of three organs, namely the Executive, represented by the will of the people exercised through an electoral mandate of the people, the Legislative and the Judiciary for the governance of the Nation, though a separation of powers, in its absolute and rigid form between these organs of governance has not been defined in the constitution by the Founding Fathers of the Constitution. However, “the concept of reasonableness and non-arbitrariness pervades the entire Constitutional scheme and is a golden thread which runs through the whole of the fabric of the Constitution”[1]. Under this Supreme Court decree, the doctrine of Separation of Powers somewhat gets defined to a limited extent that there should be no overlapping of either functions or persons from amongst the above three organs of governance.

The will of the people is the corner stone of any democracy. The constitutional principle that the Executive organ shall exercise the will of the People places an obligation upon the Executive to be accountable to the People for managing the affairs of governance. This accountability differentiates democracy from any other system of governance. Under this principle, it can be reasonably concluded that the Constitution does not contemplate an exercise of an overriding authority nor the power to superintend the exercise of the powers and functions of mandated accountability vested upon the Executive by the Constitution, to some extent over the Executive by the two organs, namely the Legislative and the Judiciary, primarily since the Constitution has not bestowed upon the Legislative nor the Judiciary a mandate to be accountable to the Will of the People. In other words, it would be reasonable to conclude that by this Constitutional principle, the Judiciary does not possess an amorphous supervisory power to supervise the functions and powers vested to the Executive organ in so fat as much that the exercise of the Executive power and functions conform to the Constitutional principles mandated upon the Executive for governance. The constitution, however, as a measure of abundant caution provides for the Judiciary to exercise a power of a watch dog to shape the governance of the Executive to ensure the Rule of Law in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Capital punishment in India or the death penalty (Death by hanging) has been on the statute books since 1860. The death penalty has been imposed on conviction of such offences as murder, instigating a child’s suicide, treason and mutiny, acts of terrorism etc. The Supreme Court has laid down that this punishment is to be imposed in the “rarest of rare cases”, albeit, the meaning of the law declared by Supreme Court has not been clearly defined by the Apex Court. In the absence of clear guidelines for applying the sentence of death penalty, judges have a great deal of discretion in deciding capital punishment. As a result, whether an accused is hanged for a particular crime largely depends upon the views and discretion of the individual judge at the trial stage, given the facts and extenuating circumstances of the case.

The death penalty is the ultimate, inhuman and degrading punishment. The death penalty violates the fundamental human right, that is, the right to life as enshrined and guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and the right to life guaranteed under Article 2 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It follows that the sentence of death penalty needs to be viewed in the critical light consistent with a country’s commitment to democracy and Human Rights obligations. It needs to be said with some hesitancy that the beacon of human rights fall short of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights even in many established democracies including India. In principle, therefore, trials should be extremely fair and the question whether the accused has been found guilty to be visited with the death sentence should confirm to a standard of fairness regarded by a civilized judicial system in conformity with Human Rights. In the event the answer to this principle is “No”, then it cannot be said that there is a case to award death penalty, even “in the rarest of rare” cases. In the Indian Legal System, it is clear that not all the accused who are visited with the death penalty had access to a fair trial and/nor legal representation at various stages of judicial process for a variety of reasons. Therefore when a legal process, which falls considerably short of international fair trial standards, has made an imposition of a death sentence then clearly the danger of the death penalty will be a clear miscarriage of justice and therefore justice under such conditions can never be guaranteed. Without casting aspersions on the road map of judicial access to a fair trial which may be made available to an accused of common stature in India, who has been visited with a death sentence under the above conditions, then it is a clear case that the execution of death sentence in such a case will be irrevocable and can be inflicted upon an innocent. Therefore the application of death sentence is subject to human fallibilities and failure and/or denial of access to a fair trial in a judicial process. This unfortunate position, if reached in the judicial process, is best summed up in the words of Justice PN Bhagwati of the Supreme Court in the Kehar Singh case of assassination of smt Indira Gandhi – “The possibility of error in judgment cannot therefore be ruled out on any theoretical considerations. It is indeed a very light possibility and it is not at all unlikely that so long as a death penalty remains a constitutionally valid alternative, the Court or the State acting through the instrumentality of the Court may have on its conscience the blood of an innocent man”.

