Mickey...the mouse predator ; )

After a long time a friend complained of inactivity on my part, that I have been unfair to the regular or even intermittent visitors of this blog by remaining silent for almost 2 months now. It felt nice. However, another request was not that delicate, it was rather a dictate not to write anything about felines and canines (“your kuttey-billi brigade” was the actual expression used) this time. I am happy to oblige for the former; for the latter, I cannot help. : )

So, this is the story of Mickey…only that it is not a mouse but a cat--a huge and old Tom cat that has started frequenting my place. All that he wants is milk…those old jaws cannot eat anything solid it seems.

Mickey...Oh those lovely green eyes! (Don't ogle at my bowl Okay...itssssssssssss MINE)

What else is special about Mickey, apart from the misnomer name…I will tell you in a moment. Meanwhile you enjoy this other family...

Yes...a kitty and her kittus...Jowar and Bajra

The mother (who has white patches) is a killer of the first order, she not only devoured the sparrow chicks that were in a nest above my window cooler, but ate the parents as well. The kittens, Jowar and Bajra [and now don’t ask me the reason for such apparently weird christening…creativity should not be stifled through requirement of justification/s : ))] are dumb though.

Get the complete picture now?

The mother, it seems tunes in to ‘Meow 104.8’ every day and so is a liberated feline…what else can explain her prolonged absence from the scene when her kittens are yet to begin hunting independently.

Family reunion : )...But...uh-oh the Kitty gotta go!

So while the ‘kitty’ parties, our Kitta (Mickey) takes care of the two really mischievous ‘kittus’! Yes, that is what makes Mickey special…role reversal amongst animals…do we have a message for Indian men here! : ))

Name game : )

Naming pets can also be a recreational exercise or perhaps a personal vocabulary test. Recently, I met a long lost friend of mine in a hyper-excited state. His Labrador was now a proud mother of 2 pups. Name of the family? Well, since the father was ‘Chai’ and the mother ‘Coffee’, the pups, both male, were aptly named ‘Cutting’ and ‘Cup’! Chai, Coffee, Cutting and Cup! A canine family of beverages, replete with the necessary vessel! What can we say? Creative? : )

Another friend’s saintly but greedy dogs, ‘Morsel’ and ‘Nibbles’ (: ), great names, I know and very apt, let me tell you!) had a not-so-saintly male pup and they called him ‘BITE’! Cool na!

My Totto does not have a very creative name, hence I try and make up by calling him names! ; ). So, totto becomes topsy, tinkles, dinkles, tupsy, lappu, dodo, dump and so on…and he responds to all of them! (That’s because mostly dogs understand the tone of your voice. They can make out when one is referring to them). Once, when he did not respond, I cried out a series of his rhyming names…Lump (no response)…Stump (a raised eyebrow), dump (a stir). And suddenly, it all fit. He was a plump, lump of a dump! : )). We burst out laughing, but a bewildered Totto was not amused! : )

Romanticising the Workshop

The Upendra Baxi workshop has been far above my expectations…the simplicity of that apparently eccentric academician is striking. For two days I sat there, mute and mesmerized, completely beguiled by his impeccable charms, charisma and ofcourse the inimitable style. I should stop here, lest I be branded as a sycophant! : )

Insofar as the content is concerned, ofcourse, I did not understand all of it. It is sometimes difficult to get his drift; to board his train of thought.

I am here documenting some of the points that my mind cataloged (all of which I enumerate may not be his thoughts as such…many indeed are the ones he just recounted; but nonetheless I heard them at the workshop), and those which do not cease to amuse me every now and then. : )

1) How to make jurisprudence interesting? Well, raise questions; let the spirit of renaissance not die. Reinforce the fact that while it might be prudent to rely on the intellectual wealth of the preceding generations, the capacity to think was definitely not exhausted by them! How simple and yet so difficult to achieve!

2) Take examples from daily life…without the fear of being charged for ‘vulgarizing high traditional knowledge’. The example of the movie Shahenshah wherein the protagonist epitomized the Austinian concept of power and authority and enacted the directive principles of state policy by the night was hilarious and yet so apt. : )

3) Speaking of humor, the capacity to laugh and make light of the situation is a must. It invigorates the audience…a skill perfectly displayed by the maestro.

4) Habit, Custom, Tradition, Rule and Practice are all different concepts and can/should not be used interchangeably. Words should not be taken lightly as they are powerful. They create an impact.

5) The entire world comprises of two types of people…those who are book worms and the rest who are ordinary worms! : ). It is up to us which category we choose to be in.

6) Why should we study human law and not divine law? Because renaissance saw it is a sign of progress to study human will than the divine commandment; after all it was supposed to regulate human behavior.

7) There are five types of judges…and this was brilliant…1) Activists, 2) Restraint prone, 3) Moody and temperamental, 4) Dullards and 5) lazy bones! The last ones just hijack someone else’s efforts by writing ‘I agree' at the end of someone else's opinion!

8) Jurisprudence is just a method of reading law. On ‘reading’, he had so many pearls to share…

· It is a misconception that writing should precede reading. How can one possibly read an unwritten constitution?!

· Reading is a political activity…it is impossible to be completely neutral while reading. So, nothing like objective reading exists. Your own ideas, beliefs and internal convictions would make you read even what is not written.

