Sep

6

New format starting this week

September 6, 2009 posted by indiatime | 26 Comments

I’ve been posting a new article every day for last 3 years or so. Time has to come to try a new format and this week onwards, I will be posting between 2 to 3 articles per week. There’s a flip side to a lesser number of weekly posts. The readers will be able to enjoy articles that are better-researched, and with a lot more content than merely raves and rants.

Please feel free to suggest topics that are close to your hearts and minds. Rather than harping over the current news cycles and getting stuck with stale news, we may be able to create some timelessness in our discussions here.

See you all this coming week.

Sep

3

Famous Indians who died in air crashes

September 3, 2009 posted by indiatime | 10 Comments

Famous Indian personalities that have died in air crashes:

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose - freedom fighter, (1945) - airplane crash over Taiwan

Homi J. Bhabha - nuclear scientist, (1966) - airplane crash on Mount Blanc, France

S. Mohan Kumaramangalam - politician, (1972) - airplane crash near Delhi

Sanjay Gandhi - politician, (1980) - helicopter crash in Delhi

Ashok Birla - industrialist, (1990) - airplane crash near Bangalore

Surendra Nath - Governor of Punjab (1994) - airplane crash in Himachal Pradesh

Madhav Rao Scindia, (2001) - airplane crash in Uttar Pradesh

G.M.C. Balayogi - parliament speaker, (2002) - airplane crash in Andhra Pradesh

Kalpana Chawla - astronaut (2003) - space shuttle crash over Texas

Soundarya, actress (2004) - airplane crash near Bangalore

O. P. Jindal - Industrialist (2005) - helicopter crash in Uttar Pradesh

YSR Reddy - chief minister, (2009) - helicopter crash near Kurnool

Sep

3

YSR Reddy, Andhra CM, dies in helicopter crash

September 3, 2009 posted by indiatime | 8 Comments

“…Lord! It’s a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!
It’s a conspiracy! That’s what this is! It’s one big damn conspiracy! And everyone’s in on it! Including her!…”
- Samuel Norton (warden) - The Shawshank Redemption (by Stephen King)

The chief executive officer of one of the largest states in the nation has now gone missing for well over 24 hours. And so far, the police, the army, the airforce, the border security force, the greyhound commandos, unmanned drones, private search missions, satellites, bhuvan, have all been unsuccessful at finding YSR Reddy, the missing chief minister. The search that had originally focused on a a few thousand square kilometer area, has now been narrowed down to about 60-70 square kilometers.

What is astounding is that there hasn’t been any communication with the missing group. It’s obvious that the radio signals from the helicopter is the best pointer to the last known location, and the cellphones carried by the missing could only help in pinpointing the last location where the phones were still able to communicate with the nearby towers.

But an altogether lack of any type of communication raises some serious concerns and potentially very ominous possibilities:

1. the missing party of people might have met with a serious accident, their helicopter going down into a thick wooded area, with some fatalities or serious casualties whereby the members of the party are either unconscious if at all still living or are all dead.

2. The missing helicopter might have crashed into a lake or a water reservoir, drowning the occupants. Such a scenario has already been speculated on account of some eyewitness accounts from near the Shri Shailam project. It is considered less likelier than a crash landing or an emergency landing into the woods.

3. The missing helicopter might have crashed or force-landed into a forest, but the survivors may be in danger of attack by tigers from around the area. The area is host to the famous ‘operation tiger’ sanctuary.

4. the missing helicopter might have gone down into a wooded area, but the survivors might have been captured by local Maoist/naxalite terrorists and may have been whisked away outside the search perimeter and taken to an unknown location. Such a scenario can play out and evolve into a ransom situation where release of some prisoners would be bargained for, or the captured party may be exchanged with another group of captors - perhaps a more radical group like lashkar-e-toiba. This scenario, if true, will not play out soon, because the kidnappers will need some time to get the captured to a secret location.

Who might the terrorists ask in return for safely exchanging a missing chief minister and his officers? Well, there is no shortage of high-value exchange prisoners with Mohammad Ajmal Kasab (26/11 Mumbai attacks surviving gunman), Afzal Guru (convicted parliament terror attack mastermind), Safdar Nagori (imprisoned chief of SIMI - Students Islamic Movement of India), etc.

4. the missing party may all be okay, just minimally injured but unconscious and unable to move because of minor injuries and fractures, etc.