In a civilized world “the whole goal of punishment is curative. Accent must be more on rehabilitation rather than retributive punitivity inside the prison[2].” Statistically, in India since the time of independence, 55 cases of death sentence has been executed, the last execution by hanging being 14th August 2004, that of Dhananjoy Chaterjee, and an estimated 20 cases of death sentence détentes is now under the consideration for Presidential Pardon, after exhausting all other legal avenues for the remission of the death sentence. A case for the abolition of the death penalty from the judicial system has gained momentum and credence, for the simple reason that the award of the death sentence has not known to produce a deterrent factor in the commission of offences and is a violation of the fundamental right to life as guaranteed under the Constitution. In the words of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi “I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows. God alone can take life because he gives it”. Dr Abdul Kalam who recently laid down the high office of President has also expressed this philosophy “I cannot give life to anyone, I don’t see why I should give death” and eposes that convicts under death sentence need to be treated with compassion, counseling and spiritual guidance instead if condemning to the gallows, whilst pleading for Presidential pardon to be granted in the above estimated 20 cases of death sentence awaiting Presidential pardon during his Presidential tenure. As a matter of record, Dr Abdul Kalam inherited 12 cases of feath sentence for presidential pardon from his predecessor namely Shri K R Narayanan and has now left to his successor, Smt Pratiba Patil the sensitive and controversial dossier of Presidential pardon in the estimated 20 cases of death sentence détentes awaiting the execution of death.

Article 72 and Article 161 of the Constitution enshrines the power of the President and that of the Governor respectively to grant pardons etc. and to suspent, remit or commute sentence in certain cases. In the exercise of this power under Article 161, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh in 2006 granted pardon to Gowru Venkata Reddy, an individual with political leanings who was convicted 10 years imprisonment in a murder case. The grant of this pardon was challenged by the Supreme Court and the Bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice S H Kapadia in August 2006, proceeded to examine and review the constitutional provisions of the Presidential power to grant pardon. This decision of the Supreme Court has sparked off a debate and case as to whether the Apex Court is constitutionally empowered to review the inherent power of the president as vested in Article 71 on the Constitution to grant pardon. The case of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri militant awarded the death sentence for the attack on parliament in 2001 has also appealed for Presidential pardon and the decision of Supreme Court to review the power of the President to grant pardon under Article 72 has ignited the above debate, leading to questions of judicial activism or judicial interference in the governance of the state by the Executive organ of the Constitution.

Article 53 of the Constitution enshrines the Executive Power of the Union “the Executive Power of the Union shall be vested in the president and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinate to him in accordance with this constitution”. The President is therefore the head of the Executive organ of the Constitution, which enjoys the mandate and will of the people. The expression “executive power” is not defined anywhere in the Constitution, but it is now a well established principle of law that the Executive exercises the powers of the subordinate legislation and administrative justice. For the reasoning made out above with regard to the mandate of accountability enjoyed by the Executive it may be said that the Executive function overrides the claims of the other two organs namely that of the Legislative and the Judiciary.

Article 72 of the Constitution enshrines that “the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence” and more specifically under Article 72(c) “in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death”. It is clear that the power vested in the President under Article 72 is a prerogative and discretion of the President. The dictionary[3] meaning of prerogative is “a right or privilege that nobody else has,”, “a special superiority of right of privilege”, “having or exercising a prerogative.”