· Reading like a man is different from reading like a woman! Oh yes, I love this one! A woman would inevitably be more sensitive and emotional towards things…especially women related aspects. So true…often I quote in my lectures on feminist jurisprudence that while a man might read section 376 of the IPC as just another crime against the human body, only a woman would understand and perhaps live through the ordeal that it explains. All, I believe, stems from the fact that a woman experience is essentially different from that of a man…and infact sometimes, there is no parallel male experience available to enable them understand the whole issue. Hence their understandings remain incomplete mostly, for no fault of theirs! Okay…so I am digressing here a bit! :)

· Reading is either Complacency or Resistance…so says one of my many scribblings...no clue what this means…I forgot!

· Birth of a reader entails the death of the author…fantastic, I must say! Sovereignty of interpretation is the denial of the authority of the author…whatever might have been the intention of the author in writing a piece, the reader has a right to interpret and read it in his/her own way…attribute his/her own connotations to it. Yes, indeed! By way of example, he gave the instance where the Supreme Court judges interpret a point of law by attributing everything to the ‘intention of the founding fathers of the Constitution!’

· Limits of my language are the limits of my words…again, so true! Some time ago I read a quote in the Readers’ Digest which said something to the effect that one cannot write what one cannot imagine…it’s the same difficulty I guess.

· Reading involves dissection, demolition, reassembling and redoing…I forget what exactly it was that he said…

· Word is the world…someone help me on this. There was more to this...the capacity of human mind to forget is remarkable isn’t it!

9) An activist would consider speaking for others morally wrong, so he/she speaks with others…another option is to speak after (in regard to) others when it becomes impossible to speak with others…say when one is protesting for animal rights…cool distinction I must say!

10)Why the Constitution is called the ‘constitution’ and not anything else? Any novel thoughts on this one? ; )

11) Some people say that ‘we the people of India’ constitute the sovereign…but how can the quintessential common man…illiterate, impoverished…with no roof over his head, no bread to eat, minimal shred of clothing over his body, and not even the prospect of a decent burial be a part of the sovereign? Well said…Laxman’s common man just lost another case! : )

12) Then somewhere he mentioned something…bits and pieces of a story which included the following quote “I am a regular bullshitter myself, but I do not mind an expert doing it for me occasionally!” Sorry, I do not remember the context…loved the saying though ; )

13) When someone felt offended at one of his remarks, he quipped that if he ever intends to insult, there would not be any ambiguity to it!!

14) Upenisms…his experiments with language…one of the best ones stated that Constitution is of three types…C1, C2 and C3. C1 comprises the pure form…the words on paper; C2, the interpretation given by the State and citizens wherein the politicians act out of self interest and the citizens out of ‘enlightened’ self interest!; C3 is that ideal form that does not exist but influences C1. Original! Nothing more to say…

15) Perhaps the most disturbing of all for me was his idea of demolishing the manner of teaching through schools of law…as it promotes parochial thinking, stifles creativity. Now, when I see it…it appears to be so true. Why schools…why not topic wise…or say scholar wise…to keep things less rigid/more fluid. As he said, in some context which I again forget…we should change…by teaching the same things, we systematically foster and prescribe ignorance and then make rhetoric about lack of intellectual progress (or gripe about stagnation, if I may take the liberty to modify: ))

I am sure there were more …and it is the capacity of my mind that has failed me…would definitely add as I remember.

Meanwhile enjoy these!!

: )

Lovely place...Cardiff

Daffodils...they grow like wild weeds everywhere in Wales; no wonder it is their national flower!

Cardiff (capital of Wales) is a poets paradise. With every other nook being lovlier than the previous one...with woods of deciduous trees standing thick, with rows of maple, birch, chestnet, oak and many others alongside River Taff; and wild daffodils peeping at you from each cranny, one cannot help but remember William Wordsworth...a tribute to that avid nature lover...

I wandered lonely as a Cloud

That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
...And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

When I die...

Sifting though your student days class notes can be fun sometimes.
See what I bumped into...
These were my sentiments then about Juris.
And as luck would have it, I teach it now...and enjoy it too!


When I die, bury me deep,

Five feet down fast asleep…

Place Dias in my right hand,

Tell the juris teacher, nothing I understand…

Lay my Salmond at my head,

He is ‘liable’ that I am dead…

I’ll make sure I meet Paton in that sleep,

He is the one who made me weep…

Ah yes…tell the teacher I've gone to rest,

And won't be back for that test

For I am using that 33% at my best…

My friends I advise not to flush,

They may fail now and avoid the Feb rush…

In the end I give no discourse

Someone tell them to scrap the course…

: )

Composed by Sunanda Bharti ages ago as a
student of LL.B, Campus Law Centre
(edited a bit for this post)

Misty Morning greets the New Year

Gurudwara Nanak Piau captured through my mobile camera. Pardon the bad pics.

The Sun God playing peek-a-boo...it was an awesome sight, with no people around to interfere in the frame...


From over the collonades surrounding the Sarovar, the rising Sun...

My new year had a blissful morning...hope yours also found you in great spirits. Here's wishing you a very happy new year 2007.

Akshay Kumar's Progress Report

His ceaseless meows can drive you nuts...

Ok...so I am cute, but tell me something I don't know... : )

Akshay Kumar is growing into a fat fluff ball. Regular gorging on Totto's Pedigree is the reason for such enviable bushy tail and fantastic whiskers. : )

He is a pro at begging btw...demands a bite from everything. That is what he is doing in the pic.
More later... : )