Tuesday 21 December 2010

Conviction and Sentence

Felton spent fourteen years in isolation in a supermax, where he was repeatedly refused to let out of solitary confinement by the state prison director in spite of a request form the senator.

Few years later the same prison director was convicted and sentenced on a different case. When Felton was asked if he would release him from solitary if he wrote to him, his reply was spontaneous.

Felton didn't hesitate for a second. “If he wrote to me to let him out, I’d let him out,” he said.
This surprised me. I expected anger, vindictiveness, a desire for retribution. “You’d let him out?” I said.
“I’d let him out,” he said, and he put his fork down to make the point. “I wouldn’t wish solitary confinement on anybody. Not even him.” *

I was wondering what made Felton to let the prison director go. From the above statement, it doesn't look like a forgive and forget kind of thing.I only think it is because Felton didn't want any one else to go through what he had experienced.

Assuming so, given an option, how many would actually let some person go free, who was fully or partly responsible for what they had to experience.

In other words, in a hypothetical judicial system in which the victim is allowed to sentence a convict, how many victims would want the convict to go through what they had experienced physically and mentally.
Will the judgement and conviction be aimed only to correct the convict or will it have a sense of revenge (fairness ??) that would make the convict to go through what the victim had experienced.

Now exaggerating a bit more, what if, the victim or the people associated with the victim has to execute the sentence themselves , in case of death sentence or something similar like solitary confinement, will the victim(s) be able to execute the sentence themselves ?

Convicting some one with death sentence or something similar seems easy to say, but if one has to do it on their own hands, I wonder how many will be able to do it.

I guess the human mind should have experienced extremes in order to do something like that.

*The complete article on Felton and Solitary confinement http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande

Sunday 19 December 2010

Death is the termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. The word refers both to the particular processes of life's cessation as well as to the condition or state of a formerly living body - Wikipedia

I wish it is so simple in reality as well. Thinking about it, its just not the termination of biological functions, its the complete cessation of the person.

Don't know how it is for the deceased, but for the people around, its like a camphor, vaporized right in front of your eyes, witnessing its existence a second ago and realizing its absence a second later.

What left behind in between these seconds are just the memories, the fading memories that could never re-take its position in reality.

Ever again.

In memory of
P.Senthil Kumar -
17 August 1983 - 19 December 2010












Wednesday 24 February 2010

SRT

Like lot other cricket fans in India, Sachin was one of the primary reasons for my early interest in cricket. Thinking about his marvel today, i just remember how i made made my family to sit in front of the TV to watch the 1996 world cup in spite of their little knowledge of the game.

His gesture after the double ton, reminded me of the days i used to wake up in front of a huge poster with Sachin looking up the sky with his bat on one hand and the helmet on the other; his acknowledgement after almost every century.

Every time when Sachin scores a quick hundred, i used to wish if he can score at the same pace and convert it to a double century, and today was no exception.

I may be wishing for the same even the next time i guess.





Saturday 30 January 2010

Recent Reads

A short review on my recent reads..

Though i am not a fan of Gandhi, i wanted to read this to see what the Father of our Nation has to say. A better title for this book would have been 'My Experiments with India and its people'. The autobiography goes till 1921 after which Gandhi says

'My life from this point onward has been so public that there is hardly anything about it that people do not know'

If only he had to write, i wonder if he would have ever talked about these unknown experiments.

I guess this is the authors début novel. Salmon Fishing comes with a simple story with an unorthodox narration. Refreshing and interesting light read. Give it a try, you may not regret :)

The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown:
Would recommend to read Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons again if you are a dire Dan fan.

I could easily call this as a multi-fold Ponniyin Selvan happening in the middle earth with the wizards and Hobbit. Undoubtedly one of the best i have read.

The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them - Sunday Times .

One of the most complex book i have ever managed to complete till date, the others being Fountain Head and Satanic Verses.
Though its was very to tough to comprehend, i liked this book more than i thought i would. A very different read. Would recommend for those who like to explore different genres of writing.

An excellent adaptation of Mahabaratha with the Indian Historians as its characters (see Wiki chart). Read this for its sarcasm and its take on Indian History. If only Tharoor knew that he would join the Kaurava party at some point of time, i doubt if he would have ever written this book.An interesting read about Indian History on a different light.

Not too many twists or surprises. Neither too good nor too bad from the first time novelist.