A pardon is an act of grace, which may be absolute or conditional. The act of pardon and the power to grant pardon is best summed up in Balmukund Vs King Emperor, where the Judicial Committee said “the tendering of advice to His Majesty as to the exercise of the prerogative of pardon is a matter for the executive Government, and is outside their lordships province”. The reason why the Executive, represented by “the lordships province”, is given the power to grant pardons and reprise etc., is explained by Chief Justice Taft in an American case[4] “Executive clemency exists to afford relied from undue harshness or evident mistake in the operation or enforcement of the criminal law. The administration of justice by the court is not necessarily always wise or certainly considerate of circumstance, which may properly mitigate guilt. To afford a remedy, it has always been thought essential in popular governments, as well as in monarchies, to vest in some other authority than the courts power to ameliorate or avoid particular criminal judgments. It is a check entrusted to the executive for special cases. Our Constitution confers this discretion on the highest officer in the nation in confidence that he will not abuse it.”

The Apex Court in the past, in Kehar Singh Vs Union of India declined to lay down any guidelines for the exercise of the President’s power under Article 72 of the Constitution and unanimously held “it seems to us that there is sufficient indication in the terms of Article 72 and in the history of the power enshrined in that provision as well as exiting case-law, and specific guidelines need not be spelled out. Indeed, it may not be possible to lay down any precise, clearly define and sufficiently channelised guidelines, for we remember that the power under Article 72 is of the widest amplitude, can contemplate myriad kinds and categories of cases with facts and situations varying from case to case, in which the merits and reasons of state may be profoundly assisted by prevailing occasion and passing time”. There is a fit case now for the Supreme Court to lay down the broad guidelines to aid and advice the President in exercise of the power under Article 72 in the event should the President receive aid and advice from the Council of Ministers which may appear to be blatantly violate the broad guidelines laid sown by the Supreme Court.
[1] Ajay Hasia v. Khalid Mujib (1981) 1 SCC 722, 741, Also Kasturi Lal v. State of J & K. (1980) 4 SCC 1.
[2] Nadella Venkata Krishna Rao vs. State of AP – AIR 1978 SC 480: 1978 Cr LJ 641: 1978 SCC 208: 1978 SCC (Cr) 799
[3] World Book Dictionary – prepared and published by the World Book Incorporated, Publishers of World Book Encyclopedia
[4] Ex parte Grossman, 267 US 87:69 L Ed 527

India - A Free Country !

A speech I wrote for a Debate Competition, favouring the Motion that India is indeed a Free Country.

“Agar Firdaus-e-rooh-e-Zameen Ast, Hami Ast ho, Hami Ast ho, Hami ast”

A very good morning esteemed panel of judges and my dear friends, I stand here, proud, I stand here with a valiant sense of conviction, I stand here as one though many, I stand here, as an Indian.

India is indeed a free country, with 60 years gone by as independence and over 2000 years of an enriched legacy to learn from, Amir Khusrau’s words, that when he stepped on the Indian soil, he saw heaven still persists verbatim. Freedom, is an expression where we are probably aware of our rights and duties, the Indian Constitution one of the longest and most well designed Constitutions in the world supports and justifies this word – Freedom.

In 60 years of Independence, India has reached new milestones in establishing individual freedom and liberty. The judiciary along with the executive as well as the legislature have tried level best to establish individualism within the citizens of our country while ascertaining a lot of freedom and liberty. If we question, India’s progress as an independent country through the sixty years that have gone by, I would possibly say, that the progress is highly commendable. Looking back into the history of America, sixty years through their independence, the nation’s freedom was least available owing to the drudgery the slaves had to go through, thus leading it all to a civil outcry.

India, on the other hand, being a secular country has guaranteed so much of freedom to her citizens that in spite of various presence of diversities based on Religion, Caste, language and what not, we have still held ourselves united and together. The Indian law particularly has forever kept in mind all the religious sentiments of various religions which exist in the Indian society. We often question the presence of various laws, however, if not for the flexibility of the Indian Judiciary, we would have possibly been driven to live under a strict presence of dictatorial leaders. The Indian system of freedom, is like that of a mother to her children, when Keshavananda Bharathi felt that the Constitution should bring about strict rules on amendments, he appealed to the Judiciary for which his word was taken and the decision ruled in his favour. It seems to me, that the current system prevailing in India is more like a relationship as shared between a mother and her child.