The picture will be a lot clearer as will be the weather by the end of today. Until then, YSR’s supporters, opponents, fans, and his bosses in Delhi will all be praying for his safety.

9 am India time update:
The helicopter wreckage has been found near Rollapenta, about 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool. Two helicopters of the Indian military are said to be hovering over the scene.

11am India time update:
Five bodies have been found at the wreckage site and YSR Reddy, the popular chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh, has been confirmed killed in the crash.

Sep

2

Andhra chief minister’s chopper goes missing

September 2, 2009 posted by indiatime | Leave a Comment

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR), the chief minister (CM) of Andhra Pradesh and his helicopter, both went missing for several hours earlier today, giving heart attacks to the state police, and spurring speculationss about his whereabouts.

Recent updates are confirming however, that the helicopter has landed safely in the Kurnool district, somewhere on an open playground in Bhanucharla village Atmakur area.

YSR was on a 3-district tour, traveling from Hyderabad towards Tirupati. His chopper began its journey at about 8:30 this morning, but went off the radar screens in a few minutes, about 79 nautical miles from Hyderabad’s Begumpet airport.

What is still worrying the authorities is that the helicopter and the CM were near the Nallamalla hill range, a known naxalite area, and even if the reports about the helicopter’s safe landing are to be believed, the CM still needs to be safely extricated from the area that may be a hotbed of terrorist/naxalite activity. The police are trying their best to keep the extrication part of their operation a secret, hoping to whisk YSR out of the dangerous area immediately.

Just yesterday, Tim Holding, an Australian politician traveling in his helicopter, had also gone missing somewhere close to one of Victoria’s highest mountains. Poor weather was blamed in that story, just as it is being said to be a huge factor in YSR’s helicopter story as well. But Tim Holding’s adventure had a good ending. Looks like YSR’s adventure too, may be over soon.

Update:
Earlier reports of the CM’s helicopter landing safely, have been left in doubt as there still is said to be no communication between the authorities and the missing CM. The search operations were called off a little earlier on account of severe weather

Sep

1

Indian designer Anand Jon gets a lifer

September 1, 2009 posted by indiatime | 17 Comments

It was more 2 years ago that, Anand Jon, famous NY-based Indian fashion designer, went from page 3 to page 1, when the state of California charged and arrested him of sexually molesting more than dozen a young girls, between the ages 14 to 21. He was convicted of those crimes late last year. Yesterday, Jon received a minimum of 59 years to life for the crimes committed against young girls.

Earlier yesterday, Jon argued for a mistrial, contending misconduct on part of jurors and the prosecutors. His supporters and family have long claimed that Alvin Dymally, one of the 12 jurors, had expressed sexual interest in Anand Jon’s sister Sanjana, had communicated with her, and had lied on oath. Those arguments failed to sway the judge, taking the last defense weapon away, and clearing the way for Jon’s life sentence. Jon’s family also tried to politicize the issue, hoping that the Indian government would intervene. The Indian government did in fact go beyond what it would for any other criminal. The Indian consul general in San Francisco personally wrote to the California state authorities on Jon’s behalf, asking to release an exculpatory evidence that would help set the Indian designer free.

Hearing of Shah Rukh Khan’s detention and the Indian consulate’s role in getting him out of the immigration checkpoint, Anand Jon’s angry sister tried playing racism card by asking if it would helped to have the last name ‘Khan’ instead of ‘Jon’. Nice try, but comparing Jon’s case with Bollywood actor Khan’s recent detention at the immigration checkpoint, is just way too desperate, I think. Plus it is quite unfair to Shah Rukh, who to his credit, probably does have women throwing themselves at him every day, but has never gotten into such kind of trouble as Anand Jon has.

At the end of the day, the weight of the evidence and the testimonies was too strong, the charges just too serious and the crimes just too many. Jon, supposedly one of the most up and coming Indians on the planet, fell victim to his success and arrogance and uncontrollable lust. For the judge and the victims in the case, and for those able to see beyond Jon’s celebrity and success, the case was not about a famous fashion designer, but about a serial criminal, a rapist and a manipulator, who destroyed the lives of many young women, and ultimately his own as well.

Incidentally, Jon faces many more charges in 3 more states, which can add a couple more life sentences on top of his already received one.

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