Courtesy:  Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100751920300.htm

Inside delhi

At a time when everyone seems caught up in his or her own myriad affairs, it is heartening to note the way the media fraternity and civil society have rallied behind young journalist Soumya Viswanathan who was shot dead this past week.

A couple of days after she was killed in her car in the middle of the night on Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj, her colleagues launched a community dedicated to her on different popular social networking websites.

Apart from colleagues, friends and classmates who had been associated with Soumya in one way or the other, numerous persons who were not known to her either personally or professionally also came forward to join the community named “Justice for Soumya Viswanathan”.

“The news of Soumya’s murder shocked me. We have never seen anything like this. We just can’t keep waiting for the authorities to do something. We have to build pressure on them and ensure that she gets justice,” says Aditya Raj Kaul, a student of Ramjas College, who was at the forefront of the public campaign for both Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lal.

He spread word about the online community by sending a link to all his friends and acquaintances to rally more support for Soumya.

Pooja Shali, who is pursuing her M.A. from Jamia Millia’s Mass Communication Research Centre, feels it is immaterial whether she knew Soumya or not because “the manner in which she died necessitates that the entire civil society stands up for her”.

“If we do not stand up now, we never will. We have become very immune to such incidents happening around us. Youngsters like us must question the authorities,” she adds.

At a prayer meeting organised for Soumya by her colleagues at Headlines Today over the weekend, many like Aditya and Pooja turned up to offer their condolences.

Parul Sharma

‘Hidden to eyes….’

Remadhav Art of New Delhi and Gallery Art Resource Trust of Mumbai will conduct a prayer and unity vigil at Arpana Art Gallery in the Capital this Friday to register shock and grief over the terror attacks in the twin cities. The organisers have been working towards presenting a weeklong solo show, “Hidden to Eyes”, by Chhattisgarh artist Gog at Arpana Art Gallery, but the artist himself felt that in the wake of the ongoing terror attacks it was better to pause and reflect. The original “Hidden to Eyes” show has been postponed. The artist will exhibit only one canvas and an installation and the show will be titled “Pause”.

Artists, poets and arts students will be free to choose various forms of expressions. They can either paint or write a meaningful sentence on the canvas. They can also light candles to signify peace.

Noting that the terror attacks are threatening to become an imperceptible part of urban life, Anita Abbi from Remadhav Art says she was appalled by the recurrent terror attacks. “We watch the blood and gore on the news channels, then it is business as usual, our routine and life goes on, we move on to the next programme, channel or chore unmoved; never pausing to think about this ever increasing imbalance in our collective consciousness.”

There will also be poetry reading by volunteers for peace.

Clarifying that it will not be a political vigil, Anita says it will just be a show of solidarity with the victims of terror attacks. “We hope that it will bring communities together to condemn the horrific acts and express their shared pain and loss, hope and love.”

Madhur Tankha

Wide awake

The frequency of terror attacks in the Capital has managed to shake the city out of its slumber. A tad belated, but Delhiites are finally coming round to the idea of becoming responsible citizens. The indifference is being replaced by alertness with a certain sense of accountability.

Much to the relief of the Delhi police and the administration, people are no longer oblivious to their surroundings. Whether it is their campaigns to create awareness or plain self-awakening, the citizens are finally showing concern.

A journalist assigned to cover a Sonia Gandhi function at Chattrasal Stadium this past week was forced to park her vehicle in a residential colony quite some distance away from the venue. Since the parking lot at the stadium itself was out of bounds for security reasons, the journalist had to leave her vehicle parked outside a residential complex.

On watching her park the car and walk away, a man who was ironing clothes nearby followed the colleague on his bicycle and intercepted her. What followed was virtually an interrogation: he wanted to know why she had left her car behind and the time she would take to collect it. He relented only when the colleague left behind her visiting card as “identity proof”, as sought by the alert citizen!

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

10/20/2008