When India, is known to be the great grand mother of tradition, she has also welcomed change towards modernism with open hands. When India, was known as the Grandmother of legend, she has welcomed westernization with a lot of love. If today, people feel, that India is not in pace with the developments of the world at large, I would urge them to think again, we develop unlike China, where the Constitution though quite lenient completely restricts fundamental rights in most situations; we develop unlike Japan, where each man day wasted means a weeks cut in your salary; we develop unlike the United States, where recession has led Ph.d Scholars to find jobs in super markets, We develop as Indians, where we believe greatly in the values of traditions whilst giving great impetus to futuristic developments. We develop as Indians, where we give our respects to the Individual freedom looking not at them, but at that god which lives in them. With this I would I would like to conclude.

Namaste and Assalam Walaikum to that God that lives within each one of you. Long live Free India.

Quotable Quotes - Part 2

These are a few quotes, mentioned down below, which make me weak on my knees every time I read them. Maybe its because I connect to them or because I am trying to. But the bottom line is that, it gives me a kind of a tingle and I love it. Just sharing them with you. :)

• Jan zatan burdi wa darjani hunooz;Dard-ha daadi wa darmani hunooz.Aashkara seen-e am bashugaafti;Hamchunan dar seen-e pinhani hunooz.Ma za girya chun namak bagudakhtim;Tu bakhunda shukr afshani hunooz.
  You carried the soul from (my) body – and yet, You are still in the soul;You have given pains – and are still the remedy;Openly you split my chest –Yet, you are still hidden in my heart.You have destroyed the kingdom of my heart With the sword of coquetry, And are still a ruler in that place…. - Amir Khusrau
• I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love. - Leo Tolstoy
• Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. - Gibran Kahlil Gibran
• Khaana-e darvesh ra sham’ee ba az mehtaab neest. To light the beggar’s hut no candle is better than moonlight. - Amir Khusrau

More to be updated soon! :)

Making a Difference

We all live in a world which is changing in many ways with every single day that passes. Today, we have all reached a point where movements like “Zeitgeist” are gaining phenomenal popularity. The entire intention behind the formation of such a movement according to me is very much bona fide in nature, and why not? How many of us are ready to do one bit for the ones who are not as fortunate as we are? How many of us, are ready to share that knowledge which are parents thought we deserve? And then, at the end of it all, we all question the very presence of God almighty. It’s high time we woke up from our deep slumber and gave it a thought, god made us for a reason; we are here with an obligation not just to sustain ourselves but in fact, to do our bit and help sustain others.



If you think you have all it takes to help others, or if you have been looking for ways, through which you can make a difference to mankind, join us at, Make a Difference (MAD) and help us, help them. Yes, it’s high time you go MAD!

So if you want to be a part of this, mail me: kirti.blaze@gmail.com

Woman - Eternal

From the time you were born, newly innocent without scorn,
with the first air that touched your skin,
a fickle fortune came to begin.

Cradled as the fairer sex,
So Gentle and Uncomplex,
Societies labels against you pressed,
on your psyches, like a crest.

Choices you've made, battles you've fought,
your true instincts, never distort,
The world did keep on an even keel,
while you were strotting around on your stiletto heels.

Education, Sports, Politics,
Your babies bottles would never conflict,
You took everything to your heart,
Making for yourself, each day,
A brand new start.

You are the Women, We Hear you Roar,
Soft as petals, yet Hard Core!
You are the Earth,
your tears are the rain,
And most importantly, your Love, is the greatest Gift,
Any Man Can Gain.

Like the petals of a flower ready to shrivel,
at the touch of anything but not of its own
but the flower has to bloom
the other will reach beauty and wither away with duty
And the budding tendril waiting to untwine from the shrivel of umbiliciwill
live each chapter blossoming and knowing its fate to
surrender to incarnation of part and parcel such is
the mother of a son,as is she to her own.